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RHR Fast in Mexico Despite a Debilitating Fire |
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Ryan Hunter-Reay started and finished the Gran Premio Telmex-Tecate in his usual aggressive style and it looked like it had the potential to be a rewarding day for the young American as he passed two cars for position (Carpentier and Tagliani) in the first 13 laps. He was running eighth when he came into the pits for his first scheduled pitstop of the day. It was during this stop that his day turned disastrous. The stop seemed perfect; he took four Bridgestone “alternate” tires and a full tank of fuel. Things turned for the worse when Hunter-Reay returned to the track and was shown the black flag when Champ Car officials determined a fire in the rear of the car as it zoomed past the official's observation stations around the track. Hunter-Reay was forced to pit and for good reason, a shock had failed, causing a fire in the rear of the car which burned a wiring loom, the loom held several data and technical sensors. The #4 crew quickly replaced all necessary parts to get Hunter-Reay back on track, but the damage was extensive and cost Hunter-Reay six minutes in the pits while he eagerly awaited his return to the track. He returned five laps down in the 19th position and was missing the shift without lift feature among others due to the damage from the fire. Hunter-Reay still managed to run very fast lap times throughout the remainder of the 63-lap race. Despite his brilliant driving, the situation in the pits proved to be very costly for Hunter-Reay in the championship points standings, he lost a position to Jimmy Vasser and finished the season ninth in the series championship with 199 points.
Ryan Hunter-Reay, #4 Herdez/Lola/Ford-Cosworth
Started: 9th
Finished: 19th
Highest Race Pos.: 8th
Ryan on the race:“It was an extremely frustrating day. We were running a good race, I passed Carpentier and Tagliani and then on our first stop we had a shock failure. When I went back out on track, the rear end caught fire and burnt up the electronics. In the process of replacing the shocks, we went five laps down. From there I ran without the shift without lift function and I couldn't figure out what gear I was in due to the fried electronics. I put my head down and was super consistent and quite fast despite the problems. Unfortunately we dropped a position in the Championship which was really disappointing.” |
