Hunter-Reay nabs first IRL victory

Scott Dixon’s bid for a fourth straight victory on the road course at Watkins Glen, N.Y., ended Sunday with an uncharacteristic mistake that gave Ryan Hunter-Reay the opening he needed to earn his first IndyCar Series victory.

Dixon, preparing to make a run at leader Darren Manning after a long caution period, spun out under yellow and was hit from behind by contender Ryan Briscoe. That gave the runner-up spot to Hunter-Reay, who easily passed Manning on the restart and drove away with the fourth series win for Rahal Letterman Racing.

It is the third open-wheel victory for Hunter-Reay, a Texas-born driver who won twice while driving in the now-defunct Champ Car World Series.

“It’s huge,” Hunter-Reay said after doing some celebratory burnouts. “I’m an American boy … and this is a real Fourth of July weekend celebration.”

It was a strange finish to a race that went the first 40 laps on the 3.4-mile, 11-turn circuit with only a couple of minor incidents and wound up running under caution for most of the last 20 laps because of a series of crashes and spinouts.

Dixon, trying to become the first IndyCar driver to win four straight races on any track, appeared to be in position, with only the vulnerable Manning – whose best previous finishes were a quartet of fourths – ahead of him as the field was about to get the green flag with 12 laps remaining.

The series leader, winner of two races this season, including the Indianapolis 500, said he was trying to get some heat into his new front tires after pitting on lap 41. He shot forward and, suddenly, his Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara spun.

“I was a complete idiot,” an obviously embarrassed Dixon said after getting restarted and finishing 11th. “We lost a lot of valuable points today. I feel more down for Briscoe and the boys.”

Briscoe, who started from the pole and led a race-high 37 laps, had to pit for a new nose after hitting the stopped Dixon. Briscoe finished 12th.

The last seven laps were run under green and Hunter-Reay pulled steadily away, beating Manning to the finish line by 2.4 seconds. Tony Kanaan, who crashed in the morning practice and drove the race with a sore left wrist, wound up third, followed by Buddy Rice, Marco Andretti and Bruno Junqueira.

Castroneves lost only five points and trails Dixon by 48 heading into next Saturday night’s race at Nashville.

Formula One

At Silverstone, England, Lewis Hamilton won the British Grand Prix for the first time, leading his rain-soaked home race from the fourth lap to take the lead in the Formula One drivers championship.

The McLaren driver lapped all but two cars in the field and finished more than a minute ahead of Nick Heidfeld’s BMW Sauber in a race at Silverstone that was full of spinouts and near misses. Honda’s Rubens Barrichello was third.

Hamilton’s third victory of the season gave him 48 points in the standings, tied with Ferrari’s Felipe Massa. Hamilton leads the Brazilian based on their head-to-head finishes in other races.

Massa, who spun at least five times in the race, was last of the 13 finishers and failed to pick up a point.