Sam Hornish Jr. led the final 212 laps to win at Richmond and cut Helio Castroneves' championship lead to five points.
The race was a 250-lap IndyCar event on 24 June 2006 at Richmond. Sam Hornish Jr. led the final 212 laps for Marlboro Team Penske, and Vitor Meira was second. The win was Hornish Jr.'s second of the season, following his Indianapolis 500 victory.
The 2006 SunTrust Indy Challenge was a race of patience and pit work, and Sam Hornish Jr. was the one who kept his head. After Helio Castroneves led the first 38 laps, Hornish Jr. took the lead straight after that and held it to the chequered flag. His win at Richmond cut Castroneves's championship advantage to five points.
Where was the SunTrust Indy Challenge held?
The race was held on 24 June 2006 at Richmond International Raceway in Richmond, Virginia. The track is a four-turn asphalt oval 1.21 km (0.75 mi) long, and the 250 laps covered 301.8 km (187.5 mi). It was the seventh of 14 scheduled open-wheel races that season.
The circuit has banking of 14 degrees in the turns, 8 degrees on the front stretch and 2 degrees on the back stretch. It was the sixth edition of the event, and the banking changes sharply from the front straight to the back.
Drivers had mixed views on the track. Hornish Jr. enjoyed its character, and Castroneves was optimistic after winning there in 2005. Marco Andretti liked its emphasis on driver effort, while Kanaan likened the circuit to a road course. Franchitti spoke of the physical demands of the G-forces, and Buddy Rice said the track was mentally demanding because it tested a driver's patience.
One late charge and one long lead decided a race that Richmond's tight banking had made a test of patience.
Who led the championship before Richmond?
Castroneves led the Drivers' Championship with 232 points before the race, twenty-two points ahead of Dixon in second and thirty-seven points over Wheldon in third. Castroneves was also the defending race winner, and Hornish Jr. and Kanaan held fourth and fifth.
Castroneves and Hornish Jr. were team-mates at Marlboro Team Penske, which made the title fight an internal one at the front of the field.
How did practice and qualifying set the grid?
Castroneves took pole after qualifying was rained out. The grid was set by combined practice speeds from Friday, with Scott Sharp second and Hornish Jr. third. Wheldon was fourth and Andretti fifth, with Vitor Meira, Kanaan, Matsuura, Herta and Franchitti completing the top ten.
Rain began to fall after nine drivers had completed their qualifying attempts, so IndyCar cancelled the session. Dixon, Tomas Scheckter, Ed Carpenter, Buddy Rice, Danica Patrick, Jeff Simmons, Eddie Cheever, Felipe Giaffone and Buddy Lazier filled the remaining places.
The first practice session lasted 90 minutes and was stopped twice, once when Lazier backed into the fourth-turn wall and again when Giaffone's engine failed after eight laps. Castroneves set the fastest time of that session at 15.6043 seconds. In the second session, of 60 minutes, he improved to 15.5645 seconds, ahead of Sharp, Hornish Jr., Wheldon and Andretti.
IndyCar held a test on 22 June, and it was not a smooth day for Hornish Jr. He set the pace at 15.7520 seconds, but he then crashed into the SAFER barrier at turn four and destroyed his primary car, which ended the session early.
The warm-up was 30 minutes long and began at 2:00 p.m. EDT. Rice went into the turn four barrier during warm-up, and his team replaced his engine, so he was placed at the back of the grid. Hornish Jr. was fastest in the warm-up at 16.5691 seconds.
How did the race start and unfold early?
Hornish Jr. slipped past Castroneves in the first turn to take the lead. Castroneves had led the opening 38 laps, and a caution on lap 53 for debris on the back straight brought the leaders into the pits, where Meira lost time after an impact-wrench problem.
Cheever was sent to the back for speeding on pit road. Simmons slid up the track and hit the wall, ending his race. Hornish Jr. had built a 4.7-second lead over Castroneves, and Kanaan retired on lap 109 after a faulty gear-shift cable.
How did the late laps decide the win?
Andretti passed Castroneves for second, and a third caution followed eleven laps later for debris in turn two. Franchitti moved from sixth to second on the stops under that yellow, and Hornish Jr. resumed his pace when racing restarted on lap 164.
Meira made a late charge. He passed Andretti for fourth on lap 226 after Andretti oversteered, then went past Castroneves for third five laps later. Castroneves began losing places after his right-rear tyre lost air pressure, and Wheldon's fuel ran out after a short pit stop on lap 153, which forced him to concede fifth.
Meira passed Franchitti for second, nearly driving onto the grass in the process. Seconds later Castroneves's right-rear tyre blew, and the fourth and final caution came out for the last four laps. Hornish Jr. kept the lead under the yellow and won, having led the final 212 laps.
Who finished where at Richmond?
Hornish Jr. won, with Meira second and Franchitti third. Andretti was fourth and Sharp fifth, while Herta, Scheckter, Carpenter, Wheldon and Castroneves completed the top ten. Dixon, Matsuura, Rice, Cheever, Patrick, Lazier and Giaffone were the last classified finishers.
| Finish | Driver | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Winner | Sam Hornish Jr. | Sixteenth IndyCar victory and second of 2006 after the Indianapolis 500 |
| Second | Vitor Meira | Sixth second-place finish of his career |
| Third | Dario Franchitti | Moved up from sixth under the third caution |
| Fourth | Marco Andretti | Oversteered late on, and was passed by Meira |
| Fifth | Scott Sharp | Hoped to keep his run of top-five finishes alive |
| Sixth | Bryan Herta | Top-ten finish after a fire in his pit stall |
| Seventh | Tomas Scheckter | Top-ten finish |
| Eighth | Ed Carpenter | Top-ten finish |
| Ninth | Dan Wheldon | Ran out of fuel late in the race and conceded fifth place |
| Tenth | Helio Castroneves | Tyre blew late, but he was classified in the top ten |
What did the result do to the title race?
Castroneves kept the championship lead with 252 points, but Hornish Jr. cut the gap to five points with 247. Dixon was third on 229 and Wheldon fourth on 217, while Meira moved up to fifth on 192 points. Seven races remained in the season.
The win was a significant one for Hornish Jr., and for Honda, which earned its 100th victory in American open-wheel racing. Hornish Jr. had also been the Indianapolis 500 winner a month earlier, so his second win of 2006 was a strong statement in the middle of the season.
What did the drivers say after the race?
Hornish Jr. said he had wanted a calm, clean race and that his team had been careful to avoid trouble. Meira said the result showed what his team and Panther Racing could do after two difficult pit stops. Franchitti said officials had been unhelpful to him in traffic, and he criticised the lack of blue flags for lapped cars.
Franchitti still said he had a wonderful time, and he praised Meira's pass on lap 246 for second place. Andretti described the car as a handful at times, and Sharp said his car had tightened after his final stop.
Castroneves kept his championship lead, but he said his car had driven well at first before it loosened as he came up to the lapped cars. Hornish Jr. explained that in the two previous years he had either been hit or spun while trying to get past Castroneves, so a clean race was the main goal this time. Andretti said he wished he had been able to fight for the win, but he was grateful to finish without a wreck.