ECR - DAY OF MISFORTUNE FOR ED CARPENTER RACING AT GRAND PRIX OF INDIANAPOLIS

J.R. Hildebrand fought hard until the end of the race, even gaining a position on the final lap. Hildebrand is in his third Month of May with Ed Carpenter Racing.


Newgarden, Hildebrand Plagued by Misfortune During Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course Race


(SPEEDWAY, Ind.) May 14, 2016 – Race Notes
Luck was not on Ed Carpenter Racing's side today for the Angie's List Grand Prix of Indianapolis, the road course race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway preceding the 100th Running of the Indianapolis 500. Preferred Freezer Services drivers Josef Newgarden and J.R. Hildebrand finished 21st and 22nd, respectively.

Newgarden qualified 5th for today's race but the No. 21 car was cited for a violation of Rule 14.3.1.1 of the Verizon IndyCar Series Rule Book for minimum car weight. Newgarden's qualifying time was voided and he started from the back of the field. Hildebrand rolled off the grid from the 18th position for his first race since the 2015 Indianapolis 500.

Turn 1 on the first lap is notorious for creating an incident and today's race was no different. Both Hildebrand and Newgarden immediately gained two positions on the start as Sebastien Bourdais and Tony Kanaan made contact.

Under the caution, Newgarden ducked into the pit lane to top off on fuel. Hildebrand made his first stop on Lap 16, opting for a set of scuffed red tires. He cycled out of the pits in 17th position in the No. 6 Preferred Freezer Services Chevrolet.

Though starting from the back, Newgarden used his quick No. 21 Preferred Freezer Services Chevrolet to move through the field. He had made it all the way up to 14th before coming in for his second pit stop on Lap 19. After the field had completed their stops, Newgarden sat 18th.

On Lap 35, Newgarden entered the pit lane for another stop. He switched to a set of sticker reds, staying in 18th.

Two laps later, Hildebrand was set to make his second stop and a full course caution appeared for the first time since the second race of the year at Phoenix International Raceway. Instead of being able to pit, Hildebrand was forced to coast around the 2.439-mile, 14-turn road course. He could not make it the whole lap and ran out of fuel, coasting to a stop on the outermost portion of the track. After the safety team towed Hildebrand back to his pit box, the crew was able to re-fuel and re-fire the car. He lost a lap to the field and dropped to 23rd position.

Things were no less dramatic in the No. 21 pit box. A piece of debris became lodged in one of the uprights, causing the engine temperature to rise dramatically. Just as Newgarden was about to make an unscheduled stop to remove the debris, it appeared to have blown off as the engine temperature went back down. Once the engineers gave Newgarden the all-clear, he quickly gained three positions and moved to 14th.

Newgarden came in on Lap 60 for his final stop. The debris, a piece of tape still stuck on the car, got lodged in the brake duct and caught fire. The flames blew themselves out upon pit exit, but a pit exit violation forced Newgarden to serve a drive through penalty the next lap. He dropped to 21st.

Hildebrand made his final stop on Lap 65. Mired one lap down in 23rd, he stayed on the same position after his stop.

Hildebrand was able to get around Alex Tagliani on the last lap, elevating himself one position to 22nd. Newgarden finished in 21st.

Ed Carpenter Racing is headquartered mere blocks south of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Main Street in Speedway. Team owner Ed Carpenter will join Hildebrand and Newgarden for the Indianapolis 500 with practice beginning on May 16, just two days after the ALGPI. The trio of drivers earned the nicknamed “Team America” in 2015 when ECR was the only multi-car team with an all-American line up in the Indianapolis 500. Hildebrand hails from Sausalito, Calif.; Newgarden is a native of Hendersonville, Tenn.; Carpenter, from Indianapolis, is a hometown favorite.

The ECR crews will work tomorrow to switch Newgarden and Hildebrand's cars back to oval configuration, as well as finalize work on Carpenter's car. Practice for the 100th Running of the Indianapolis 500 begins at 12 p.m. ET on Monday, May 16.

JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 21 PREFERRED FREEZER SERVICES CHEVROLET, FINISHED 21ST: “It’s just a tough weekend all around.  I’m proud of all of our efforts.  We’ve got a lot of great partners here with Fuzzy’s and Preferred Freezer Services.  It’s a shame we couldn’t do better for this first race in May but the big show’s up next that’s what really matters.  We’ll treat this as a warm-up and make sure we get all of our ducks in a row for the 500.”

JR HILDEBRAND, NO. 6 PREFERRED FREEZER SERVICES CHEVROLET, FINISHED 22ND: “It started out alright.  We definitely made the car better.  Josef and I were kind of running the same thing. The car had pretty good long run pace. We made up some spots, we got through our first stop and passed a few guys on track.  We were looking okay but ended up getting caught out by a yellow and didn’t quite have the fuel in the car that we thought we did.  We ran out of fuel and ended up going a lap down.  At that point I don’t want to get in the way of anybody who’s running full time, but we had a consistent pace and made up the spots that were available to us.  We needed a yellow to get back on the lead lap which we didn’t get.  All things considered it was good to just get a race under our belts here.  We’re rolling into the Month of May, the car’s in one piece and we can move forward with a few more live reps going to the oval.  We’re looking forward to that.”

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Volume 2016, Issue 5, Posted 4:28 PM, 05.16.2016