DETROIT -  Rahal Letterman Racing rookie Ryan Hunter-Reay (#17 Ethanol Dallara/Honda/Firestone) has his Indy Car in the fifth spot for the start of today’s Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix, the highest a RLR car had ever started on a road course since the team joined the IndyCar Series in 2004.
 
Like last week in Sonoma, Hunter-Reay and Marco Andretti found themselves locked in battle for a top-five spot after 20 laps, and like last week in Sonoma, things went south soon after.
 
Hunter-Reay’s radio crackled to life on Lap 22 with the rookie reporting that something was very wrong with his Ethanol-sponsored Indy Car. A pit stop on the next trip around the remeasured 2.07-mile track confirmed the worst - a broken input shaft had robbed the car of the ability to transfer Honda horsepower to his Firestone Firehawk tires.
 
“I said yesterday that we didn’t need any good luck to have a strong finish today, because we had a great starting spot and a good car,” Hunter-Reay lamented. “We just didn’t need to have any bad luck. But unfortunately, that’s what we got again. We’re putting in good performances with the Ethanol car, we just can’t catch a break. Our time will come, we are working hard and things are improving every week.”
 
Hunter-Reay was officially credited with an 18th-place finish, giving him a 12-point lead in the Bombardier Learjet Rookie-of-the-Year chase with one race remaining on the IndyCar Series schedule. Sharp stayed in eighth place in the point standings with his finish and still has a chance to move up to at least sixth if results fall his way next weekend.
 
The Rahal Letterman Racing team will pack its gear and head to Joliet, Illinois as the IndyCar Series puts a cap on the 2007 campaign with Sunday’s Chicagoland Indy 300. The two-day event gets underway with practice and qualifying on Saturday, with the 200-lap season finale set for Sunday at 3:30 p.m. Eastern Time. The race can be seen live on ABC, beginning at 3:30.