» IndyCar: Hunter-Reay wins chaotic Pocono 500

Andretti Autosport’s Ryan Hunter-Reay has won a chaotic ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway under caution, but the race will be tainted by the accident which befell teammate Justin Wilson, leaving the Englishman fighting for life at the time of writing.

Hunter-Reay beat CFH Racing’s #67 entry Josef Newgarden to complete an American 1-2. Championship leader Juan Pablo Montoya incredibly rounded out the top three after starting a season low 19th on the grid to extend his championship lead to 34 points heading into next weekend’s final round at Sonoma Raceway.

Defending IndyCar Series champion Will Power finished fourth in his Team Penske entry after experiencing highs and lows during the race. This included a spin in pit lane and a slow getaway during another pit stop which cost him valuable places.

Carlos Muñoz completed the top five, with Takuma Sato, Simon Pagenaud, Ryan Briscoe, Scott Dixon and James Jakes rounding out the top 10.

The race was filled with twelve cautions as a number of drivers struck trouble. Just eleven cars out of the 24 finished at the ‘Tricky Triangle’.

Earlier in the race, title contenders Hélio Castroneves crashed out on Lap 167, while the resurgent Graham Rahal was taken out by Tristan Vautier on Lap 93 of the 200-lap race. He remains second in the Drivers Championship to Montoya.

The penultimate caution was the darkest moment with 20 laps remaining when leader Sage Karam crashed his Chip Ganassi Racing entry machine heavily at Turn 3. Just seconds after, his nose cone from the debris struck Justin Wilson in the head and he was immediately attended to by the Holmatro Safety Team on the track and was transported by helicopter to Lehigh Valley Health Network Cedar Crest Hospital in nearby Allentown.

Our coverage of his accident and condition can be found by clicking here.

The race was barely resumed when Gabby Chaves suffered an engine failure with three laps to go, ensuring that the race would finish under caution with Hunter-Reay the victor.

“It was a fantastic race, we came through the field several times and the team gave me what we needed,” he said after claiming back-to-back oval wins, having won the last oval round at Iowa Speedway.

“But first and foremost we’re thinking about Justin. I actually thought when we won the race, just prior to that; I was told he was in the ambulance with Sage going to get checked. I thought everything was fine. Come to find out, it wasn’t that straightforward.

“[Our] thoughts and prayers are with him. He has a family, just like I do. He’s a great friend, a teammate. Can’t say enough about the guy on and off the racetrack. Thinking about his family, for sure, [and] his two daughters.”

The former champion – very prematurely – went on to speculate on what changes IndyCar could make in the wake of Wilson’s accident.

“So, you know, these cars are inherently dangerous with the open cockpit like that, head exposed,” he continued. “Maybe in the future we can work towards some type of — we’ve seen some concept renderings of something that resemble as canopy, not a full jet fighter canopy, but something that can give us a little protection but keep the tradition of the sport.”

There are six drivers still in contention to become the 2015 IndyCar Series Champion with one race left in the season, the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma next weekend at Sonoma Raceway with double points on offer.

2015 IndyCar Series ABC Supply Pocono 500 – Final Classification (200 laps)
Pos	Driver	Team / Entry	Laps	Result
1.	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Andretti Autosport	200	3:25:08.1095
2.	Josef Newgarden	CFH Racing	200	+ 0.1053
3.	Juan Pablo Montoya	Team Penske	200	+ 0.5695
4.	Will Power	Team Penske	200	+ 1.4707
5.	Carlos Muñoz	Andretti Autosport	200	+ 2.0003
6.	Takuma Sato	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	200	+ 3.5167
7.	Simon Pagenaud	Team Penske	200	+ 4.5025
8.	Ryan Briscoe	Schmidt Peterson Motorsports	200	+ 4.7997
9.	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing	200	+ 5.6857
10.	James Jakes	Schmidt Peterson Motorsports	200	+ 6.2994
11.	Gabby Chaves	Bryan Herta Autosport	197	Engine
12.	Charlie Kimball	Chip Ganassi Racing	193	Mechanical
13.	Pippa Mann	Dale Coyne Racing	185	+ 15 laps
	Not Classified	Team / Entry	Laps	Result
DNF.	Sage Karam	Chip Ganassi Racing	179	Accident
DNF.	Justin Wilson	Andretti Autosport	179	Accident
DNF.	Hélio Castroneves	Team Penske	166	Accident
DNF.	Ed Carpenter	CFH Racing	156	Mechanical
DNF.	Marco Andretti	Andretti Autosport	138	Accident
DNF.	Tony Kanaan	Chip Ganassi Racing	131	Mechanical
DNF.	Graham Rahal	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	92	Collision
DNF.	Tristan Vautier	Dale Coyne Racing	92	Collision
DNF.	Jack Hawksworth	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	82	Accident
DNF.	Sébastien Bourdais	KV Racing Technology	36	Accident
DNF.	Stefano Coletti	KV Racing Technology	19	Mechanical