Watkins Outing Ends Prematurely for Hinchcliffe

Toronto, July 7, 2009: Despite being a proud Canadian, James Hinchcliffe was still hoping for some ‘Independence Day’ fireworks on Saturday 4th July as he took to Watkins Glen International Circuit in New York for Round 8 of the Firestone Indy Lights Series.

A promising start from third on the grid, despite battling a suddenly loose #7 HinchTown.com Sam Schmidt Motorsports entry, looked to pave the way for Hinchcliffe to gun for the lead. Unfortunately for the 22-year-old rookie, his race would end abruptly just seven laps into proceedings having been pitched into the wall at Turn 6 – the result of a sudden brake bias issue.

Series points leader J.R. Hildebrand subsequently went on to claim the win and a healthy dose of 52 championship points ahead of pole-sitter James Davison and Felipe Guimaraes in third.

“It was just a bizarre way to exit the race,” stated a still perplexed ‘Hinch’ upon his return to his native Toronto. “Normally when you spin out of a race like that you know that either something broke on the car or you messed up but that wasn’t the case this time round and I was a little bemused sitting in the car post-incident. We ended up looking over all the data and it turned out that for some reason the brake bias had switched from the front to the rear of the car as I braked into the turn, meaning I locked up the rear wheels and that’s what pitched me suddenly into the spin and ultimately out of the race.”

He continued; “It’s pretty frustrating simply from the point of view that other than J.R. (Hildebrand) scoring well, the rest of the guys around me in the standings didn’t fare too well so it would have been an opportune time to collect some decent points. I was fighting a pretty loose car out there but had it under control and I’d actually just set the fastest lap of the race at that point before exiting dramatically. The good news is that I don’t have long to dwell on Watkins Glen as we’re back racing again this weekend and better than that, we’re back home in Toronto!”

Round 9 of the Firestone Indy Lights Series heads north of the border to Toronto, Canada for the ‘Toronto 100’ on Saturday 11th July. A full event preview will follow shortly.