Ryan Hunter-Reay claimed victory during a dramatic race in Loudon on Sunday, being confirmed as the winner when officials decided to red flag the proceedings and issue the result on count back. The Andretti driver moved into the top spot when pole-sitter Dario Franchitti crashed out, ultimately leading home Oriol Servià and Scott Dixon.
"I couldn’t even warm the tyres because it was so wet," Hunter-Reay said after the 215-lap race. "I couldn’t even put power down in second or third gear. It was a wrong move from race control's part (to restart the race at the end). We would have liked to finish under green, but it was a strange day. I knew we had a good car this weekend, it’s a great result."
Threatening rain saw the race start slightly earlier than planned, with Franchitti almost seamlessly transferring his pace over from qualifying. The championship leader bolted away, only for proceedings to be halted by an incident between Mike Conway and Graham Rahal just seconds later. The latter was left with nowhere to go when his rival span out at the second corner, leaving both with too much damage to continue.
Franchitti once again stormed clear when the race was restarted on Lap 6, but more trouble ensued further down the field. This time it was Hélio Castroneves, with the Penske driver losing control of car and having to signal for assistance from the marshalls before re-joining the action. Franchitti went on to dominate the next phase of the race, even lapping chief title rival Will Power on Lap 56.
Increasing rainfall initiated the next caution period on the 76th tour, as organisers felt the need to wait for a light shower to pass. A total of 31 laps were completed behind the Pace Car before the surface dried up, with yet another incident to follow at the restart. Marco Andretti found himself squeezed between Tomas Scheckter (outside) and Tony Kanaan (inside), with the trio colliding and sending the latter into the air.
All three men were unharmed in the nasty sequence of events, but the drama failed to stop there. Dario Franchitti drifted left towards Takuma Sato as the race restarted on Lap 119, causing an accident very similar to the one seen between Formula 1 drivers Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber during the 2010 Turkish Grand Prix. This left the long-time race leader on the sidelines, with Sato pitting for new tyres.
Ryan Hunter-Reay was head of the field when the action got back underway on Lap 125, leading Servia and Dixon by a relatively comfortable margin for the next few circulations. Out of sync pit-stops saw Power and Sato take turns at leading, but it was ultimately the aforementioned three who remained up front. With 19 laps to go the yellow flags came out for a sixth time, with increasing rain the cause once again.
Despite calls from numerous drivers to stay under yellows for the final few tours, officials decided to restart the race with just eight laps to run. This led to a series of collisions in the midfield, with Danica Patrick spinning into the path of Power, Sato and Ed Carpenter on the start/finish straight. The race was eventually red flagged and discussions took place before positions and points were officially awarded.
James Hinchcliffe ultimately followed Dixon home in fourth, with a furious Power picking up vital points in fifth due to his position before crashing out. Patrick was next up in sixth place, while Sato completed the top six for KV Racing. Franchitti’s championship lead has now been cut to 47 points, with Power closing in significantly.
- The dramatic final restart can be viewed at GPUpdateTV
Round 13 of the championship takes place at the Infineon Raceway in a fortnight's time
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| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |  R. Hunter-Reay | Andretti | 1:58:01.584 |
| 2. | O. Servia | Newman/Haas | +0.236 |
| 3. | S. Dixon | Chip Ganassi | +1.483 |
| 4. | J. Hinchcliffe | Newman/Haas | +2.175 |
| 5. | W. Power | Penske | +2.825 |
| 6. | D. Patrick | Andretti | +3.617 |
| 7. | T. Sato | Lotus KV Racing | +4.117 |
| 8. | R. Briscoe | Penske | +1 Lap |
| 9. | C. Kimball | Chip Ganassi | +2 Laps |
| 10. | V. Meira | A.J. Foyt | +3 Laps |
| Full results | |||
| Ryan Hunter-Reay | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| More Ryan Hunter-Reay photos | |||
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