Penske’s Helio Castroneves has managed to make up seven places and clinch this evening’s race victory at the Kentucky Speedway. The Brazilian, who pulled out a 13-second lead over a titanic battle for second place, led home the two Panther Racing cars of pole-sitter Ed Carpenter and leading British driver Dan Wheldon.
After Panther stunned all by clinching both pole position and third on the grid on Friday, its two cars looked strong contenders for victory on Saturday evening although a clever fuel strategy by Castroneves allowed for a large advantage and the stealing of the show.
Having pitted mid-race under yellows – in order to save fuel during the caution period - and therefore putting himself out of sequence, Castroneves shot to the front of the pack when his rivals were forced to peel off for fuel in the closing stages of the race.
Tony Kanaan amazingly moved up to fourth from the back of the grid for Andretti Autosport, helped by the confusion many suffered with fuel strategies, as Dario Franchitti made ground on championship rival and current leader Will Power, who led for much of the event but fell back to eighth as he became one loser in the final laps.
A.J. Foyt Racing’s Vitor Meira was dejected to not finish the race, having been running in seventh position prior to a coming together with the lapped Simona de Silvestro, whose HVM proceeded to hit Ryan Briscoe’s Penske as both cars ended their nights in the retaining wall.
Other big winners, helped by such moments, were two more Andretti cars as Marco Andretti and Danica Patrick climbed to respective finishing places of sixth and ninth, with World Series by Renault Champion Bertrand Baguette finishing in the top ten for Conquest following a career-best qualifying session on Friday.
With just two races now remaining in the 2010 season, Power leads the way from Franchitti by the reduced margin of 17 points.
- Full Kentucky Speedway race results
The IndyCar Series continues at Motegi, Japan in two weeks’ time
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