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IndyCar News
Hunter-Reay claims first IndyCar victory in New York
06/07/2008
Ryan Hunter-Reay claimed his first IndyCar Series victory on Sunday 6 July at Watkins Glen International after current points leader, Scott Dixon, made an unexpected mistake ending his bid for a fourth straight victory at the N.Y. road course.
A fairly uneventful first 30 laps led spectators to believe that the Watkins Glen victory would be decided between pole winner Ryan Briscoe and point’s leader Dixon. Dixon, whilst preparing to challenge the race leader Darren Manning after a caution period, spun his vehicle and was hit from behind by Briscoe. Hunter-Reay took advantage of the accident and passed Manning on the following restart to claim the chequered flag.
The victory at Watkin’s Glen was the fourth win for the Rahal Letteman Racing team, and the third open-wheel win for Ryan Hunter-Reay, who had previously claimed two wins in the Champ Car World Series.
Firestone brought a new, more durable tyre specification to the circuit this weekend, which worked extremely well on the demanding permanent road course. Several drivers ran extended stints of 25 laps (85 miles) or more on a set of Firehawks without any issues.
Ryan Hunter-Reay, #17 Rahal Letterman/Ethanol Dallara/Honda/Firestone, said:
"Firestone does an amazing job. The tyres actually were better for me at the end of the stint than they were at the beginning. That's just because of the durability of these tyres. I could have triple-stinted today with the tyres, it was unbelievable. It was a great run for Firestone today to show the durability and life of these tyres. I don't know how they do it; their competitors surely can't."
Darren Manning, #14 ABC Supply/A.J. Foyt Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone, said:
"The tyres were great. I ran maybe 30 laps on that last set and they were great. They were clean on the restarts and we were able to run some fantastic laps all the way to the end of the race."
T.J. Tennent, Project Manager, Firestone Racing, said:
"The script could not have been written better than today. An American driver in an American team, with American ethanol in his fuel tank and as his sponsor, wins on one of the great American racetracks on the most important of American weekends. And he did it with Firestone, an American icon tyre brand since 1900. We congratulate Ryan and Rahal Letterman on a most deserved victory. They've been in the hunt all season and today was their time to shine. The new Firehawk tyre spec for this weekend had a fantastic debut. The tyres provided tremendous durability on a rugged and challenging circuit."
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