Knowing that cautions were running rapid due to wet conditions and the race was coming within the time distance allowed, James Hinchcliffe and his Schmidt Peterson Motorsports team played strategy on Sunday afternoon at NOLA Motorsports Park. That strategy would pay off as Hinchcliffe took the victory in the inaugural Grand Prix of Louisiana.
“When we first decided to stay out, I thought, wouldn’t it be funny if we could make this a one-stopper. I just never thought it (would happen),” Hinchcliffe said. “On one hand, I feel badly that we didn’t have more green-flag laps for the fans and everybody here at NOLA, but on the other hand, those guys called it awesome. The car was unbelievable on the (Firestone) reds. We pulled away from a couple of Penskes on those restarts. If we had gone green, I think we could’ve held them off at the end as long as we had the fuel. I’m just so happy.”
While his competitors made their way to pit road for fuel and tires in the span of five laps around lap 32, race strategist Robert Gue made the decision to leave Hinchcliffe on the track with the tires and fuel that he took back at lap 13. Hinchcliffe then held off Helio Castroneves and teammate James Jakes in the ensuing restarts, while saving enough fuel to take the win.
For the Canadian, this marks his fourth career victory and his first with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. Hinchcliffe left Andretti Autosport at season’s end to race for SPM this season.
Castroneves kept up his positive momentum from his top-five finish at St. Petersburg to cross the line in second behind Hinchcliffe. It wasn’t without issue, though, as Castroneves sustained front wing damage after contact with Francesco Dracone. The contact put Castroneves in the right position, though, as he pitted on the caution before the leaders, getting him up to the front.
“First of all, I have to give congratulations to the entire track, and the entire Verizon IndyCar Series to keep pushing to have another round here,” he commented. “And congrats to the fans. I want to thank all the fans for the first race here at NOLA and we have to keep going. The track conditions were really difficult because there were areas where there was a stream of water on the race track and it was very difficult for us to keep the cars on there.
“Now talking about the Hitachi boys, man, you guys are awesome. We had a little bit of a misunderstanding because the guy I hit, I thought he was two laps down. I knew he wasn’t battling for the lead and unfortunately, when I got the nose chopped, the information was a little bit iffy. But at the end of the day, Roger, Jonathan and everybody never gave up. I never gave up and at the end of the day to be taking second place – it’s a very happy day.”
Hinchcliffe’s SPM teammate Jakes crossed the line in third spot for his second career podium finish in Verizon IndyCar Series competition. He played the same strategy as Castroneves after getting involved in an incident with Jack Hawksworth at lap 20.
“We had the pace this weekend, it was just being patient,” he said. “Yesterday, we had the speed to get in the (Firestone) Fast Six, but qualifying was canceled. It was frustrating, but it paid off today. We needed that after St. Pete. We haven’t had the pace from the start of the year. It’s not all our fault, but hopefully this is the first of many.”
Simona de Silvestro used strategy, as well, to get herself a fourth place finish after struggling for the majority of the weekend. St. Petersburg winner Juan Pablo Montoya rounded out the top-five after dominating the first half of the event before the various pit strategies took center stage. Montoya now leads by 10 points over Castroneves.
Tony Kanaan finished sixth, followed by Will Power, Graham Rahal, Josef Newgarden and Lupe Filippi.
The race ended under caution following an incident involving Ryan Hunter-Reay, Simon Pagenaud and Sebastien Bourdais. The three drivers were three-wide and trying to give Bourdais room, Hunter-Reay went wide, resulting in Pagenaud going off of the track. Pagenaud would then go through the grass, before returning to the surface and hitting Hunter-Reay and Bourdais, taking them to the tire barrier with him.
“We had a great race going, had some good clean racing there with (Graham) Rahal, (Will) Power – even (Simon) Pagenaud, we went side by side through Turn 10 there. It was some good racing,” Hunter-Reay said. “Then we got down to Turn 3… I’m pedaling the car all the way out, it’s loose, there’s just no more room for (Pagenaud) to be out there. (Sebastien) Bourdais, is on my left, I don’t know where to go at that point. I’m using my regular racing line – (Pagenaud) stuck his nose out there (and was off the racing line)… And just cleans us all out. I’m happy all three of us are uninjured. (Pagenaud) said I ran him out of room, but there just was no room in the first place. I don’t know what to say to that – it’s certainly a racing incident but there wasn’t a whole lot of room there to begin with. Disappointing way to end the day, we were looking for a strong finish with the DHL Honda.”
Afterwards, Pagenaud exchanged words with both drivers involved.
“Really too bad about the finish because the Penske Truck Rental Chevy was really fast,” Pagenaud commented. “It handled great in traffic and we looked like we were heading toward a good result. I’m not sure what Hunter-Reay was thinking there. He just drove us off the track and I’m just glad everyone is OK. I want to thank the fans for staying with us this weekend despite the weather. I think the No. 22 Chevy team will be able to come back strong at Long Beach.”
There was also a serious incident on pit road when Dracone spun, hitting one of his crew members – Todd Phillips. Phillips received stitches in his lower right leg at the track medical center and was released.
The Verizon IndyCar Series will head west next weekend, tackling the streets of Long Beach, California.
