Toronto, Ontario (April 11, 2010) – Canada’s James Hinchcliffe recorded his first top-five finish of the 2010 Firestone Indy Lights Series capturing fifth place in Sunday’s 40-lap race as Alabama’s picturesque Barber Motorsports Park hosted the second round of the 13-race championship – the official feeder category to the IZOD IndyCar Series.
After a frustrating ‘DNF’ last time out in St. Petersburg, the Ontario racer taken out at the first turn from his pole slot, Hinchcliffe was glad to record a solid score this weekend moving up to seventh overall in the Driver Standings on 46 points.
The 23-year-old looked close to emulating his qualifying run from the previous weekend, comfortably holding second through most of Saturday’s timed session. Unfortunately, and in no small part down to his St. Petersburg result penalizing the #2 Team Moore Racing entry with a poor pit slot at Barber Motorsports Park, ‘Hinch’ couldn’t but help emerge in traffic as the final three laps in qualifying effectively became a shoot-out following a full course caution.
Bumped down the order and unable to get a clear, flat-out lap in the bag, James found himself fifth fastest with a best time of 1:15.449s while pole went to French rookie J.K. Vernay with a hot lap of 1:14.872 around the 2.3-mile circuit.
Sunday’s race was, as predicted, a somewhat processional affair with little in the way of overtaking due to the nature of the clinical Alabama track and it’s 15-turns. For Hinchcliffe the closest he came to a pass would be some wheel-to-wheel action with the fourth placed car ahead of England’s Martin Plowman. With little separating the top-six in lap times, pole-sitter J.K. Vernay held on for his second straight victory, followed home at the checkered by fellow front-row starter, America’s Charlie Kimball and Colombia’s Sebastian Saavedra.
“Well it maybe wasn’t a great day for racing but I can take heart that I scored some points today,” reflected Hinchcliffe. “Saturday’s qualifying ultimately determined the outcome of today’s race but I just couldn’t get a flying lap in when it mattered most. I’m pretty confident had I been able to we’d have been on the front-row and more than likely been celebrating a podium. The track here at Barber is certainly a lot of fun to drive but the reality is it doesn’t lend itself to much overtaking!”
James continued; “We’re at least heading to Long Beach next weekend and I’ve certainly recorded plenty of laps around there and had a couple of podiums. I’m pretty excited to be returning, not least knowing that we have a competitive street-course set-up. Hopefully that, combined with my experience of the circuit, will lead to the break-out moment we really need to kick-start my 2010 campaign!”
Round 3 of the 2010 Firestone Indy Lights Series plays out next weekend on the streets of Long Beach, California, Sunday 18th April – www.gplb.com / 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
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