Ryan Hunter-Reay Finishes 15th for Foyt
RICHMOND June 27, 2009—Ryan Hunter-Reay brought the No.
14 ABC Supply Indy car home without a scratch in the SunTrust
Indy Challenge at Richmond International Raceway Saturday night.
Scott Dixon won the 300 lap race which turned out to be a
snoozer with very little passing on the track.
Track position--or lack thereof--proved crucial tonight.Most of
the passes took place on pit road, either through fuel strategy,
quick stops or in the case of the caution flag on lap 137, a
dose of good luck.
Hunter-Reay qualified 18th on Saturday but then was eighth
quickest in final practice. Unfortunately, in the race, he
struggled with the car “pushing” in the early going but after
the first pit stop the car’s handling improved due to adjusting
tire pressures and adding some front wing.
Once he got the handling a bit better, Hunter-Reay could run
with the leaders but couldn’t pass anyone, which was the case
for many of the competitors. He lost one lap on the track and
then he lost a second lap when the caution flag came out after
he had made a pit stop under green. The leaders were able to pit
under the yellow.
Hunter-Reay finished 15th for the team’s best finish since the
street course events in the beginning of what has turned into a
very tough season for Foyt and his ABC Supply team.
“We brought it home, that’s the one positive from the night,”
said Hunter-Reay after a grueling run around the ¾-mile banked
oval. “We started out with a lot of push and we made that a bit
better. In fact, we made the ABC Supply car better as the night
went on. We could hang with some decent cars out there but we
just weren’t going anywhere, it was just a procession for us.
I’m really looking forward to turning right and left again,
bring on the road courses please.”
It was the first time that Ryan actually worked with A.J. in a
race. “It was good, but we’ve got to work on the communication
and I’ve got to get used to it. I didn’t know what he meant on
some things. One thing you do know is when A.J. tells you
something, nine times out of 10 he’s right. He’s been there.”
The team heads to Watkins Glen International for next weekend’s
race. It will be televised on Sunday, starting at 1pm EDT on
ABC-TV.
Hunter-Reay To Start 18th in Richmond; Has Solid Final
Practice
RICHMOND June 26, 2009--Ryan Hunter-Reay finished up a
long day of practice and qualifying for the Sun Trust Indy
Challenge with a top-10 run in final practice after qualifying
18th earlier in the No.14 ABC Supply Dallara/Honda. His four-lap
average speed was 162.506mph.
The team made changes to the car for qualifying which improved
the speed by 2mph over that which he posted in the first
practice. Hunter-Reay felt that they would have a good car for
the race tomorrow night based on his run. He was sixth for most
of the final practice session, slipping to eighth with about 10
minutes left.
“In the final practice we made some good changes and just worked
on the car in traffic,” said Hunter-Reay. “It was a pretty
decent run, we made some pretty sweeping changes. We felt what
wasn’t good and what was good and now we’re going to try and
combine everything that we found that was good and apply it to
tomorrow night. Unfortunately, we’re starting where we are so
we’re just going to have to make a long night of it and pick our
way to the front.”
Hunter-Reay will have 300 laps to get to the front from his
position in the ninth row outside of defending race winner Tony
Kanaan. Dario Franchitti won the pole.
The race will be televised live Saturday night on Versus; the
race coverage begins at 8pm EDT.
Notes &
Quotes: SunTrust
Indy Challenge at Richmond Int’l Raceway
Ryan Hunter-Reay: No. 14 ABC Supply Dallara/Honda
·
Ryan Hunter-Reay on racing at Richmond:
“The key to the getting around there is making the front of the
car work very well. The radius [radii] of the corners are so
short that the challenge is getting the front grip to stay in
the car late in the corner…that’s the biggest issue. Traffic is
the other issue. It’s very tough at
Richmond to
get through traffic and to make a move on a car because number
1, all the teams are so close now that the speeds of the cars
are very similar, and number 2, there’s no room. There’s no room
to make any passes so when you do make one, it ends up usually
being a tight pass going into turn one. It’s a tough track.”
·
Hunter-Reay’s initial impression of the ¾-mile
banked oval? “I was amazed that we could get around there as
fast as we can in these
Indy cars. When you first look at it you think it’s way
too small for an
Indy car race to race on. It’s definitely different from
anywhere else we race and it’s definitely challenging for the
drivers. I’m looking forward to going back.”
·
Hunter-Reay will be making his second start at
Richmond. In his first start last year, he was fastest in
the second practice. “We worked on the car,” he said. “It was a
situation where we made the car better and better and that’s
what we’re looking to do with the ABC Supply car this weekend:
to make it better every time we go out and give me the tools I
need to get as flat out as I can, and be on the throttle as much
as possible.” Unfortunately last year, electrical problems
surfaced when he went to qualify and the car failed to start,
forcing him to the back of the starting grid in 25th
place. In the race he moved up to 10th before
tangling with
Mario Moraes in turns three and four on lap 143. He
placed 16th.
·
Hunter-Reay will be making his second start in
the No. 14 ABC Supply car this weekend. He hopes his second
race for
A.J. Foyt lasts longer than his first one in Iowa last
week. On lap one, he was passing
Robert Doornbos
on the low side between turns three and four when the rookie
lost control of his car, did a quarter spin and tagged the No.
14 hard enough to knock out its right front suspension and
wing. He placed 19th. Hunter-Reay is now 11th
in the Driver standings while the Foyt team is 18th
in the Entrant points.
·
Past performances at Richmond: The Foyt
team’s best finish at Richmond is 6th with Airton
Dare in 2002 and their best start is 7th with
Eliseo Salazar in 2001.
·
Best Roofing of Tidewater, located in Virginia
Beach, VA, is this weekend’s winner of the ABC Supply Your
Name Here Promotion for its customers. The company name will be
put on the top of the sidepods of the No. 14 ABC Supply Dallara/Honda.
Don Harrelson and a guest will receive selected merchandise,
race tickets, hospitality and garage passes, plus a Meet and
Greet with Ryan Hunter-Reay. The “Your Name Here” promotion
selected winners by random drawing from a pool of entries sent
in by ABC Supply customers earlier this year.
The SunTrust Indy Challenge will be shown live starting at
8:30 p.m. EDT Saturday night, June 27 on Versus.
