Justin Wilson survived the war of attrition at Richmond International Raceway at the weekend to bring his #02 McDonald's car home in a season-best seventh place in the SunTrust Indy Challenge, but the Briton admitted that survival was a bit of a lottery at the tight little oval.
Mayhem throughout the extended 300-mile distance claimed many victims, including both experienced oval veterans and those newer to the unforgiving 0.75-mile 'bullring', but Wilson followed the example of the top four - all of whom are seasoned IRL professionals in avoiding the trouble to equal his previous best result for the campaign.
“What a crazy race - it was like being in a knife fight in a ‘phone booth!” the Briton said, “There was some really good driving and some really bad driving out there. I was just trying not to get caught out and stay out of trouble and bring the car home. The car wasn't the quickest out there, but we managed to salvage some good points and, hopefully, that will help us out in the championship.”
While Wilson was happy with his lot, however, neither fellow Champ Car convert Bruno Junqueira or countryman Darren Manning were too enamoured with the driving standards on display.
Both were caught out on the same restart, with the Brazilian pointing the finger at Manning for causing the multi-car incident - an accusation the AJ Foyt driver flatly denied.
Junqueira had qualified a season-best ninth and was running in the top ten until lap 79, when he claimed that Manning had slowed unexpectedly, causing Ryan Briscoe to hit the back of the Brazilian's car coming out of turn three and sending him into the turn four wall.
"I had nowhere to go," Junqueira complained, "Manning slammed on the brakes and Briscoe hit me from behind. It is very disappointing because the car was fast all weekend. We were running in the top ten until a stupid mistake by another driver ended our day way too early. I think we could have had a podium finish."
