Hideki Mutoh Charges to Rear Wheels From One Second Deficit on Last Turn
by Allan Brewer
allan@indyproracer.com
AFS Racing's Wade Cunningham nearly saw a rout turn into regret as he yielded momentum through the final turn of Saturday's race one of the Indy Pro Series Corning Twin 100's at Watkins Glen International raceway and almost lost the lead down the stretch. The result put Cunningham into fourth in the standings overall for the year ahead of Sunday's second race, as Alex Lloyd continues to lead for the championship.
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Cunningham, Camara celebrate.
Photo: ChrisJonesIRL |
Leading from wire to wire, Wade Cunningham controlled the first of two Corning Twin 100 races masterfully for twenty-nine laps on Saturday (July 7th) but Panther's Hideki Mutoh managed to close dramatically over the last two hundreds yards of racing to turn a one-second deficit into a close call for the New Zealand ace who collected his fifth career Indy Pro Series win with the victory.
"We've been pretty loose in the high speed turns all day," Cunningham said from Victory Lane as he celebrated his first trip atop the podium this season, "and I was taking it easy, forgetting how much momentum you carry through that last turn. I could see Hideki coming, so I just downshifted and dragged him to the line."
Defeat Comes by Narrow Margin for Panther's Mutoh
Cunningham's official margin of victory was a skinny 0.0758 seconds.
"I'm happy we got the win," he continued. "It feels like we belong here as we've been quick all year. We've been building toward this, and missed getting the job done before; but today we did."
Mutoh closed the gap to place second, benefitting from a slick pass of Alex Lloyd early in the race and holding position to the finish. Lloyd started alongside of pole-sitter Cunningham on the front row and wound up third for the day.
Playa del Racing's Phil Giebler gave Lloyd plenty of battle in the race's early stages as well; besting the points leader with a keen inside pass that stuck for nearly four laps before Alex returned the favor to move back into third and begin the chase among the top three that drew them well clear of the rest of the field by race's end.
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Sam Schmidt Motorsports’ Alex Lloyd.
Photo: RonMcQueeneyIRL |
Giebler's fourth put him one spot to the better of Brian Stewart Racing's Bobby Wilson (who won here last year) and surprisingly strong Daniel Herrington, who continued his brisk qualifying and practice habits by keeping pace for sixth place after starting from third--his best qualifications and race finish yet for the Speedworks team in only his third event of the season.
In seventh came Cunningham teammate Jaime Camara, followed by Richard Antinucci, Mike Potekhen and Andrew Prendeville.
A game effort by still-achy Sean Guthrie put him fifteenth with the broken left foot that has him on crutches for the weekend, and newly-returned CR Crews (subbing for the injured Richard Heistand in the Michael Crawford Motorsports car) drove to an eighteenth-best result despite never turning a practice lap on the 3.4 mile circuit.
Indy Pro Series Fans Enjoy Spectacle of Racing at The Glen
The race went off under a sunny sky as throngs of fans in the infield camping and recreational vehicle area enjoyed the spectacle of twenty-four brightly colored Dallara machines dashing over the hilly breadth and depth of this ageless race course set in the Finger Lakes.
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RV Heaven in the Finger Lakes.
Photo: RonMcQueeneyIRL |
SSM's Ryan Justice found the tire barrier on the first lap of the race, bringing out a brief yellow for cleanup. Justice was unhurt in the incident.
From there the racing turned green with Cunningham stretching out to a comfortable margin ahead of Mutoh and Lloyd until Chip Ganassi Racing's Chris Festa spun in turn two and broke his left front suspension to bring his effort in race one to a close on lap nine.
Robbie Pecorari brought out a local yellow when his car appeared to lose power near the chicane, slowing to a stop well off the course behind the orange cones for the duration. The two full-course yellows from Justice and Festa consumed only five laps of the twenty-nine lap total.
On the ensuing restart Giebler made a great run down the straightaway under the starter's flag to flash past Lloyd in turn one and hold the Englishman off through the subsequent turn to place himself third. However, the American could not hold on for more than a few laps as Lloyd took advantage of his car's setup with substantial downforce to go round once more and by the chicane was full steam ahead toward the two front-runners Cunningham and Mutoh.
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Welcome back CR!
Photo: ChrisJonesIRL |
Cunningham enjoyed a margin of more than a second most of the way, until the last turn of the final lap when he gave up the gap as he appeared ready to enjoy a leisurely cruise home across the finish line. Mutoh advanced rapidly to the rear wheels of the red and yellow number twenty-seven car before coming in second, and clearly capable of pulling off the surprise given another hundred yards of pavement.
Alex Lloyd set the race's fastest lap at a speed of 123.521 mph on lap twenty-six; while Cunningham's fastest leading lap was turned at 123.470 mph on the next lap, number twenty-seven.
The race extended Arie Luyendyk Jr.'s record of forty-four Pro Series races started, moving the mark to forty-five; and brought the mark for most IPS races running at the finish to a new record (his own again) of thirty-four.
Firestone Firehawk Cup Moves Another Step Closer to Fore
The win jumps Wade Cunningham fifty points better than before and into a firm grasp of fourth place for the year with 230 points total, nineteen ahead of his teammate Camara in fifth. Lloyd (425 points), Mutoh (311) and Wilson (259) continue to set the pace toward the Firestone Firehawk Cup that goes to the champion at year's end.
The race also wrote Lloyd's name into the history books once again as a record-breaker with his twelfth consecutive top-five finish, making him one better than the mark of eleven he shared previously with Cunningham and IndyCar Series driver Jeff Simmons.
Equally important to Lloyd, the results assure Sam Schmidt Motorsports the point among the entrants championship contenders, now with 425 points and well clear of Panther with 311 as round nine of sixteen is completed.
Up next is the drawing to determine how the cars line up for Sunday's race two of the Corning Twin 100's. Cunningham has the privilege, reaching into the fishbowl to pull out the number of places (if any) he will be set back on the grid after today's first-place result. He could be moved as far back as eighth if his luck fails him, as it did Hideki Mutoh in the Liberty Challenge; or wind up starting race two from the pole again.
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