Chevy Drivers Claim Top-Six Finishing Positions and Eight of Top-10 in Milwaukee IndyFest
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[/media-credit]MILWAUKEE, Wisc (June 16, 2012) – Ryan Hunter-Reay came to the Milwaukee IndyFest presented by XYQ determined to repeat his 2004performance at the historic Milwaukee Mile, and he did just that. Leading a race-high 84 of the 225-lap race behind the wheel of the No. 28 Team DHL/Sun Drop Citrus Soda Andretti Autsosports Chevrolet, Hunter-Reay became the third driver this season to take the Chevrolet IndyCar V-6 to Victory Lane in the IZOD IndyCar Series.
“It’s amazing. First of all, thank you to all of the fans for coming out, filling a great number of seats in here,” said Hunter-Reay. “What a race. I know we would all have liked to see a little more passing, but from the car it was so busy, just trying to hang on to it. But getting a win for DHL, Sun Drop and Chevy, it’s unreal.”
But the Chevrolet teams weren’t done. At the checkered flag, Chevrolet drivers captured the top-six finishing positions and eight of the top-10. Standing alongside Hunter-Reay on the podium was Tony Kanaan, No. 11 GEICO/MOUSER Electronics KV Racing Technology Chevrolet, who finished second, and James Hinchcliffe, No. 27 Team GoDaddy.com Andretti Autosport Chevrolet who captured third place.
“Congratulations to Ryan Hunter-Reay and Andretti Autosports on their victory today at Milwaukee,” said Chris Berube, Chevrolet Racing Program Manager, IZOD IndyCar Series. “They clearly had the car to beat and their race strategy played out perfectly. Tony Kanaan and James Hinchcliffe also had great drives to give the Chevrolet IndyCar V-6 all three podium positions. It was a tremendous team showing today. Having Chevy-powered teams take the top-six finishing positions, and eight of the top 10, is very gratifying for everyone who works so hard on the Chevrolet IndyCar program.”
Oriol Servia, No. 22 Panther/Dreyer and Reinbold Racing Chevrolet, continued his strong surge by finishing fourth today. E.J. Viso, No. 5 CITGO/PDVSA KV Racing Technology Chevrolet was fifth at the checkered flag. Helio Castroneves, No. 3 Penske Truck Rental Chevrolet, completed the Chevy top-six sweep.
Ed Carpenter, No. 22 Fuzzy’s Premium Ultra Vodka Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet, rallied back from starting 22ndand then going a lap-down in the first portion of the race to finish eighth. Rubens Barrichello, No. 8 BMC/Embrase KV Racing Technology Chevrolet, rounded out the top-10 finishers.
The win is the first for Hunter-Reay this season who started second, and the sixth IndyCar win of his career. The runner-up finish for Kanaan is his second podium this year, as well as the second podium for Hinchcliffe.
With today’s victory, Chevrolet continues to lead the Series’ Manufacturers’ standings with five wins in eight races.
With a 12th place finish, Will Power, No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, remains on the top of the driver’s point standings. Hinchcliffe now sits second, with Hunter-Reay fourth in the standings and Castroneves sitting sixth with half the season in the record books. Kanaan, Ryan Briscoe, No. 2 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet and Servia are eighth, ninth and 10th in points respectively.
Next on the schedule is Iowa Corn Indy 250 at Iowa Speedway, Newton, Iowa. The race is scheduled to start Saturday, June 23, 2012, at 9:00 p.m. (10:00 p.m. ET) with live television coverage on NBC Sports Network. Live radio coverage will be on XM Radio Channel 94 and Sirius Satellite Radio Channel 212. In addition, IndyCar live timing and scoring with the radio broadcast can be found at www.indy.car.com.
Fans can follow Team Chevy on Team Chevy Facebook, @TeamChevy on Twitter and on Google+.
CHEVROLET INDYCAR V-6 DRIVER QUALIFYING QUOTES:
RYAN HUNTER-REAY, NO. 28 TEAM DHL/SUN DROP CITRUS SODA CHEVROLET, RACE WINNER: “It’s amazing. First of all, thank you to all of the fans for coming out, filling a great number of seats in here. What a race. I know we would all have liked to see a little more passing, but from the car it was so busy, just trying to hang on to it. But getting a win for DHL, Sun Drop and Chevy, it’s unreal. Hanging on to those last few restarts were too much. I don’t need that. That was grey area, for sure. The script is perfect. This is an Andretti SportsMarketing event. (Team owner) Michael (Andretti) loves the sport and does a lot for it. Milwaukee and INDYCAR go hand-in-hand. This is the oldest racing facility in the country and we just won. It’s awesome.
“I’m happy to be here in DHL Victory Circle! That was so much work. I think that was one of the most physical races I’ve ever driven. I was just hanging onto it the whole time. The car was awesome; the DHL / Sun Drop guys did a great job. Firestone does a great job of making these races racier and making it more interesting for the fans. The tires did fall off a bit, but they’re so reliable, you have the grip when you need it, and it was there for me all the way to the end.”
TONY KANAAN, NO. 11 GEICO/MOUSER ELECTRONICS KV RACING TECHNOLOGY CHEVROLET, FINISHED 2ND: “I felt that for some reason we lost some speed during the race. I couldn’t save fuel I had to run a full mission because I didn’t have enough for the guys in front. Once we pitted and the yellow came out they said we were good to go to the end. I was quite happy for second. I tried on the restart and I saw how bad Ryan (Hunter-Reay) wanted it so I said you know what we will take second place. A great result for Chevy one, two, three, the No. 11 boys and the crew did a great job on the stops. Andretti guys help us out on the pit stops on the exit so I am extremely happy. It was a great race. The grandstands were packed I love this. Hopefully we come back to this place it an awesome place.”
JAMES HINCHCLIFFE, NO. 27 GODADDY.COM ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET, FINISHED 3RD: “Yeah it feels good what a cool track, what a cool place to come here and get a good result. How about Andretti Autosport? First and third, I’m so happy for Ryan (Hunter-Reay) and a Chevy one, two, three. A long race out there, a lot of fun, Chevy one, two, three, four look at that Oriol Servia guys. Thanks to all the fans and everyone who came out, not only stayed out through that rain delay, I hope they enjoyed the show. It was a lot of fun. I hope they enjoyed watching it. “Today was a tremendous day for the team all around. First of all, congratulations to Ryan (Hunter-Reay) on his win. He drove a heck of a race and really deserved it after the luck he has had the last couple of weeks. For him to bounce back like that, I am really happy for him. I am so happy for all of the Go Daddy guys. We had a strong car. It was tough in traffic out there. I really wish we would have had a stronger qualifying run and started high up. My guys were great in the pits and the car was quick when it needed to be. To pull off the podium in that last stint just shows we never give up. That has been our thing all season long. We found ourselves down a bit a couple times and we always seem to rally back by the checkered flag. Huge credit to Andretti Autosport and this event for Andretti Sports Marketing to be the ones promotingit. Thanks to the fans for sticking through it during the rain delay, it was great to see the stands almost full and I think we put on a good show for them. We are all stoked to be back in Milwaukee and I am really happy for Michael (Andretti). To have Chevy back in Winner’s Circle with a podium sweep is a cool thing to be a part of.”
ORIOL SERVIA, NO. 22 PANTHER/DREYER & REINBOLD RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 4TH: “I’m extremely happy especially for where we were yesterday. Congratulations to the team they did a great job on the set-up we changed the whole car. We weren’t as quick as the three cars in front of me. I’m very happy from where we started to finish.It was a great car. I had trusted my guys they always give me a great car on race day and that is when they get the points. I’m very happy for me, the team, Chevy and everybody.”
E.J. VISO, NO. 5 CITGO/PDVSA KV RACING TECHNOLOGY CHEVROLET, FINISHED 5TH: “I’m happy for the weekend. I think KV Racing Technology had a pretty good and strong car. We definitely saw that. I’m real upset about this race. I think we could have won this race or finished on the podium. That’s a no brainer. But once again the strategy didn’t turn out to be in our way.”
HELIO CASTRONEVES, NO. 3 PENSKE TRUCK RENTAL CHEVROLET, FINISHED 6TH: “We took a gamble today with the pit strategy in the No. 3 Penske Truck Rental car. The car was running really well and we thought we could be aggressive with our plan. We definitely had a car that could win the race today but I am still happy with our result. I will take sixth place and look to do better next week at Iowa.”
ED CARPENTER, NO. 20 FUZZY’S ULTRA PREMIUM VODKA ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 8TH: “Hopefully in the future, we’ll qualify further up front and we won’t have to pass so many cars. The team again gave me a good race car and I was able to be aggressive and drive up through the field. They were awesome on pit stops too. Just a great job by the whole team after being down to one chassis since Indy. It felt good to drive towards the front. I’m happy we got eighth today because it’s a season best, but I thought we could have had a the top five. We got up to sixth before the last restart. But Marco checkered up in turn one and I had to hit the brakes. Nothing against him because I have been his spot before. It’s a tough position for a lapped driver. I’m very happy that a Chevy is back in the winner’s circle and I’m happy for Ryan too. I feel we have some momentum now after today’s race and a strong test at Iowa. I think we can be very competitive next week at Iowa Speedway.”
RUBENS BARRICHELLO, NO. 8 BMC/EMBRASE KV RACING TECHNOLOGY CHEVROLET, FINISHED 10TH
WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 12TH: “The Verizon crew fought hard out there today. I thought we had a pretty good car but the restarts were really difficult. Not the worst result today but we expect to do better every time we come to race. We are still on top of the points, which is where we want to be, and now will look forward to Iowa.”
RYAN BRISCOE, NO. 2 HITACHI TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET. FINISHED 14TH: “Really tough day out there for the No.2 Hitachi Team Penske car. We completely missed the balance in the start of the race and we are not really sure why, but by the end of the race we were really strong after we changed the rear wing and aero balance. I think we ended as strong as anyone out there so it was a really positive finish. But unfortunately after going two laps down in the beginning we were just fighting for the small positions. Iowa is up next and we will get things back on track there.”
MARCO ANDRETTI, NO. 26 TEAM RC COLA ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET, FINISHED 15TH: “Wasn’t the day we hoped for with the RC Cola car, but happy for my teammate Ryan (Hunter-Reay). I think we had a tired engine but can’t confirm with running it on the dyno. We fell back and just didn’t have the power I needed to get through traffic. Late in the race we developed a break leak in the right rear which meant I had to depend on just my front breaks. It’s disappointing but we’ll move on to Iowa. I won there last year and am looking to return and defend my win.”
KATHERINE LEGGE, NO. 6 TRUECAR DRAGON RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 18TH
JR HILDEBRAND, NO. 4 NATIONAL GUARD PANTHER RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 22ND: “We had a pretty good run going there, even though we got caught out a little bit on that first yellow. We were having an overheating issue, and through the yellow we couldn’t get any clean air to get the thing cooled down. I think we had something jammed in the radiator. We pitted once to pick some things out of there, but I think the damage was already done at that point; once these things get up to a certain temperature they just shut down. We were running around in traffic all day, so we didn’t have much clean air, and with the humidity so high here that didn’t help. It’s obviously just an unfortunate deal for us and a bummer for the entire National Guard Panther team.”
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