Junior Open Wheel Talent

James Hinchcliffe earned his first career victory on an oval today at the Chicagoland 100 after beating race leader Pippa Mann to the stripe by 0.0159 seconds on the final lap.  It was the third closest finish in Firestone Indy Lights history.  Philip Major finished third – his best career finish.

Points leader J.K. Vernay finished fourth with Dan Clarke crossing the stripe in fifth just two-tenths of a second behind race winner Hinchcliffe. If that’s not telling, I don’t know what is.

The race was incredibly close and action packed.  The grandstands remained relatively empty which is such a shame.  If race fans only knew what they were missing.

The action got underway at the bumpy 1.5-mile Chicagoland Speedway with Martin Plowman leading the field toward the green flag.  The first caution of the race occurred early in the event when Charlie Kimball lost the rear of his car coming off Turn 2 — when somebody in front of him checked up — causing him to slide into Gustavo Yacaman who was running on the outside.  The contact sent Kimball’s car into the air with the front nose lifting off the ground.  After doing a half-backflip Kimball slid to a halt, fortunately neither driver was injured in the incident.

“There’s some guys making crazy moves out there,” said Kimball after the crash. “But, I think it should be a great race for the remaining 60-laps.”

A red flag was flown following the incident for clean-up and debris, lasting 14 minutes, eight-seconds.  The drivers went back to green flag racing on Lap 11-of-67.

By Lap 14, eventual race winner, James Hinchcliffe entered the top-five with the top-six running side-by-side and nose-to-tail in a 2x2x2 formation.  Over the next few laps, Vernay and Hinchcliffe repeatedly traded fifth position.

Meanwhile, Plowman continued to lead despite repeated attempts by Mann to sneak by on the high side.  Unfortunately, contact occurred when Mann’s front wing cut into Plowman’s right rear tire on Lap 30.  The incident sent the race leader into the pits before coming back on track one lap down.

“Everyone knew it was going to happen,” said Gary Peterson, owner of Plowman’s No. 27 AFS/Andretti Autosport car, referring to Pippa cutting Martin’s tire down. “It was so obvious, we all knew it.”

The incident didn’t affect Mann’s car as she was able to continue on and lead the field back to green flag racing, marking her first-ever laps lead.  The next caution came when Sebastian Saavedra slowed and pulled off-track.  During the same caution, Stefan Wilson spun but was able to continue.

As the laps began to wind down, the field began to bunch up even closer.  Hinchcliffe and Vernay battled for second spot in the closing laps before another caution came out organizing the field. Following a Lap 63 restart, Hinchcliffe began to test his car against race leader Mann.  On the final lap, Hinch was able to run the high line and drive down off Turn 4 to sneak past Mann for his first career oval victory.

“The car was great,” said Hinchcliffe, who started 13th. “We were really good on the restarts and that put us in a position to challenge Pippa at the end.”

The final tally also marked a career best finish for Pippa Mann.  Just last weekend at Infineon, she scored her first top-five finish.

The Indy Lights drivers are scheduled to return to action next weekend, September 4,  at Kentucky Speedway

Complete results after the jump.

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After being out of a race car for 16-months, Dillon Battistini is set to make his return this weekend at Chicagoland in the No. 35 Team PBIR Indy Lights car.

Battistini, 32, finished sixth overall in the 2008 Indy Lights drivers’ championship.  He completed the season with four wins, all on ovals, while driving for Panther Racing.  His last race was at Kansas in April 2009 – he finished 15th.

The Englishman hopes to make a full-time return to racing in 2011.

Following Sunday’s Carneros 100, the top-three finishers (J.K. Vernay, Charlie Kimball, and James Hinchcliffe) met in the media center for their post race press conference.

During the conference a member of the media asked Kimball and Hinchcliffe if they will spend the week trying to scare Vernay as they prepare for the upcoming oval race at Chicagoland.  I’ve transcribed the humor below…

James Hinchcliffe: Absolutely!

Charlie Kimball:  Are you kidding, I mean there is nothing harder than Chicago!

James Hinchcliffe: Chicago is the tax I pay for being a race car driver.

Charlie Kimball:  It’s not even fun really.  [Turning to look at Vernay] … Oh, you’ve not been there?

James Hinchcliffe: It’s like playing Russian Roulette with five bullets.

Charlie Kimball:  Yeah, what he said. [referring to Hinch's roulette comment]

James Hinchcliffe:  [looking at Vernay]… I mean, I don’t even know why you’d show up.

Meanwhile, Vernay was turning back and forth between Kimball and Hinchcliffe smiling ear-to-ear.

J.K. Vernay won his fifth Indy Lights race of the season Sunday, extending his points-lead in the drivers’ championship.  Vernay started from pole position and led flag-to-flag despite pressure from American Charlie Kimball.  Vernay is now 3-for-3 when starting from pole position.  Kimball finished second for his fourth runner-up result of the 2010 season.  Canadian James Hinchcliffe finished third.

“I’m really happy,” said Vernay, who now holds a 71-point championship lead. “The car was really good.  I’m still focused on the championship because it’s never finished until the checkered flag of the final race.  Now, I hope to win on an oval.”

Kimball, who led the way in both practice sessions earlier in the weekend, started the race second.  He was passed by Hinchcliffe during the start and the top-three ran nose-to-tail for several laps.  On lap 16, Kimball made an impressive dive into Turn 9 (the chicane) to overtake Hinchcliffe for second place.  From there, Kimball and Vernay would trade fast lap after fast lap, but the closest Kimball would get is 0.6275 seconds on Lap 24.  Ultimately, Vernay ended up with the win and the fastest lap of the race (1:24.9443), beating Kimball to the stripe by 3.425 seconds.

“I just had to settle into a rhythm,” Kimball said. “It’s a great result being home in California. I’ve got a lot of friends and family here.”

Hinchcliffe held on for third with Gustavo Yacaman and Pippa Mann rounding out the top-five, respectively.  It was Mann’s first top-five finish.

The real story of the race was Dan Clarke.  Clarke was running fourth before contact with Sebastian Saavedra relegated him to the rear of the field.  For the time being, he was able to continue.  He proceeded to drive through the field, moving all the way up to fourth place (temporarily) as he and Gustavo Yacaman briefly traded spots.  Ultimately, Clarke lost his alternator while running fifth – which drained the battery – and he failed to finish the race.  At the checkered, he was classified 13th.

The hard charger of the event — other than Clarke — was Juan Pablo Garcia.  Garcia put together an impressive drive himself, moving from 12th on the grid to finish 6th after completing 40-laps.

For a much more detailed race recap, please replay my LiveBlog from Sunday afternoon.

Photographs and full results are posted just after the jump.

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Good morning from Infineon Raceway.  The Indy Lights drivers completed their morning warm-up a few hours ago after the fog cleared.  Pole-sitter J.K. Vernay led the way.

Rookie Joel Miller was second-quick in the morning session after an engine change last night.  He was dealing with all sorts of mechanical gremlins yesterday. “I’ve got a lot of cars to pass,” said Miller pre-race. “But it was good to be near the front this morning.”  Martin Plowman rounded out the top-three after dealing with electrical problems yesterday.  ”We had to replace the starter motor because it was running constantly and when we turned on the fuel pump it shorted out the entire system,” Plowman said.

Alex Ellis is set to make his debut. We spoke this morning and he was excited to get behind the wheel. “It’s unlike anything I’ve ever driven,” he said. “I originally thought my track experience at Infineon would be a big help, but in reality I’m driving a completely different line in the Lights car.”  Ellis remains hopeful that he will be able to put together a full-time Indy Lights program for 2011.

I spoke to Pippa Mann briefly as well before the race and she said her hand was really sore.  She only ran eight laps this morning, stating the pain wasn’t too bad, but the overall strength of her hand was of concern heading into today’s race.

The Carneros 100 is scheduled for noon local time. Make sure to follow along on twitter for live updates.

Complete results after the jump.

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J.K. Vernay earned his third pole position of the 2010 Indy Lights season today at Infineon Raceway.  Charlie Kimball qualified second with a last lap flyer after setting the pace for the rest of the field in both practice sessions earlier in the day under cloudy skies.  Canadian James Hinchcliffe will start third in tomorrow’s Carneros 100.

“The car was perfect,” said Vernay. ” I had the chance to learn the track last week with the Jim Russell school.  I was just pushing more and more, trying to find the limit of the car.”

“We weren’t exactly where we wanted to be when the sun came out today,” said Kimball after the qualifying session. “I knew it was tight.  I didn’t have lap times in the second half of the session so my engineer was telling me, ‘you’re closer, you’re closer, you’re closer, go get it.’”

I’ve compiled a brief slideshow of my photos from the day below. Enjoy.

Complete qualifying results after the jump.

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Good morning folks.  I’m just getting set to depart for Sonoma, Calif. in preparation for this weekend’s Indy Lights and Formula Car Challenge events.  Watch for updates throughout the weekend, from the Northern California road-course, here on Junior Open Wheel Talent.

American Joel Miller has signed with Bryan Herta Autosport for this weekend’s Indy Lights race at Infineon.  Miller will make his return to Lights competition after racing at Long Beach, earlier this season, with Andersen Racing.

The 22-year-old Hesperia, Calif. native has worked incredibly hard for this opportunity, so it’s nice to see it come to fruition. He will be driving the No. 28 car, replacing BHA regular Stefan Wilson.  Wilson, however, hopes to return to the cockpit as funding becomes available later this season.

Miller will partner with teammate Sebastian Saavedra in Sonoma. With “home track” advantage and the guidance of Herta and Saavedra, Miller should do well.  For now this is a one-off race for the Californian, but he hopes to make a full-time return in 2011.

Related Reading: Joel Miller Driver Profile and Interview (5-8-2010)

Conor Daly Samples an Indy Lights car with Sam Schmidt Motorsports at Putnam Park

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted a testing update, but there were a few teams testing this past week.

AFS Racing/Andretti Autosport just wrapped up their second day of testing at Kentucky Speedway and by all reports, the test went very well.

“We [Charlie Kimball and I] ran 180 laps from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m., with 105 degree Fahrenheit air temperature, and a 145 degree track temperature,” said Martin Plowman, when asked about the test. “It was hot, but we accomplished a lot.”

Other drivers involved in Indy Lights testing this week included Conor Daly (Star Mazda) and Alex Ellis (Jim Russell Race of Champions).  Both drivers spent a day testing with Sam Schmidt Motorsports this week at Putnam Park, Ind.

Daly, who is currently leading the Star Mazda championship, has been looking to get into a Lights car for some time now.  It’s unclear if he will make a one-off appearance later this year or if this was strictly an opportunity to pick up some additional seat time.

Alex Ellis, of St. Catherines, Ontario, recently captured the Jim Russell Race of Champions title.  As a prize for winning the championship, Ellis was awarded a one-off Indy Lights race scheduled for next weekend August 22 at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif.