Watkins Glen (29 AUG '10) - After a tremendous demonstration of his speed, the last race winner Yang Ou went off the track and crashed into the barriers after leading the first 49 laps. In the last 11 laps the lead changed three times. In the end Don Hunter won with a smart pit strategy as well as a consistent pace.

After two flying qualification laps Yang Ou and Phillip Ellis were the only ones able to get down in the 1:30's. Ou took the pole with a lap time of 1:30.504. Altough both were well ahead the rest of the field both complained about problems to get the right lap together which just shows how fast they are. Last season race winner Tim Doyle qualified well in P5.

On the start Ou defended his lead easily. Behind that it got racy: Doyle exchanged places with Müller for two times until he lost the car under braking for the downhill lefthander turn 6. 2nd placed starter Ellis struggled very much with the balance of his car. After a slight problem in lap 1 he lost his car coming out of the bus stop chicane which dropped him back to the field where he started to fight back to the front. But that didn't last very long until he also lost his car braking into the left hand downhill turn 6 in lap 10.

Road course rookie Michael Cooper had a good start from P8 and was after four laps already in P4! After Müller had problems on the exit of the Bus Stop chicane and Cooper was able to go by he lost his car and crashed into the barriers. Guess what which turn it was?! Turn 6 pointed out to be the toughest one because it forced three drivers to retire after only ten laps.

In lap 17 Jeffrey Hsu and Joey Schmidt opened the first round of pit stops. Because the race had a length of 60 laps it offered two possible pit strategies (which should come into play later): run flat all the time in order to get fast lap times it will need three pit stops (max. 18-19 laps) or drive very soft and try to safe as much as fuel as possible and stretch the window as far as possible (20-21 laps) to make only two pit stops. Hsu who was in P2 that time did the first as well as the leader and in P3 driving Müller. The majority of the field tried to make it on two which separated the first three from the followers. Meanwhile Ou drove in a class of its own (at least 0.5 to 2.0 seconds faster to 2nd placed) well ahead to the rest of the field.

Until lap 50 everything looked again like a "easy" win for Ou. Coming into turn 7 (the Toe of the boot) he went off line and slipped off the track into the barriers. Ou said he propably hitted a bump which unsettled the car sothat he lost the grip. After that the race was over for him and the race for the victory begun for the rest of the field.

After a technical stop for Jeffrey Hsu at the pits Müller went into P2 so he inherited the lead of Ou in lap 50. However Müller still had to make a short splash'n'dash in the pits - he last pitted in lap 39 and was not able to finish without a short stop. So he in - very fast. With 20 mph too much he got messaured at pit enty smoking his tires. He not only got a penalty for speeding he also needed to take fresh tires after that. That was the time for James Allard how tried to make it on two stops. After he noticed he can't make it he pitted too. The lead went to Don Hunter who came in last in lap 40.

With about 20 seconds behind Hunter Müller made an attempt to fight back for the lead. In the end Don Hunter crossed the line first - with a stuttering engine and only 2.679 seconds lead. The strategy (or better said gamble?) played off!

Next round of the iamINDY.de autumn season 2010 will be at the fast 1.5 mile oval in Las Vegas. Expect much side-by-side racing at the Las Vegaas 480k. See you there!

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