AVONDALE, La. - It took just two races in 2015 for James Hinchcliffe and Sam Schmidt to get someplace they were unable to reach together in a full season back in 2009: Victory Lane.
Hinchcliffe drove for Schmidt’s Indy Lights team six years ago, but his best finish then was second place. Reunited this season with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports in the Verizon IndyCar Series, they outfoxed the opposition to steal a win Sunday in the inaugural Indy Grand Prix of Louisiana at NOLA Motorsports Park.
Driving the No. 5 Arrow/Lucas Oil Schmidt Peterson Honda, the popular Canadian benefitted from the call his strategists made from the pit stand during the unusual race that started in wet but drying conditions, ran 15 consecutive green-flag laps at the beginning, then turned topsy-turvy with a bevy of mishaps after all cars switched to dry-condition tires and struggled negotiating portions of the 2.74-mile road course that remained wet. The race concluded after 47 laps due to the 1-hour, 45-minute time limit, and not a minute too soon for Hinchcliffe.
Only six of the final 32 laps ran under the green flag, allowing Hinchcliffe to make a single pit stop and stay out while those in front of him pitted on Lap 33. Once in the lead, he nursed his fuel tank home, stretching his Sunoco E85R to the last drop and fittingly taking the checkered flag ahead of Helio Castroneves under caution.
It gave Hinchcliffe a fourth career Indy car win, a fifth for SPM and a well-deserved thank you from the “mayor of Hinchtown” to Schmidt, the car owner who’d shown faith in him in Indy Lights all those years ago.
“It's awesome driving for Sam and for Ric (Peterson), being the Canadian team owner, and a team owner that I raced for in Indy Lights,” Hinchcliffe said. “(Sam) really helped bring me into this world and taught me about oval racing and the Indy car world in general. So to have come full circle and get back to race with him was great.
“It's funny, I never even actually won a race for Sam in Lights,” Hinchcliffe added. “All my (Indy Lights) wins came the following year (with Team Moore Racing). It's definitely a lot better – I'd much rather do it at this level and give him one of these because he deserves it.”
Click It: Official Results for the Indy Grand Prix of Louisiana
Hinchcliffe was just as proud to put engine/aero kit manufacturer Honda back in Victory Lane. Two weeks ago in the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, talk ran rampant of Chevrolet dominating the season after it swept the top six finishing positions – including the four-headed Team Penske juggernaut placing 1, 2, 4, 5.
At NOLA, Honda claimed three of the top four spots. Hinchcliffe’s teammate, James Jakes, grabbed third place and Andretti Autosport’s Simona de Silvestro fourth.
“Getting Honda back on top was huge,” said Hinchcliffe. “… For us, qualifying getting rained out (Saturday) was unfortunate because I genuinely think we found a decent amount of pace by qualifying, whether it was in the wet or the dry. Luckily, we got ourselves in a position to run up front (in the race) and on those restarts, Honda power was good, the aero kit was good and we were pulling away from a Penske, so we can't really complain at this point.”
Hinchcliffe hopes the win is a sign of a reversal of fortune in his own career as well. The 28-year-old’s star was blazing in 2013, when he won three races and finished eighth in the championship for Andretti. Last year was a different matter, however, as he managed but one podium finish (third at Mid-Ohio) and wound up 12th in points, prompting a parting of ways between driver and team over the winter. Back in familiar surroundings with SPM, Hinchcliffe is optimistic of brighter days ahead.
“Obviously, it's great when you come to a new team, you want to reach that level (winning) as quickly as possible,” he said. “2014 was frustrating in a lot of ways. We had that speed and we were in that position a bunch of times to take wins and take podiums, and it just didn't happen for us. It's nice to know the curse is kind of broken and I could give the guys at Schmidt Peterson the faith in me that we could be race winners together.”