DETROIT — Bruno Junqueira bounced back from an incident early in the Detroit Indy Grand Prix to earn his second top-10 finish of the season on Sunday.
On the fourth lap, the Brazilian was sent to the rear of the 25-car field by IndyCar officials after he had contact with Milka Duno’s tires and sent her spinning out. Junqueira responded by cutting through the field and finishing seventh.
“I’m very pleased with our results today,” he said. “We didn’t have the fastest car out there, but we did what we could do with it. We worked our way up with lots of passes and took every chance we could on the track.”
In the previous 13 races this season, Junqueira’s best and only top-10 finish was a sixth-place run at Watkins Glen.
HUNTER-REAY REBOUNDS: A flat right rear tire was not enough to deflate the impressive season run of Ryan Hunter-Reay.
In his first full season with Rahal Letterman Racing, Hunter-Reay finished sixth to claim his ninth top-10 finish of the year. The 27-year-old American driver was clipped by the left wing of Will Power on lap 54, forcing him into the pits for a new tire.
“We needed a drama-free race day and we got punted again, but we were able to rebound and salvage something good out of it,” Hunter-Reay said. “It was a good day in the points and we had to have that today.”
With his finish, he moved from 10th to ninth in the IndyCar Series driver points standings.
ADVANTAGE KANAAN: Defending race champion Tony Kanaan took advantage of two miscues by Dan Wheldon to take over third place in the driver points.
Wheldon started the race with a six-point lead but he spun on lap 18 after tapping tires with Jaime Camara and going into the tire barrier on lap 65. Meanwhile, Kanaan had a solid run and finished third.
“I have a bad flu, but starting eighth and finishing third is not bad,” Kanaan said. “We’re in a battle for third place in the championship, and Dan didn’t finish.
“It was a good result for us and for the championship. It makes it exciting, not just for first and second, but third and fourth as well.”
Kanaan now holds a 17-point lead over Wheldon with one points race left.
SERVIA IMPROVING: Oriol Servia was positive all week heading into Detroit, and his attitude was equally strong after Sunday’s race.
The Spaniard, who led one lap when race leader Helio Castroneves pitted at the end of lap 58, finished a season-best fourth. Servia had placed fifth four times this year.
“I am happy with fourth,” he said. “But when you’re so close to the podium it just feels like it is not enough.
“The KV Racing Technology car was good, especially toward the end of the race. At the beginning, we were just not fast enough.”
STRUGGLES CONTINUE: Tomas Scheckter’s troubles on the 2-mile (3.3-kilometer) street course continued on Sunday.
Only three laps into the race, the drive shaft on Scheckter’s No. 12 Dallara-Honda broke and forced him to the pits. The South African was able to return to the race and finished in 21st place.
“I just broke another drive shaft,” said Scheckter, who broke three drive shafts last weekend at Infineon Raceway. “I’ve broken more drive shafts this year than I ever have. I’m really not sure why.”
Just 24 hours earlier, he had hard contact with the wall during qualifying and heavily damaged his car. Last year, Scheckter was involved in an accident during the Detroit race with Helio Castroneves on Lap 67, knocking both drivers out.
SPARK PLUGS: There were four lead changes among four drivers and four caution flags for 11 laps. … Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing is the second most successful active open-wheel racing team. Team Penske has earned 136 open-wheel wins and is in their 41st season, while NHLR has 107 victories and is in its 26th year
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