By Dave Lewandowski

JOLIET, Ill. – Dan Clarke crossed the finish line two-tenths of a second after Chicagoland 100 winner James Hinchcliffe. He placed fifth.

Hinchcliffe, driving the No. 2 TMR-Xtreme Coil Drilling car, held off Pippa Mann by 0.0159 of a second – the third-closest margin of victory in Firestone Indy Lights history – on the 67th and final lap on the 1.5-mile Chicagoland Speedway oval.

Mann, who led her first laps of the season (a field-high 35) in the No. 11 Sam Schmidt Motorsports car, recorded a career best and led three Sam Schmidt Motorsports drivers across the line. Philip Major also posted a career best and series championship points leader J.R. Vernay was fourth.

Hinchcliffe, who started 13th because of a reported fuel pump issue, was driving the high line and caught Mann on Lap 66 following a Lap 63 restart. It was his third victory of the season (first on an oval).

“I wasn’t sure I would have enough,” said Hinchcliffe, who closed the gap on Vernay to 53 points with two races left. “Pippa was super strong. At the drop of the green, we had to make up from 13th to first. I sort of went for it with two laps to go and I thought I may have gone a lap too early but I had a really good run off of Turn 2. I was able to get alongside Pippa and side-draft her a bit. She pushed me kind of high and that may have hurt her momentum a bit. Then the same thing off of Turn 4 and we were able to use the angle to run down to the start/finish line. That’s Chicagoland racing.”

Mann, who started on the front row, battled pole sitter Martin Plowman for the lead through the first half of the race. On Lap 30, the front wing of her car cut the right-rear tire of Plowman’s No. 27 Automatic Fire Sprinklers/KEP Printing car for AFS Racing Andretti Autosport, creating a caution period. He returned to the race, but couldn’t regain the lap. Meanwhile, Mann assumed the point and was able to hold off charges by Vernay and Hinchcliffe over the next 30 laps.

After the final yellow flag – for Plowman’s car stalled on the Turn 1 apron on Lap 61 – Mann led Hinchcliffe by 0.0815 on Lap 65 after the restart.

“Hinch and I did some side-by-side racing today and he had an awesome car,” she said. “When he was right behind me on the last restart, I thought this is the last person I want to see in my mirrors and I mean that in the most complimentary way. I had something for everyone out there today but the guy that crossed the line first. My team did an amazing job, but at the end of the day the better guy won the race.

“I thought I was heartbroken after Indy (when she started from the pole but finished 16th). I’m kind of a little bit heartbroken now. I think I’ll wake up and be proud of this run tomorrow maybe.”

Stefan Wilson advanced four positions in the No. 28 Bryan Herta Autosport car to post his fourth consecutive top-10 finish and Arie Luyendyk Jr. followed in seventh in the No. 24 Alliance Motorsports car. Adrian Campos Jr. was eighth in the No. 22 TMR-Xtreme Coil Drilling entry and Dillon Battistini, making his first start of the season, finished ninth in the No. 35 Cicero’s/Steven Bales Enterprises car for Team PBIR.

source http://www.indycar.com