Toronto, Ontario (April 18, 2010) – James Hinchcliffe converted his second pole position of the season into his first ever Firestone Indy Lights Series victory as he dominated Round 3 of the championship around the streets of Long Beach, California on Sunday.
The 23-year-old from Toronto, who races the #2 Team Moore Racing Firestone-Dallara entry, jumped up to third overall in the Driver Standings courtesy of his maiden Indy Lights Series win. After the disappointment of being taken out of the first race of the season in St Petersburg, where he also captured the pole, James has steered himself straight back into title contention with a fifth place score last weekend in Alabama and with this weekend’s popular victory in Long Beach.
The 1.9-mile temporary street course has always proved favorable to Hinchcliffe, with a third place podium finish recorded there in 2009 – his rookie season in Indy Lights competition. He wasted little time in proving himself to be one of the favorites this weekend, topping the time-sheets in second practice before going on to snare the pole position in yesterday’s qualifying run.
Joined on the front-row for Sunday’s 45-lap race by France’s J.K. Vernay, winner of the opening two rounds, it was Hinchcliffe who got the jump on his rival heading into the first turn at Long Beach. From there James’ focus was simply to slip into a comfortable race pace and control from the front.
His efforts as the race unwound were hampered somewhat by several yellow flag incidents but regardless, James maintained the lead through each of the re-starts and raced his way to the checkered flag for the win. He was joined on the podium by American racer, Charlie Kimball in second and Vernay in third.
“Getting my first win out of the way is certainly a great feeling,” reflected Hinchcliffe post-race. “I have to say a huge thank you to Mark Moore and Tom Wood for the opportunity to compete for Team Moore Racing. Similarly I have to thank all the guys on the crew as well as Lee Dykstra and Alex Figge.
“It really means a lot to me to win here in Long Beach. The history of this event is just incredible and to add my name to a list of winners at such an awesome venue feels fantastic, not least as it was also my first Indy Lights victory. I had a great car today, we knew we had a strong street-course set-up, but finally we were able to just lead from the front and take it all the way to the checkered!”
2010 Top-5 Driver Standings (R3/13): 1st Vernay (FRA) – 140pts, 2nd Kimball (USA) – 112pts, 3rd HINCHCLIFFE (CAN) – 99pts, 4th Plowman (GBR) – 96, 5th Saavedra (COL) – 85pts
Round 4 of the 2010 Firestone Indy Lights Series takes place next month at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Friday 28th May – www.indycar.com
www.hinchtown.com
Release Prepared by SM-PR:
Tel: +1 514 684 2621
Cell: +1 514 945 3253
Email: stuart@sm-pr.com
0 comments:
Post a Comment