NEWTON, Iowa – Less than two months after failing to qualify for the Indianapolis 500, James Hinchcliffe roared from behind to seize one of the more satisfying wins of his IndyCar career.
Hinchcliffe passed Josef Newgarden with just more than 40 laps left to win Sunday at Iowa Speedway for his first victory of the season.
The 31-year-old Canadian, who followed his disaster at Indy with three finishes of 10th or worse in four starts since then, won for the first time since the Grand Prix of Long Beach in April 2017. Sunday’s win was his second on the 0.894-mile oval at Iowa.
“This is such a good feeling after what happened in May,” Hinchcliffe said. “We knew we had it in us, and to come here and do it like that I’m just so stoked. To miss (the Indy 500) is a huge blow for every single member of the team but if anything, it fueled us. It made us want to perform better, push harder.”
Spencer Pigot was a career-best second, followed by Takuma Sato in his first podium finish since a stunning win at the Indy 500 last year.