Hildebrand goes flag-to-flag at Infineon
Hildebrand jump to the lead at the start and was never seriously challenged in another dominating performance by the Andretti Racing driver.
"It's pretty special to win here on 'home turf.' said Hildebrand. "I think our strongest competition was going to be my teammate, Sebastian. He showed that by picking up as many spots as he did at the end after starting at the back with the engine change.
"It was a nice, clean race. I was able to just tick off the laps. We ran most of our laps with in a couple of tenths within the fastest lap I ran during the race. That's really what we were trying to do. That's been our strong point all year and it proved to be strong again here."
Results
|
Pos |
Driver (Car no.) | Start Pos | Diff | Gap | Best Time | Status |
| 1 | JR Hildebrand (26) | 1 | –.—- | –.—- | 1:23.9479 | Running |
| 2 | Felipe Guimaraes (29) | 3 | 15.8918 | 15.8918 | 1:24.4702 | Running |
| 3 | James Davison (21) | 5 | 23.5403 | 7.6485 | 1:24.6290 | Running |
| 4 | Richard Philippe (37) | 6 | 37.1880 | 13.6477 | 1:24.8219 | Running |
| 5 | Ana Beatriz (20) | 2 | 40.1798 | 2.9918 | 1:24.7508 | Running |
| 6 | James Hinchcliffe (7) | 4 | 40.7500 | 0.5702 | 1:24.7137 | Running |
| 7 | Sebastian Saavedra (27) | 19 | 41.0038 | 0.2538 | 1:24.5296 | Running |
| 8 | Charlie Kimball (35) | 8 | 41.8858 | 0.8820 | 1:24.9153 | Running |
| 9 | Mario Romancini (5) | 7 | 43.2152 | 1.3294 | 1:24.9454 | Running |
| 10 | Martin Plowman (15) | 9 | 44.9162 | 1.7010 | 1:24.9351 | Running |
| 11 | Daniel Herrington (28) | 11 | 45.5340 | 0.6178 | 1:24.9579 | Running |
| 12 | Wade Cunningham (11) | 12 | 52.4153 | 6.8813 | 1:24.6893 | Running |
| 13 | Andrew Prendeville (2) | 10 | 53.8610 | 1.4457 | 1:25.2341 | Running |
| 14 | Pippa Mann (16) | 14 | 1:08.3204 | 14.4594 | 1:25.2905 | Running |
| 15 | Ali Jackson (9) | 17 | 1:11.8904 | 3.5700 | 1:25.4719 | Running |
| 16 | Mike Potekhen (24) | 13 | 1:12.7771 | 0.8867 | 1:25.5617 | Running |
| 17 | Rodrigo Barbosa (55) | 18 | 1 lap | 1 lap | 1:26.3273 | Running |
| 18 | Juan Pablo Garcia (8) | 16 | 23.7997 | 23.7997 | 1:25.2400 | Running |
| 19 | Gustavo Yacaman (44) | 15 | 40 laps | 39 laps | -0.0001 | Contact |
Race Statistics
Winner's average speed: 89.522 mph
Time of race: 1:01:44.4612
Margin of victory: 15.8918 seconds
Cautions: 1 caution flags for 6 laps
Lead changes: no lead changes
Lap leaders: Hildebrand 1-40.
Point standings: Hildebrand 473, Saavedra 383, Davison 376, Hinchcliffe 361, Cunningham 354, Romancini 328, Herrington 315, Beatriz 304, Kimball 267, Prendeville 258.
QUOTES:
J.R. HILDEBRAND (No. 26 ARPRO, Carneros 100 race winner): "I think our strongest competition was going to be my teammate Sebastian (Saavedra). He showed that by picking up as many spots as he at the end, after starting at the back with the engine change. It was a nice, clean race. I was able to just tick off the laps. We ran most of our laps within a couple of tenths within the fastest lap I ran during the race. That's really what we were trying to do. That's been our strong point all year and it proved to be strong again here.
FELIPE GUIMARES (No. 29 Bryan Herta Autosport, finished second): "It's been good. We've run three races and have had two podium results, so that's great. My team did a very good job this weekend. I'm very proud of them."
JAMES DAVISON (No. 21 People*s Liberation/Vision Racing, finished third): "I made the most of the passing opportunities today, which were done on the restarts. I got into fourth and then I got into third. Knowing my teammate (Felipe Guimares) had underneath him what I had, I think it was a day to drive a safe race and bring it home. We have to continue to bring home these top ten finishes. It would be great to get a win on an oval as well as a road course this year, so we'll go to Chicago and try to better it."
RICHARD PHILIPPE (No. 37 Palm Beach International Raceway, finished fourth): "The race was pretty uneventful actually until I guess ten laps from the end. I was able to make some moves and some of my peers made some mistakes, so I was able to capitalize on them. It's been a very emotional weekend for me as you know. My brother is still in the hospital so this race is for him. All of his sponsors are on my car. It's been a tough weekend, but I have a job to do. Hopefully he'll be back soon and running with me."
ANA BEATRIZ (No. 20 Healthy Choice/Sam Schmidt Motorsports, finished fifth): "It was a difficult race for the Healthy Choice/Sam Schmidt team. I couldn't be as aggressive as I wanted to in driving the car. Throughout the race, I kept experience the rear brakes locking up, and it made it difficult to be in close battles. On the one hand, I'm happy for the team to get another top-five, but I know we could have been fighting for the podium so it's a bit frustrating. We'll get the car ready for Chicago and hope to have a good race there."