2013 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama

  2013 Alabama

Race details
2nd round of the 2013 IndyCar Series season
Date	April 7, 2013
Official name	Indy Grand Prix of Alabama
Location	Barber Motorsports Park Birmingham, Alabama
Course	Road Course 2.38 mi / 3.83 km
Distance	90 laps, 214.2 mi / 344.7 km
Pole position
Driver	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Andretti Autosport
Time	1:07.0871
Podium
First	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Andretti Autosport
Second	Scott Dixon	Target Chip Ganassi Racing
Third	Helio Castroneves	Team Penske

The 2013 Indy Grand Prix of Alabama was the second race of the 2013 IndyCar Series season. The race was run on April 7, 2013 in Birmingham, Alabama, United States at Barber Motorsports Park.

Report

Background

The first race of the 2013 IndyCar Series season in St. Petersburg, saw James Hinchcliffe earn his first career victory, holding off Hélio Castroneves in the closing laps. Expected championship contenders Dario Franchitti, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Will Power all experienced trouble during the race, finishing outside the top 15. A.J. Allmendinger made his return to IndyCar for this race, driving for Penske Racing.

Qualifying

Scott Dixon set a new track record in the first round of qualifying, but it was Ryan Hunter-Reay that would capture the pole in the Firestone Fast 6. While Takuma Sato had originally made the Fast Six, he was penalized for impeding Justin Wilson's qualifying lap, and Tristan Vautier was bumped into the Fast Six after initially missing the cut. Sato would lose his two fastest laps and fall to 12th starting position.

Classification

Starting grid

Row	Inside		Outside
1	1	Ryan Hunter-Reay	12	Will Power
2	55	Tristan Vautier (R)	9	Scott Dixon
3	83	Charlie Kimball	3	Hélio Castroneves
4	25	Marco Andretti	19	Justin Wilson
5	6	Sebastián Saavedra	2	A. J. Allmendinger
6	16	James Jakes	14	Takuma Sato
7	77	Simon Pagenaud	78	Simona de Silvestro
8	98	Alex Tagliani	5	E. J. Viso
9	10	Dario Franchitti	22	Oriol Servià
10	11	Tony Kanaan	27	James Hinchcliffe
11	15	Graham Rahal	67	Josef Newgarden
12	7	Sébastien Bourdais	4	J. R. Hildebrand
13	18	Ana Beatriz	20	Ed Carpenter

Race results

Pos	No.	Driver	Team	Engine	Laps	Time/Retired	Pit Stops	Grid	Laps Led	Points1
1	1	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Andretti Autosport	Chevrolet	90	1:52:04.5450	3	1	53	54
2	9	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	90	+ 0.6363	3	4		40
3	3	Helio Castroneves	Team Penske	Chevrolet	90	+ 17.6821	3	6	25	36
4	83	Charlie Kimball	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	90	+ 20.6160	3	5	3	33
5	12	Will Power	Team Penske	Chevrolet	90	+ 26.6460	2	2	9	31
6	77	Simon Pagenaud	Schmidt Hamilton Motorsports	Honda	90	+ 27.2995	3	13		28
7	25	Marco Andretti	Andretti Autosport	Chevrolet	90	+ 27.7175	3	7		26
8	19	Justin Wilson	Dale Coyne Racing	Honda	90	+ 30.5504	3	8		24
9	67	Josef Newgarden	Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing	Honda	90	+ 41.1029	3	22		22
10	55	Tristan Vautier	Schmidt Peterson Motorsports	Honda	90	+ 50.6449	3	3		20
11	98	Alex Tagliani	Barracuda Racing	Honda	90	+ 58.0458	3	15		19
12	5	E. J. Viso	Andretti Autosport	Chevrolet	90	+ 1:01.4334	3	16		18
13	11	Tony Kanaan	KV Racing Technology	Chevrolet	90	+ 1:01.6834	3	19		17
14	14	Takuma Sato	A. J. Foyt Enterprises	Honda	90	+ 1:03.1151	3	12		16
15	22	Oriol Servià	Panther Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	Chevrolet	90	+ 1:03.1495	4	18		15
16	7	Sebastian Bourdais	Dragon Racing	Chevrolet	90	+ 1:07.6880	3	23		14
17	4	J. R. Hildebrand	Panther Racing	Chevrolet	90	+ 1:09.7447	3	18		13
18	78	Simona de Silvestro	KV Racing Technology	Chevrolet	90	+ 1:09.9130	3	14		12
19	2	A. J. Allmendinger	Team Penske	Chevrolet	90	+ 1:11.0558	3	10		11
20	6	Sebastian Saavedra	Dragon Racing	Chevrolet	90	+ 1:11.6523	3	9		10
21	15	Graham Rahal	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda	90	+ 1:14.0385	5	21		9
22	20	Ed Carpenter	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevrolet	89	+ 1 lap	4	26		8
23	16	James Jakes	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda	86	+ 4 laps	5	11		7
24	18	Ana Beatriz	Dale Coyne Racing	Honda	65	Mechanical	4	25		6
25	10	Dario Franchitti	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	42	Mechanical	1	17		5
26	27	James Hinchcliffe	Andretti Autosport	Chevrolet	3	Contact	0	20		5

Notes

¹ Points include 1 point for leading at least 1 lap during a race, an additional 2 points for leading the most race laps, and 1 point for Pole Position.

Standings after the race

	Pos.	Driver	Points
1	1	Helio Castroneves	79
3	2	Scott Dixon	70
15	3	Ryan Hunter-Reay	66
1	4	Marco Andretti	61
4	5	James Hinchcliffe	56
6	6	Charlie Kimball	51
3	7	Tony Kanaan	49
6	8	Will Power	47
	9	Justin Wilson	46
3	10	E. J. Viso	44

• Note: Only the top ten positions are included.

References