Super Aguri Panther's Hideki Mutoh Sweeps With Kentucky 100 Win
Pole-Sitter Meets Challenge from Cunningham, Lloyd
by Allan Brewer
allan@indyproracer.com
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Super Aguri Panther’s Hideki Mutoh.
Photo: AllanBrewer |
Indianapolis-based Super Aguri Panther Racing found much reason to rejoice in the Bluegrass State as its rising star from the land of the rising sun dominated practice, qualifications and the race on the way to a near-wire-to-wire victory in the Indy Pro Series Kentucky 100 on Saturday (August 11th).
Hideki Mutoh led from the 9:10 PM EDT start to win for the second time this season, sending owner John Barnes to the hallowed ground in Victory Lane for a joyous victory celebration filled with smiles and hand-shakes beneath the stars. The race was the Indy Pro Series first-ever night-time competition.
"I am happy for the team," said the slightly-built twenty-five year old racer afterwards. "The team gives me a great car to drive and win."
The win was Mutoh's first victory on an oval. His previous Pro Series victory came at Indianapolis' road course during the US Grand Prix weekend's Liberty Challenge race one on June 16th of this year.
For the win Mutoh was awarded $33,500 in prize money (including $1000 in SWE Performance Parts pole money) and the full fifty-three points available in the championship points race. At 450 points Hideki drew closer to, though still not close enough to seriously threaten, front-runner Alex Lloyd for the Firestone Firehawk Cup.
Lloyd, Cunningham Complete Kentucky Podium
Sam Schmidt Motorsports' Alex Lloyd finished second, preserving his lead for the championship and collecting a valuable forty-points toward the trophy that goes to the Indy Pro Series points leader at season's end.
"It was a crazy race," he said later. "Early on, the three of us (Mutoh, Cunningham and self) just pulled away. I just stayed patient and eventually a few yellows came out. I was concerned that I wasn't going to get the last few laps of green flag to make a run for it. We had a great restart and I got to second. It was just a great finish and a great race."
Third-place Wade Cunningham of AFS Andretti Green Racing led for one lap, the second, as he wrested the lead away from Mutoh briefly before settling into second for much of the race.
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Robbie Pecorari (Left) finishes 7th.
Photo: AllanBrewer |
"Hideki was fast today and he held the bottom well," said Cunningham. "It was just a real battle to try to make a pass around the outside him in Turns 1 and 2."
Fourth was Chip Ganassi Racing's Chris Festa, followed by Cunningham teammate Jaime Camara.
"The car was good," said Festa. "The team did a really good job and we gained some momentum this weekend. I just look forward to keeping it going the next few races."
Sean Guthrie in the Playa Del Racing Ethos Fuel Reformulator car was sixth, just ahead of Team KMA's Robbie Pecorari. Mike Potekhen came home eighth in the Avenue Communications Dallara, while home-standing Brad Jaeger of Cincinnati recorded a top-ten finish in ninth place with the Brian Stewart Racing machine.
Travis Gregg, filling in for injured Jonathan Klein, was tenth in the bright yellow and white Team Moore car.
Three Leaders Separate Early from Kentucky Pursuers
Joey Scarallo brought out the race's first yellow on lap seven when he spun exiting turn four. A ten-lap cleanup led to a brisk restart on lap fifteen that gave Lloyd and Cunningham a look at Mutoh, but neither could advance ahead of the red, white and blue Panther Honda Dream machine.
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Logan Gomez (Right) at Kentucky 100.
Photo: AllanBrewer |
Behind them, Chris Festa and Ryan Justice split Logan Gomez (who suffered damage to the right front wing in the process) moving into fourth and fifth respectively. Gomez required replacement of the nose and wing assembly, putting him several laps down at his return.
The race became a leaders and pack affair with Mutoh, Cunningham and Lloyd pulling away; while a gaggle of Justice, Festa, Leilani Munter, and Camara battled for position eight seconds behind them.
Lap 40 found Munter colliding in turn one with a slowing Ryan Justice, then crashing into the SAFER barrier. Jon Brownson, Andrew Prendeville and Bobby Wilson also were involved in the chain reaction that followed.
A lengthy yellow put the cars still behind the safetycar on lap 55 with the top-ten running order Mutoh, Cunningham, Lloyd, Festa, Camara, Guthrie, Gregg, Potekhen, Pecorari and Jaeger.
As the field waited to go back green, Tom Wieringa lost control, destroying the Dallara with a hard crash into the wall at turn one.
On the ensuing restart on lap 63 Lloyd passed Cunningham and challenged Mutoh, but Hideki found the low groove, fixed the car on a route just above the white line, and drove confidently to his second win of the season.
Mutoh's official margin of victory was 0.1032 seconds ahead of Alex Lloyd.
Lloyd set the race's fastest lap on the white flag tour of the 1.5 mile oval, blistering the pavement to reset the Indy Pro Series record at Kentucky Speedway (for the weekend's fourth time) at 192.563 miles per hour.
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Brian Stewart Racing’s Brad Jaeger (3rd from right). Photo: AllanBrewer
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The race was officially run under a combined 32 laps of yellow flag.
Accident Sends Munter to Sidelines Mid-Race
Leilani Munter's debut with the Indy Pro Series came to a close when she and Ryan Justice collided on lap 38. From her vantage she watched as Chris Festa and Ryan Justice touched ever so slightly ahead of her, then Justice began to slow. "I saw them touch, then I saw him (Justice) wiggle and I started to move up to go around. There wasn't enough time and the front of my car hit the back of his car."
Her shortened race, however, did little to curb her enthusiasm for the experience. "I gained so much confidence with my run. I haven't had a chance to drive in traffic until today," she said.
"I felt so good about how I was running. I'm really disappointed because I wanted so much to finish well here. I really want to thank Sam Schmidt Motorsports for giving me a great car and SMART Papers for letting me be here."
"I didn't want this kind of ending," she added, "but I can't wait to get back out there at Chicagoland for a better result!"
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Points Leader Alex Lloyd (back to camera).
Photo: AllanBrewer |
Alex Lloyd's Championship Points Lead Remains Formidable
Hideki Mutoh's fifty-three point advance in the Indy Pro Series championship, by virtue of his race win and pole qualifying effort, drew him within a hundred points of Alex Lloyd (548 points).
With only three races remaining, and slightly over 150 points possible to claim, the Panther Racing driver must hope for an unexpected calamity to befall Lloyd if he has any realistic chance of overcoming the 98 point deficit he still faces.
Meanwhile, Wade Cunningham and Bobby Wilson (third and fourth in the points race) were mathematically eliminated when Lloyd finished second on Saturday night.
The next race is a weekend double header in Sonoma, California at Infineon Raceway in two weeks on August 25th. The season ends at Chicagoland on September 9th.
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