SONOMA, Calif (August 26, 2007) - Rahal Letterman Racing rookie Ryan Hunter-Reay (#17 Ethanol Dallara/Honda/Firestone) took the green flag at today’s Motorola Indy 300 at Infineon Raceway from the seventh spot and wasted no time in getting to work.
He stormed through the first handful of turns fighting tooth-and-nail with Marco Andretti. They poured through Turn Two with Hunter-Reay giving no quarter to the defending race champion. Hunter-Reay held his inside line as Andretti squeezed him to the point of banging wheels. The Team Ethanol crew pumped their fists in reaction to watching their young charge battle so fiercely for position.
Then, to borrow a Bill Murray line from Stripes, depression set in.
The contact with Andretti caused nose damage to the Ethanol car, but more importantly it cut a brake line in the #17 car, causing Hunter-Reay to lose brake pressure almost immediately. Four laps later, the Floridian pulled into the pits, his day done.
“Starting in the seventh spot, we had high hopes to say the least,” Hunter-Reay said. “Knowing that we started 10th and finished seventh in Mid-Ohio, our expectations were the highest of the season. After running side-by-side for several corners with Andretti, I had the line and he pinched me and we had contact, and the resulting damage ended what was a promising day for Team Ethanol and Rahal Letterman Racing.”
The Rahal Letterman Racing team will pack its gear and head back across the country as the IndyCar Series will take to Detroit’s Belle Isle for the penultimate race of the 2007 season. The race will be a three-day event with the 90-lap event taking place at 3:30 p.m. Eastern Time on Sunday. The race can be seen live on ABC.