Defending race winner Ryan Hunter-Reay took the green flag for today’s rolling start (standing start was aborted after a competitor stalled on the grid) from the sixth position and gained two spots on the opening lap to run fourth, his highest position of the day. After a couple pit lane delays and an extended stop for a new front nose in the closing laps of the race, the American was the 18th car to take the twin checkers. Despite the finish, Hunter-Reay remains second in the points fight heading into Race Two tomorrow, where he will start fourth.
“Not an ideal day,” noted RHR. “We had two stalls in the pit lane and then were making some moves, making our way up on track, and then racing with E.J. (Viso) there I just got held down in the marbles on the inside and collected all that stuff on my tires. I came down into (Turn) 3 and locked up the right side. A frustrating afternoon, but I hope we can regroup overnight and improve on the car. I didn’t feel confident at all under braking today and had some issues with it. The four cars, we’ll put our heads together and hopefully come out a better team tomorrow.”