INDYCAR has announced that the top three positions of the MoveThatBlock.com Indy 225 on Aug. 14 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway have been upheld, meaning that Ryan Hunter-Reay will keep his first victory of 2011.
A three-person panel heard the protests of Newman/Haas Racing and Target Chip Ganassi Racing in a protest hearing yesterday in Indianapolis. Both teams contended that their drivers, Oriol Servia and Scott Dixon, had passed Hunter-Reay during the brief three-second green flag period — Servia for the lead, Dixon for second place — that ensued on a Lap 218 restart before multiple cars spun out on a wet track. INDYCAR chief steward Brian Barnhart made the call to re-start the race and after admitting error in his judgment, he reverted the running order to before the restart took place.
Here is the full release from INDYCAR:
INDIANAPOLIS (Aug. 24, 2011) – INDYCAR announced today that the top three finishing positions of the Aug. 14 MoveThatBlock.com Indy 225 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway were upheld during a protest hearing Aug. 23 in Indianapolis.
The hearing was conducted by a panel consisting of Jerry Gappens, Rollie Helmling and Jeff Stoops. As Senior Official and pursuant to IZOD IndyCar Series Rule 12.4, INDYCAR President of Competition and Operations Brian Barnhart elected to have a panel resolve the protests filed by Newman/Haas Racing and
Target Chip Ganassi Racing.
The protests were denied based on these grounds, according to a signed statement from the panel:
“After hearing the excellent presentations by each of the participants in the protest hearing and after reviewing and being sympathetic with each of their positions, the Protest Panel was unanimous in its decision. It is this Protest Panel’s conclusion that INDYCAR Senior Official Brian Barnhart had the authority under the governing 2011 IZOD IndyCar Series rulebook to render the decision that was made. We also agree that his decision to abort the restart and set the finishing positions that existed before the attempted restart to be an exercise of reasonable discretion. The protests as to Chip Ganassi Racing Teams, Inc. d/b/a Target Chip Ganassi Racing car number 9 [Dixon] and Newman/Haas Racing, LLC car number 2 [Servia] are hereby denied.”
Per Rule 13.1 of the IZOD IndyCar Series rulebook, the decision may be appealed by 5 p.m. (ET) of the second business day following the release of the decision.
In an Andretti Autosport press release, Hunter-Reay maintained that the win had always been his and thanked fans and sponsors for their support on the matter.
“I always felt that we won the race in New Hampshire,” he said. “The conditions were not ideal that day and a proper decision needed to be made…It is a relief to now concentrate on the next race at Sonoma this weekend. We have scored more points in the last four races than any other driver and I would love to continue that pattern at Infineon Raceway. Thanks again to everyone who stood behind us.”
