James Hinchcliffe secured his first podium finish of the 2016 Verizon IndyCar Series season with a fighting drive at the Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indy on Saturday.
The Canadian took his #5 Schmidt Peterson Motorsport to third place around the road course of the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and was delighted not to be forced to save fuel over the closing laps, enabling him to put pressure on Helio Castroneves for second, although he was unable to pass the Team Penske driver.
Hinchcliffe praised his team for giving him a good car during the weekend, and after missing the opening practice session with an issue with the engine, he qualified and raced well for a well deserved and a popular top three finish.
“It was great to be able to push and not have to save fuel,” revealed Hinchcliffe. “That yellow in the middle there kind of really helped everybody because the windows here were pretty small up to that point.
“We had a great car; huge credit to everybody at Schmidt Peterson. The Arrow Electronics car was great all weekend. [We] missed the whole first practice, [but] managed to put it on the second row.
“[We] got caught up on some of the restarts there but the guys were awesome in the pits. We were way quicker than Helio but just didn’t have enough to get by him. Great result.”
