Franchitti, the Izod IndyCar Series points leader, had won the pole for yesterday’s MoveThatBlock.com Indy 225, the only driver to qualify above 170 miles per hour. When the race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway began, Franchitti jumped to a lead and began stretching his advantage.
On Lap 55, Franchitti lapped Will Power, who entered 62 points behind Franchitti, in second place, in the standings.
Rain started falling soon after, and drivers ran under caution from Laps 75 to 107. Three laps later, a three-car crash forced the fourth caution of the day.
On the subsequent restart on Lap 118, disaster struck for Franchitti and the Target Chip Ganassi Racing team.
Takuma Sato’s car was paired with Franchitti’s for the double-file restart. Sato’s right front tire caught the inside of Franchitti’s car, which spun into the inside of the track.
Franchitti’s day was done, snapping a 43-race stretch in which he raced to the finish.
“To have a car that dominant and be taken out in a straight lane before a restart is very difficult, very difficult to swallow,’’ Franchitti said. “But it happens. That’s racing.’’
Sato completed the race and posted a seventh-place finish. He took the blame for the incident.
“It was my fault,’’ Sato said. “I was too close to Dario. I had debris in my eye and there were tears. There is no excuse for that.’’
Franchitti said he appreciated that Sato came by his hauler to apologize.
To make matters worse for Franchitti, Power finished in fifth place, allowing him to shave 15 points off Franchitti’s lead in the standings. The controversial end to the race - after more rain and crashes, scoring reverted back to Lap 215 - helped Power.
Franchitti now leads Power by 47 points with four races remaining before the Izod IndyCar World Championship Oct. 16 at Las Vegas.
Like many drivers, Franchitti disagreed with how race officials handled the rain. He didn’t think the race should have gone green before his incident, and he didn’t think it should have gone green during the final laps, either.
“Why they went green like that, I don’t know. I just don’t know,’’ Franchitti said. “It’s a very, very frustrating day for all concerned.
“It’s tough when you have such a good car and you’re leading. I mean, we know racing can change in the blink of an eye. We saw that today.’’
It was easy to hear the frustration in Franchitti’s tone.
“If you make a mistake and you screw up, it’s easier to deal with,’’ he said. “But when you’ve done nothing wrong . . . For myself and for the whole Target team, it’s difficult.’’
Franchitti had led 115 of the 118 laps prior to the fateful restart. He’d also posted 10 top-five finishes in 12 races, including four wins, this season. He’d felt very comfortable throughout his practice sessions.
It was clear that Franchitti was the driver to beat.
Though he was thrilled with his victory, Ryan Hunter-Reay expressed disappointment he didn’t get the win by beating the No. 10 car.
“We want to beat Dario straight up - the guy’s a champion,’’ Hunter-Reay said. “That didn’t happen today.’’
The MoveThaBlock.com Indy 255 turned on Lap 118. Perhaps the IZOD IndyCar world championship did too. Contact between Dario Franchitti and Takuma Sato opened the door for Ryan Hunter-Reay to collect his first win of the season, as the Andretti Autosport driver controlled the final 100 laps of the race.
However, an uncharacteristic mistake from Franchitti on the Lap 118 restart took him out of the race. Coming out of Turn 4, Franchitti moved down from the outside line into Sato's right front tire, spinning the No. 10 along the front stretch of New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Up until that moment, Franchitti dominated the race, lapping 13 of the 26 cars in the field and leading 116 of 118 laps in the first half of the race, which also featured a lengthy yellow flag period due to moisture in Loudon.
Franchitti's day was nearly saved by a controversial decision on Lap 217, as race officials threw the green flag over the protests of drivers and teams, who said there was too much moisture on the track; the result was a multicar wreck that collected four cars, as Danica Patrick spun, collecting Will Power, who was poised to collect valuable points on Franchitti. An incensed Power jumped out of his car in an effort to reach race officials and was seen vocalizing and displaying his displeasure.
As a result of the final standings, Power cut 15 points from Franchitti's lead and now trails by 47 points.
Furthering the anger of teams and drivers, the race was subsequently red-flagged as cleanup crews took cars off the front stretch and rain began to fall; in the TV booth, confusion reigned over the scoring of the race. The ABC crew was unclear as to the positions of the affected drivers and as to whether the last lap would be scored.
Hunter-Reay took the green flag as the leader, only to be passed by Oriol Servia on the restart; however, officials resorted to the previous lap when scoring the race, handing the win to Hunter-Reay. Servia was given second, with Scott Dixon rounding out the podium. Power was retroactively awarded fifth, where he restarted before spinning.
After collecting his fifth career win, Hunter-Reay said:
I knew we had a good car this weekend and in practice we've been making the car better and better. They have done such a good job. We have great chemistry on this team and it's a great result. I feel like the race turned was Dario and Sato getting together. I don't know who's fault that was. That's for them to decide. My car was so good in traffic. The guys deserve this win. This one is for them. I wish that it was different, but we'll take it after the year that we've had." (About the conditions at the end): "I couldn't even warm the tires it was so wet. I don't think the fans at home understand how wet it was. We have a very small contact patch and the Firestone contact patch is amazing but when there's some rain down, there's nothing there. I couldn't even put the power down in second or third. Wrong move on race control's part. We had such a great car today. I love these short ovals. They are so much fun. It was a strange day. But sometimes racing is strange.
In his postrace comments, Servia was adamant that he should be awarded the victory, citing the fact that the race went back to green and he passed Hunter-Reay before the yellow flag flew for the final time, saying:
All of Newman/Haas was strong. We unloaded fast and qualified even better. The whole race all I was thinking was ‘Just keep it together until the end.’ I knew rain was coming and it was going to be difficult. I was telling myself that all we need to lead is the last lap. On the last restart, I had a good one. Ryan (Hunter-Reay) had a problem; I don’t know if his tires were cold or what but he had a bad start and even Scott (Dixon) passed him. I was ahead when they called the leader at the yellow clearly. They even said ‘Car two is the leader.’ I have never, ever seen them reverse the order before so it’s unfortunate for Newman/Haas Racing and the Telemundo team. It’s devastating. We will have to do it at the next one.
INDYCAR president of competition Brian Barnhart took responsibility for the decision to restart, apologizing for three cars taking heavy damage but also saying that reports from on-track officials did not indicate that the race could not be resumed. Statements from drivers during the red flag period and following the race argued the opposite point, that they were voicing their concern but were overruled by series officials.
On ABC, Barnhart said:
It will be an aborted restart. It was a mistake on Race Control's part and the only right thing to do and the fair thing to do is to go to the running order before the start.
Drivers did not back off their criticism in the post-race press conference, with both Dixon and Servia repeatedly referencing the inconsistent nature of officiating in the series. Hunter-Reay openly wondered if series officials felt pressure to give the estimated 30,000 fans at NHMS a green flag finish rather than ending the race under a red flag. The IZOD IndyCar Series returned to Loudon after a 12-year absence.
Dixon said:
Most importantly they just need to be consistent. In my eyes, I should have been second right behind Oriol Servia because Ryan (Hunter-Reay) didn't go. I think that Ryan deserved to win today because he had the better car and he was out front, but it went green. We aren't racing USAC on the dirt so why did they go back a lap and include no pace car laps and invert the order of how it actually played out. It just makes no sense because they have been going off of time lines all day and because of that we got passed by the No. 06 twice today. I just don't understand race control's thinking. It isn't make things up as you go racing; It is IndyCar racing with rules. I am fine if they make decisions, they just need to be consistent. You can't go back and do several different things and race that way. It needs to be the same thing every time.
Franchitti's wreck capped a run of intermittent racing that saw the first 11 laps of the race run under yellow following two separate incidents, the first involving Mike Conway and Graham Rahal. A third caution period flew because of rain in the Loudon, N.H., area, before Franchitti and Sato got together. Following the cleanup from that incident, Tomas Scheckter, Marco Andretti and Tony Kanaan were caught in a wreck, with Kanaan's car flipping on its side after hitting the tire barrier on the inside of the track.
For frantic 10 minutes, Power worried that that chance was wasted because of a decision from race control. However, with Power and Barnhart both trending on twitter in the United States in the hour following the race, one could make the argument that "there is no such thing as bad publicity." However, the end of the race will put that theory to the test as the IZOD IndyCar Series leads up to the Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma in two weeks.
Things spun out of control for the Izod IndyCar Series at the end of Sunday's race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Dario Franchitti crashed as the leader mid-race, and that was the calmest of the moments.
The race ended with Will Power throwing a double-fingered salute to race officials for allowing a green-flag start when the track was wet. A half-dozen cars spun out of control, collecting Power.
Oriol Servia was almost as mad. He thought he won the race when it went green because he passed leader Ryan Hunter-Reay. Scott Dixon passed Hunter-Reay, too, but chief steward Brian Barnhart ruled that the finishing order would revert back to before the restart because he said the conditions weren't fair.
"It's only the right thing to do," Barnhart said. "We tore up some race cars we shouldn't have."
That gave Power the fifth spot back, but he knows he'll be in trouble for flipping off the officials in a shot caught by national television and made an Internet sensation.
"I know I lost my temper but I couldn't help it, I was so emotional," he said. "We were begging them, I was begging them, don't throw the green, it's too slippery--everyone was saying it."
Franchitti's demise came on lap 119. Approaching the green flag, he had contact with Takuma Sato that spun the Scot into the inside wall. His race was over, ending a streak of 43 consecutive races finished.
Franchitti, the pole sitter, settled for 20th place when a win appeared in hand.
"He [Sato] kept coming and I don't know what he was going to do," Franchitti said. "He had a very clear view of where I was and he kept coming up."
Sato took responsibility.
"It was my fault," he said. "I had debris in my eye, tears."
Hunter-Reay scored his first oval-track win since the Champ Car World Series race in 2004 at Milwaukee. He drove for the Herdez Competition team at the time. This was his first IndyCar win on such a track.
Servia finished second with Dixon third and rookie James Hinchcliffe fourth.
Franchitti entered the event 62 points ahead of Power, and it was as high as 98 points before the Scot had his trouble. But the combination of finishes left Power only 47 points behind heading to the Aug. 28 race at Infineon Raceway. Five races remain.
The race was one of the most tumultuous of the season, with nearly as much contact as the street fight in Toronto last month. There were three multicar accidents and fire onboard Alex Tagliani's car.
Graham Rahal predicted what was coming after nearly crashing in qualifying. He had the fastest car in a couple of the practice sessions and was expected to contend for the pole, but his Ganassi Racing car wiggled in turn three, and he was lucky to save it.
Starting 23rd in a pack of 26 cars is never ideal, and it wasn't for Rahal this time, either. When Mike Conway spun coming off the second corner, Rahal listened to his spotter and dove to the inside. Rahal got all the way to the grass but Conway's backward-sliding car kept coming and they hit hard. The impact stuffed Rahal into the inside tire barrier, where his race ended.
"We were hopeless," he said of the situation with Conway, who started 12th. "My spotter said go low, go low, and there was nowhere to go."
The frustration was clear. "We dominated this weekend," he said.
Both cars were knocked out of the race.
Helio Castroneves, who was making his 200th start with Team Penske since 2000, spun in the same part of the track as Conway. Castroneves didn't collect anyone, although rookie Charlie Kimball barely escaped without contact.
Castroneves was able to continue albeit a few laps down, but it was just another moment in a difficult day. He struck tools dropped on the track by another car during the prerace morning warm-up, damaging the radiator in his right sidepod. The crew repaired it just behind the pit wall as a crowd gathered to watch.
After a 33-lap caution for light rain, Franchitti jumped ahead of Sato for a slight edge. Behind them, a crash was developing.
Three cars got side-by-side in turn two: Tony Kanaan on the bottom with Marco Andretti in the middle and Tomas Scheckter on the outside. They simply ran out of room, making contact that had Kanaan and Scheckter getting the worst of it.
Kanaan's car hit the barrier and flipped upside down.
"You've got to ask Marco and Tomas what the hell they were thinking," Kanaan said.
Rookie J. R. Hildebrand was collected in Franchitti's incident after he was clipped by E. J. Viso.
The final caution, which led to a red flag, included more than Danica Patrick and Power. Sato and Ed Carpenter were collected. But in the final box score, it's like the crash never happened.
RESULTS
1. Ryan Hunter-Reay, Andretti Autosport
2. Oriol Servia, Newman-Haas Racing
3. Scott Dixon, Ganassi Racing
4. James Hinchcliffe, Newman-Haas Racing
5. Will Power, Team Penske
6. Danica Patrick, Andretti Autosport
7. Takuma Sato, KV Racing Technology
8. Ryan Briscoe, Team Penske
9. Charlie Kimball, Ganassi Racing
10. Vitor Meira, A. J. Foyt Racing
11. Ed Carpenter, Sarah Fisher Racing
12. E. J. Viso, KV Racing Technology
13. Alex Lloyd, Dale Coyne Racing
14. Ana Beatriz, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
15. Sebastian Saavedra, Conquest Racing
16. Simona De Silvestro, HVM Racing
17. Helio Castroneves, Team Penske
18. James Jakes, Dale Coyne Racing
19. Alex Tagliani, Sam Schmidt Motorsports
20. Dario Franchitti, Ganassi Racing
21. J. R. Hildebrand, Panther Racing
22. Tony Kanaan, KV Racing Technology
23. Tomas Scheckter, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
24. Marco Andretti, Andretti Autosport
25. Mike Conway, Andretti Autosport
26. Graham Rahal, Ganassi Racing
27. Pippa Mann, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, did not start