Saturday, June 28, 2008 SunTrust Indy Challenge – Richmond International Raceway Round 9 of 18 in the IndyCar Series
RANK | NAME | ENTRY | START
Coming Soon!
McDONALD’S DRIVER WILSON FINISHED SEVENTH IN THE SUNTRUST INDY CHALLENGE; HOLE IN THE WALL CAMPS DRIVER RAHAL WAS ONE OF MANY WHO SUCCUMBED TO ATTRITION AFTER HE MADE CONTACT AND RETIRED IN 18TH
Justin Wilson, No. 02 McDonald’s Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “What a crazy race. There was some really good driving and some really bad driving out there. I was just trying not to get caught out and stay out of trouble and bring the car home. The McDonald’s car wasn’t the quickest car out there today but we managed to salvage some good points and hopefully that will help us out in the championship. The team did a good job on the pit stops. I’m not sure how many we did, maybe 10! I had a bit of a moment with E.J. at the end. His team told him yellow at the end of Turn 3 for the checkered flag and it caused a big moment. He lifted off the throttle and I had to also but got sucked up behind him and I was all sideways and crossed up to avoid him. I thought I had crashed and was going to cross the finish line with no wheels on the car. I thought ‘I’ve come through all this only to crash at the very end.’ Fortunately we were able to keep all four corners on it and bring it home.”
FAST FACTS: Was his first race here and 12th on an oval…Finished runner up in the Champ Car championship to the driver he recently replaced, four-time champion Sebastien Bourdais, in 2006 and 2007. Was a title contender until the conclusion of the penultimate race of each season…Highest start this season is pole on the streets of Long Beach and his highest finish is seventh on the one-mile oval in Milwaukee.
Graham Rahal, No. 06 Hole in the Wall Camps Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “I’m not sure what happened. My car had had a huge understeer the whole race. We managed to stay in the top-three for the first stint but the car was pushing like crazy. We were struggling to keep up with the guys in front because of understeer and then the car just went. For the entire race the car had been understeering like crazy and I just went into Turns 3 and 4 and the back of the car literally came around instantly. The unfortunate thing about being on ovals like this is that when the rear goes it’s almost impossible to catch it. Unfortunately it’s my second time hitting backwards this year. It’s disappointing. I didn’t think we had a car to win because we had a lot of understeer but I certainly didn’t expect the rear to come around. The race turned into a demolition derby and I didn’t want to be one of them but here I am.”
FAST FACTS: Was his first race here and his sixth IndyCar Series race on an oval…In his IndyCar Series debut on a road/street course he became the youngest winner in major open-wheel racing in North America after winning in St. Pete on 4-6-08 at 19 years, 93 days old…His highest start this season is second on the one-mile oval in Milwaukee where he narrowly lost becoming the youngest pole winner in series history to Marco Andretti. His highest oval finish is 10th place on the .894 mile oval at Iowa Speedway.
