Hunter-Reay makes it two in a row at Barber

By Dave Lewandowski – indycar.com

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Individuals at Barber Motorsports Park certainly have a sense of humor. At the tail end of a 2-hour, 30-minute rain delay to the green flag of the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama, Jimmy Cliff’s “I Can See Clearly Now (the Rain is Gone)” covered the grounds through loud speakers.

Twenty-three Verizon IndyCar Series cars rolled off on rain tires for the 100-minute timed race, and 69 laps later a soggy but beaming Ryan Hunter-Reay saw Victory Circle for the second consecutive year.

Hunter-Reay, driving the No. 28 DHL car, cruised to his 12th Indy car victory after first capitalizing on a Lap 16 mistake by pole sitter Will Power, whose No. 12 Verizon Team Penske car slid off the wet racing ribbon in Turn 5, and then overtaking Sebastian Saavedra for the lead on a Lap 34 restart. After the final round of pit stops, Hunter-Reay led Andretti Autosport teammate Marco Andretti across the finish line under caution.

The No. 7 SMP Racing car of Mikhail Aleshin made contact with the Turn 7 tire barrier with 6 minutes left, spreading debris and forcing the caution finish. The race had been scheduled for 90 laps.

Reigning Verizon IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon, who was the runner-up in each of the previous four races on the 2.38-mile, 17-turn road course, finished third. Simon Pagenaud, driving the No. 77 Schmidt Peterson Hamilton Motorsports car, is the only driver with top-five finishes in all three races. Power, who retained the series championship points lead, placed fifth and Justin Wilson finished a season-high sixth in the No. 19 Dale Coyne Racing car.