2011 MoveThatBlock.com Indy 225

Did You Know?

• Pippa Mann was injured in a crash during final practice and did not start the race.
• Dario Franchitti led 115 of the first 117 laps before being taken out by a collision with Takuma Sato.
• Will Power flipped off officials on live broadcast after being involved in the final restart crash.

Background

New Hampshire Motor Speedway is a four-turn, 1.058-mile oval with variable banking of two to seven degrees in the turns. After four CART races from 1992 to 1995, the Indy Racing League debuted at the track in 1996, but low attendance led to its removal after 1998. On the day of the 2010 Lenox Industrial Tools 301 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race, Speedway Motorsports Inc. CEO Bruton Smith, track vice president Jerry Gappens, and IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard announced the series would return on July 30, 2011, as part of a three-year deal; the date was later pushed to August 14 due to NASCAR schedule changes.

In June 2011, the race gained title sponsorship from MoveThatBlock.com. The event was the 13th of 18 rounds in the 2011 season. Dario Franchitti led the championship with 428 points, 62 ahead of Will Power, followed by Scott Dixon on 335, Tony Kanaan on 283, and Oriol Servià on 268. Tensions between Franchitti and Power had risen after collisions at Toronto and Mid-Ohio.

Practice and qualifying

Two practice sessions were held on Saturday. James Hinchcliffe set the fastest time in the first session at 21.6492 seconds, ahead of Graham Rahal, Kanaan, Servià, and Takuma Sato. The session was paused three times: for debris, for Pippa Mann spinning without contact, and for Ed Carpenter spinning in turn two, which led to contact involving Charlie Kimball and Danica Patrick. The second session was extended by ten minutes after an American Canadian Tour race made the track slippery.

Rahal led with a 21.7008-second lap, followed by Franchitti, Hinchcliffe, Sato, and Ryan Briscoe. With 25 minutes left, Mann hit the concrete wall in turn two, recording an impact of over 110 g. She was taken to Concord Hospital with a concussion, two vertebral bone injuries, and a swollen ankle and knee. IndyCar medical staff did not clear her to drive until a final test in Indianapolis, and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing withdrew her No. 30 car; she was ruled out for four to six weeks.

Race

The race was televised live on ABC. Weather at the start was cloudy and overcast, with air temperatures of 77 to 88 °F and track temperatures of 73 to 75 °F. A moment of silence was observed for victims of the Indiana State Fair stage collapse. The start was moved from 4:00 p.m. to 3:50 p.m. due to impending rain. Dario Franchitti led from the pole, but on the first lap Mike Conway spun on cold tires and was hit by Rahal; Andretti also damaged his suspension avoiding the crash, prompting a caution. By lap 12, Tomas Scheckter had moved from 18th to third. Hinchcliffe passed Scheckter for third on lap 18, and by lap 30 Franchitti led Servià by five seconds. Hinchcliffe used push-to-pass to take third from Hunter-Reay on lap 41 and second from Servià five laps later.

Race finish controversy

Hunter-Reay's 0.5-second lead over Servià was erased when the sixth caution flew for light rain on lap 206. Despite driver pleas to stop the race, it resumed on lap 218. Danica Patrick spun on the front stretch; Will Power and Sato spun avoiding her, and Carpenter hit Power's right side. Beatriz also sustained slight damage. Three seconds later, the caution was issued, by which point Servià had passed Hunter-Reay for the lead, and Dixon had taken second. Officials initially scored Servià as leader but placed him second behind Hunter-Reay on lap 220 when the red flag stopped the race. After deliberation, the running order on lap 215 was declared the final results, making Hunter-Reay the winner. Servià and Dixon's teams protested, arguing no rule allowed reverting the order, but a three-man panel upheld the decision on August 23.