Ryan Hunter-Reay has been left frustrated after a late retirement from the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, after the 2012 champion was struck with an electrical issue while hunting down eventual race winner James Hinchcliffe.
The Andretti Autosport racer had been very competitive throughout the 85-lap race, leading 28 laps altogether before losing that advantage to Hinchcliffe during their final round of pit-stops.
When it became apparent the battle for victory would be between Hinchcliffe and Hunter-Reay after Scott Dixon committed to a three-stop strategy, the Florida-born racer quickly began reeling in race leader Hinchcliffe.
However, Hunter-Reay’s chances of a showdown for victory against Hinchcliffe were scuppered when an electrical fault struck his car on Lap 80.
"We had a good showing today, but I don't know what happened,” explained Hunter-Reay, who won at Long Beach in 2010.
“It was something electrical. I tried cycling the car a few times and it didn't fire.
“Then, once we had sat (in the run-off) for a few moments, we tried flipping a few switches and it fired back up again but it was too late to rejoin the race.
“It really hurts when it's that close to the end and I was closing on (Hinchcliffe); we were going to have a good showdown there at the end.
“That's why this sport can be so rewarding and so cruel, there's nothing you can do.”
It was a day to forget for the entire Andretti Autosport team, with all four cars retiring due to mechanical issues.
Marco Andretti was the first to retire with a sensor issue, before Alexander Rossi and Takuma Sato also came to a standstill on track.
Reigning Indianapolis 500 champion Rossi was adamant he had a chance of securing his second victory in the series, after running towards the front of the pack throughout the majority of the race.
"I thought we had a really good shot at winning,” insisted Rossi, who qualified a career best fifth.
“The pace of the car was really good all day and we were able to recover from a little bit of a tricky pit stop sequence on the first stop, so it's unfortunate because the car was awesome.
“We'll just have to fight back at Barber.”
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