Hinchcliffe gets first IndyCar victory of 2018

NEWTON, Iowa — Less than two months after failing to qualify for the Indianapolis 500, James Hinchcliffe roared from behind to seize one of the more satisfying victories of his IndyCar career.

Hinchcliffe passed Josef Newgarden with just over 40 laps left to win at the Iowa Speedway on Sunday, his first victory of the season.

Hinchcliffe, who followed up his disaster at Indy with three finishes of 10th or worse in four starts, also picked up his first win since Long Beach in 2017 and his second victory at Iowa.

He will now head to his hometown track, the Streets of Toronto on Sunday, with more momentum than he’s had in a long time.

“This is such a good feeling after what happened in May. We knew we had it in us, and to come here and do it like that ... I’m just so stoked,” Hinchcliffe said. “To miss James Hinchcliffe celebrates after winning Sunday’s IndyCar race at Iowa Speedway. (the Indy 500) is a huge blow for every single member of the team... but if anything, it fueled us. It made us want to perform better, push harder.”

Spencer Pigot was a career-best second, followed by Takuma Sato in his first podium since a stunning win at the Indy 500 in 2017.

Newgarden dominated much of the race like he did in winning at Iowa two years ago, leading 229 of the 300 laps before Hinchcliffe seized control as Newgarden battled lap traffic.

Newgarden finished fourth.

Ed Carpenter threw a curveball at the field when he spun out and got clipped by Sato six laps from the finish, drawing a caution. Newgarden went in for new tires while Hinchcliffe stayed out, with the American hoping to catch Hinchcliffe if the race went green again.

It didn’t, and Hinchcliffe cruised past Iowa’s corninspired start-finish line in first for Schmidt-Peterson Motorsports under caution.

But it wasn’t all bad news for Newgarden, the defending champion. He moved from fourth to second in the standings behind Scott Dixon and cut his deficit to 33 points.

Dixon was never a factor, finishing a season-worst 12th.

“I can’t complain much. It’s a tough pill to swallow to see (Hinchcliffe) go by me. We just didn’t have it at the end, and sometimes you can’t forecast that completely,” Newgarden said. “It just went away from us.”

FORMULA ONE: Sebastian Vettel took advantage of a bad start and disastrous first lap for Lewis Hamilton to win the British Grand Prix in Silverstone, England, and extend his lead in the championship standings. Hamilton started in pole position but Vettel streaked ahead and his Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen compounded Hamilton’s misfortune when he bumped into him, sending the British driver off the track and leaving him last. Hamilton managed to fight his way back to finish second. Vettel finished 2.264 seconds ahead of Hamilton for his fourth win of the season and an eight-point lead over Hamilton in the series standings.