Canadian driver James Hinchcliffe collected his second victory of the Firestone Indy Lights Series season on Sunday as the Canadian standout delivered a textbook flag-to-flag performance in Round 8, the ‘Edmonton 100’, hosted on the temporary Edmonton Airport Circuit in Alberta, Canada.
The 23-year-old went from heartbreak to hero in a week following his crushing retirement on the last lap at his home race in Toronto last Sunday. The second and final leg of the Indy Lights tour of Canada proved more favorable to the driver of the No. 2 Team Moore Racing entry, James adding to his Long Beach victory from April and strengthening his second place in the driver standings behind France’s J.K. Vernay.
Hinchcliffe collected his fourth pole position of the season on Saturday thanks to a hot-lap around the 1.973-mile circuit of 1m06.216s. He was joined on the front-row by title rival Vernay, who had denied ‘Hinch’ a home pole seven days earlier on the streets of Toronto, the gap between the two series rivals a mere 1/100th of a second.
Sunday’s 50-lap showdown proved to be a thrilling affair with James leading the charge from pole. With the race flat-out, with the exception of just one full-course caution period, it was Hinchcliffe’s to lose as he had his mirrors full of Vernay’s Sam Schmidt Motorsports entry from start to finish.
Despite the constant pressure, the gap between the two front-runners rarely more than a second, Hinchcliffe delivered a brilliant flag-to-flag domination. Vernay had to settle for second with Great Britain’s Martin Plowman rounding out the Edmonton top-three.
American Charlie Kimball was fourth in the No. 26 Levemir FlexPen entry for the second consecutive race.
Dan Clarke, runner-up at Toronto last week, finished fifth in the No. 40 Wasteco Deans Knight Special for Walker Racing, and Sebastian Saavedra advanced two positions in the No. 29 William Rast/Bryan Herta Autosport car to sixth. Teammate Stefan Wilson finished seventh and Adrian Campos Jr. moved up one position to eighth in the No. 22 TMR-Xtreme Coil Drilling car.
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| Podium celebrations in Edmonton (Photo: IndyCar Series) |
The 23-year-old went from heartbreak to hero in a week following his crushing retirement on the last lap at his home race in Toronto last Sunday. The second and final leg of the Indy Lights tour of Canada proved more favorable to the driver of the No. 2 Team Moore Racing entry, James adding to his Long Beach victory from April and strengthening his second place in the driver standings behind France’s J.K. Vernay.
Hinchcliffe collected his fourth pole position of the season on Saturday thanks to a hot-lap around the 1.973-mile circuit of 1m06.216s. He was joined on the front-row by title rival Vernay, who had denied ‘Hinch’ a home pole seven days earlier on the streets of Toronto, the gap between the two series rivals a mere 1/100th of a second.
Sunday’s 50-lap showdown proved to be a thrilling affair with James leading the charge from pole. With the race flat-out, with the exception of just one full-course caution period, it was Hinchcliffe’s to lose as he had his mirrors full of Vernay’s Sam Schmidt Motorsports entry from start to finish.
Despite the constant pressure, the gap between the two front-runners rarely more than a second, Hinchcliffe delivered a brilliant flag-to-flag domination. Vernay had to settle for second with Great Britain’s Martin Plowman rounding out the Edmonton top-three.
American Charlie Kimball was fourth in the No. 26 Levemir FlexPen entry for the second consecutive race.
Dan Clarke, runner-up at Toronto last week, finished fifth in the No. 40 Wasteco Deans Knight Special for Walker Racing, and Sebastian Saavedra advanced two positions in the No. 29 William Rast/Bryan Herta Autosport car to sixth. Teammate Stefan Wilson finished seventh and Adrian Campos Jr. moved up one position to eighth in the No. 22 TMR-Xtreme Coil Drilling car.