Hunter-Reay Paces Mid-Ohio Practice
LEXINGTON, Ohio – For anyone who watched Ryan Hunter-Reay in the 101st Indianapolis 500, when he led seven times for 28 laps, it’s hard to believe he is 13th in points.
Hunter-Reay is currently 150 points behind Verizon IndyCar Series championship leader Scott Dixon heading into Sunday’s Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio. That has left the Andretti Autosport driver, who started his first race in the current Verizon IndyCar Series at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in 2007, with only one goal – to win as often as possible during the final five races of the season.
“It’s been really frustrating,” Hunter-Reay said. “Guys talk about bad luck all the time. You look at our season, there’s been a lot of it. It’s just unfortunate circumstances, electrical problems. You know, Indy, whatever that was. Just been one thing after another.
“But we’ve had some good performances. We’ve been on the podium a couple times. Had some strong races. The pace has been there at times. Hopefully we can roll this weekend into one of those.”
Hunter-Reay was the fastest driver in Friday’s combined practice sessions when his Honda lapped the 13-turn, 2.258-mile road course in 1:04.2961 for a speed of 126.428 mph.
“Today, it was a good run,” Hunter-Reay said. “The car was good. We just made some improvements on it, made the right steps through the session, some session to session. We didn’t test here a week ago, so it’s nice to see we have the pace from last year, that we were able to roll in and improve from last year.
“All in all, it was a pretty good day. I have a lot of work to do tomorrow. We know everybody else is going to be improving. It’s amazing if you look at the P1 session times, just how close everything is. There’s no margin for error. So, it’s going to be that way again tomorrow.
“I’m just happy to have a nice, productive day. Look forward to another one of those tomorrow hopefully.”
If Hunter-Reay is going to turn his season around, Mid-Ohio would be a great place for him to do that because of what it represents to the driver.
“Not only have I been coming here since I was a kid to watch IndyCar races, but it’s a track I kind of first started in racing in Formula Dodge and Skip Barber,” Hunter-Reay said. “I’ve always loved the layout here. I remember my first laps around here, the undulating elevation changes and the constant flow to it. It really never stops turning. Even the straights have kinks and turns in them.
“It’s a great all-around racetrack. It’s got everything you want in it. I’ve enjoyed it over the years. Like you said, my first big podium here. It’s been good to me, as well.”
Source :speedsport.com
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