Canada’s James Hinchcliffe ended his two-year win drought when he prevailed in one of the messiest races in recent IndyCar history.

The race started early to avoid storms and finished under caution, with only 47 laps in the books and just 31 minutes of green flag running. And after just one pit stop on lap 13, it was the Schmidt Peterson Motorsport-Honda driver who started 16th yet was in the right place at the right time when the majority of leaders pitted under caution on lap 33.

Had there been substantial green-flag running after that, Hinchcliffe would have needed to stop, but the errors among his pursuers meant he never had to defend his lead for more than two laps at a time.

He said: “I had a little fun with my guys after I took the white flag and yelled I was out of gas but then I decided it’s only our second race together so I better tell the truth. But it’s a great group so I knew they’d have a good laugh when I told them not to worry.

“I’m not Scott Dixon by any means but I’m working on it. Saving fuel is part of this game.”

Also working in his favor was the fact that Team Penske’s Helio Castroneves, who’d had earlier car damage but been able to cycle to the front, was unable to attack, and was instead having to concentrate more on defending second from Hinchcliffe’s SPM teammate James Jakes, who scored the second podium of his IndyCar career.

Said Jakes: “It was bloody treacherous accelerating off the last turn and if you were in the back of the pack it was easier because it was cleared off by the time you got there. I spun and got lucky nobody hit me.

“But I got unlucky Saturday in qualifying so it all worked out. I hated to see all those cautions because I had plenty of fuel left and I know Hinch didn’t. I thought I had Helio for second but it was so slippery under braking and I couldn’t hold him.”

Fourth was Simona De Silvestro, the highest-finishing Andretti Autosport driver who survived one lurid moment into Turn 1, soon after jumping Tony Kanaan on a restart. She remarked: “It was huge to get the race like this. Honestly, we struggled the whole weekend. We weren’t where we wanted to be. In the race, the car was pretty good and the tricky conditions kind of played  our way and the team made a great call to come in at one point.

“It’s really cool to be back here in IndyCar and especially with Andretti. It’s my second race with the team and finishing fourth. It’s great. It’s a great accomplishment.”

Aside from Castroneves’ unlikely podium, the day was mediocre for Team Penske, who dominated the wet early stages, Juan Montoya leading by about a second from Will Power, who in turn was four seconds ahead of Castroneves and Simon Pagenaud. JPM and Power stayed in close tandem after switching to soft slick tires on lap 14. When they led the mass pitstop on lap 33, however, they got hosed by those who’d pitted a couple of laps earlier, and emerged in seventh and eighth.

That became sixth and seventh when Carlos Huertas, running in second place, spun his Dale Coyne Racing machine into a wall as they came to the green. Championship leader Montoya got past Chip Ganassi Racing’s Tony Kanaan on the following restart on lap 43, but there was to be only half a lap of green before Pagenaud, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Sebastien Bourdais collided while battling for eighth, bringing out the final yellow.

Remarked Montoya: “I led the most laps, never got passed, didn’t make any mistakes and finished fifth. What the hell. Oh well, one of those crazy days but I’d rather finish fifth than get a DNF.”

Kanaan’s sixth place came at the end of a strange race. On the opening lap at Turn 2, he’d been ushered off the track while looking optimistically around the outside of Power, and had dropped to sixth. He and Hunter-Reay were the first to brave slicks in the wet-but-drying conditions, but TK spun. Then a refueling problem had brought him in for another stop.

Yet spending the first half of the race toward the rear of the field was the way to succeed in a race peppered with yellows for one-car errors involving rookies and sophomores. Sage Karam was twice a culprit, while Gabby Chaves, Huertas and Stefano Coletti also spent time in the swampy grassland around the 2.74-mile course. Jack Hawksworth was less to blame for his shunt, as he struck a tire wall trying to avoid a spinning James Jakes.

Graham Rahal played a starring role, and certainly deserved better than the eighth place he collected, having legitimately run as high as fourth. In light of the fact that he’d spent most of the race battling Hunter-Reay, however, Rahal could be content he wasn’t part of the Pagenaud wet-grass wipeout. 

If the race was dissatisfying for most, it turned worse for Dale Coyne Racing when Francesco Dracone knocked down his crew chief Todd Phillips, while attempting to leave his wet pit box on slicks. RACER has learned that Todd is back from med with stitches in a calf muscle and a cut on his nose.

RESULTS – 47 LAPS:

CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS: