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Twelfth Place Finish for Hawksworth in Barber

Topics: Jack Hawksworth, Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama

Twelfth Place Finish for Hawksworth in Barber

Monica Hilton
Bryan Herta Autosport
April 27, 2014

Birmingham, AL – Jack Hawksworth was able to end his third INDYCAR race weekend on a high note with a 12th place finish on Sunday at the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama.

Hawksworth didn’t have the best start to the weekend, struggling to find speed during the three practice sessions. Saturday’s qualifying put the 23-year-old, British driver in 22nd place on the starting grid.

The weather was dry on Friday and Saturday, but conditions changed significantly on Sunday as a major thunderstorm rolled through the Birmingham area during the scheduled green flag time frame.

After a two-hour rain delay, INDYCAR officials declared the race, originally scheduled for 90 laps, a timed race at 100 minutes total.

The caution flag flew on just the first lap and a majority of the drivers reported little to no visibility around the 14-turn, 2.38-mile Barber Motorsports Park.

Hawksworth drove aggressively and was able to avoid incident. In just the first ten laps, he had advanced four spots to 18th. That was only the beginning of a hard-fought battle that saw the No. 98 team running in the top ten on lap 38.

When the checkered flag flew, Hawskworth and the BHA/BBM with Curb-Agajanian team earned a solid 12th place finish.

“It was an exciting race with a lot going on,” said Hawksworth. “We started twenty-second and it was raining at the start. The car was good in the wet and we made some progress. Then we had some solid racing throughout the field.

“The BHA guys had some good calls on pit lane and I think we salvaged something from what was a difficult weekend. To get twelfth after the weekend we had was a good result in the end, so a big thank you to the team for working hard all weekend and for their ability to keep believing.”

Team owner Bryan Herta added, “It was really a tough start for us as we struggled with the car all weekend. The race was the best part, and Jack was certainly fast in the wet.

“We would’ve been even better off had it stayed wet but it was good to get to the finish. For the first two races of the season, we had really fast cars but didn’t finish. We feel like this is finally the start to our season.”

In two weeks, the Verizon IndyCar Series kicks off the prestigious “month of May” with the inaugural Grand Prix of Indianapolis. The famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway will be converted to a road course for the 82-lap race on Saturday, May 10. Tickets are still available at IndianapolisMotorSpeedway.com and fans can catch all the action live on ABC from 3:30-6 p.m. ET.