When Ryan Hunter-Reay won at Milwaukee last season, it was the catalyst that led him to the 2012 IndyCar championship. He won the next weekend at Iowa and eventually won four races en route to toppling Will Power in the final race at Auto Club Speedway to win the crown.
Ryan Hunter-Reay wins IndyCar race at Milwaukee Mile
Ryan Hunter-Reay scored his third Indy car win at the Milwaukee Mile on Saturday afternoon. It is his second-consecutive victory in West Allis, Wis.
Nick Laham
Hunter-Reay won at Milwaukee for the second-straight season on Saturday afternoon and has once again set his sights on the season championship. But the win was special for another reason too -- it comes on the eve of his first Father’s Day since becoming a father.
Ryden Hunter-Reay was born on Dec. 28 and his father dedicated the win to his six-month-old son.
“I did it for that little guy,” Hunter-Reay said in victory lane. “My son -- he’s six months old. It’s so great to win for DHL and Chevy and be able to pull up in DHL Victory Circle. Our team was awesome all day. We were up and down all day with different levels of balance but we were able to get it done.”
Hunter-Reay used a perfect restart with 30 laps to go to pull away to a four-second lead and never looked back. Second and third place Helio Castroneves and Will Power struggled to deal with the lap down car of Ed Carpenter and just couldn’t catch back up to the leader.
The two Penske teammates would put on the most captivating battle of the closing laps with Power at one point driving onto the grass to try to get around Castroneves but couldn’t get it done. They would finish nose-to-tail and complete the podium behind Hunter-Reay.
EJ Viso and James Hinchcliffe rounded out the top five.
The dominant car early in the afternoon was driven by pole-sitter Marco Andretti. But an electrical issue on lap 98 put him behind the garage and countless laps down. The issue first presented itself a few laps before when a slow pit stop mired him deep in the pack.
The Andretti Autosport team was able to get Marco back out for points but he was unable to make up much ground. He finished 20th.
Castroneves maintained his championship lead but leads by just 16 over Hunter-Reay. Marco Andretti drops to third and is 50 markers out of the top spot.
Next on the IZOD IndyCar Series Schedule is the Iowa Corn Indy 250 set for next Sunday, June 23. The 250-lap race is scheduled to start at 3:00 p.m. ET with live TV coverage on ABC TV.
The complete results of the race can be found below:
- Ryan Hunter-Reay
- Helio Castroneves
- Will Power
- EJ Viso
- James Hinchcliffe
- Scott Dixon
- Takuma Sato
- Dario Franchitti
- Justin Wilson
- Tony Kanaan
- Josef Newgarden
- Simon Pagenaud
- Sebastian Saavedra
- Ed Carpenter
- Ryan Briscoe
- Graham Rahal
- Charlie Kimball
- James Jakes
- Ana Beatriz
- Marco Andretti
- Tristan Vautier
- Sebastien Bourdais
- Alex Tagliani
- Simona De Silvestro
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