RICHMOND, Virginia Tony Kanaan claimed his first victory of the 2008 IndyCar Series season, winning the SunTrust Indy Challenge at Richmond International Raceway by 4.7691 seconds over Helio Castroneves.
Kanaan, starting from the pole, led 166 of the 300 laps to claim his 13th career victory and his first since Belle Isle in September 2007.
Team Penske’s Castroneves improved 15 positions to record his fourth second-place finish of the season. Scott Dixon finished third and remains atop the IndyCar Series championship point standings, with a 43-point advantage over Castroneves.
Dixon’s Target Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Dan Wheldon finished fourth, followed by KV Racing Technology’s Oriol Servia in his first start at the .75-mile oval.
The race included nine cautions, with 102 laps run under yellow, the second-most in IndyCar Series history, however, the final 72 laps were run under green.
| SunTrust Challenge |
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| 1. (1) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Honda, 300, Running 2. (18) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Honda, 300, Running 3. (4) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 300, Running 4. (6) Dan Wheldon, Dallara-Honda, 300, Running 5. (10) Oriol Servia, Dallara-Honda, 300, Running 6. (14) Danica Patrick, Dallara-Honda, 300, Running 7. (23) Justin Wilson, Dallara-Honda, 300, Running 8. (21) Townsend Bell, Dallara-Honda, 300, Running 9. (2) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Honda, 299, Running 10. (19) EJ Viso, Dallara-Honda, 298, Running 11. (13) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Honda, 238, Running 12. (22) Darren Manning, Dallara-Honda, 235, Running 13. (7) Hideki Mutoh, Dallara-Honda, 220, Mechanical 14. (24) Jaime Camara, Dallara-Honda, 217, Contact 15. (11) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Honda, 158, Pits 16. (25) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Honda, 143, Contact 17. (20) Mario Moraes, Dallara-Honda, 143, Contact 18. (3) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 131, Contact 19. (15) Marty Roth, Dallara-Honda, 117, Handling 20. (17) Vitor Meira, Dallara-Honda, 91, Contact 21. (12) John Andretti, Dallara-Honda, 91, Contact 22. (5) Buddy Rice, Dallara-Honda, 80, Contact 23. (9) Bruno Junqueira, Dallara-Honda, 78, Contact 24. (8) A.J. Foyt IV, Dallara-Honda, 29, Contact 25. (16) Will Power, Dallara-Honda, 8, Contact 26. (26) Enrique Bernoldi, Dallara-Honda, 6, Handling Race Statistics Winner's average speed: 108.790 mph Time of race: 2:04:05.5111 Margin of victory: 4.7691 seconds Cautions: 9 caution flags for 102 laps Lead changes: 3 among 3 drivers Lap leaders: Kanaan 1-71, Camara 72-115, M. Andretti 116-205, Kanaan 206-300. Point standings: Dixon 351, Castroneves 308, Wheldon 299, Kanaan 269, Patrick 220, Mutoh 216, M. Andretti 211, Briscoe 210, Servia 194, Carpenter 185. |
