Newton, Iowa (July 18, 2015) - Ryan Briscoe earned a top-ten finish under the lights at Iowa Speedway in the No. 5 Arrow Electronics car during the Iowa Corn 300 on Saturday night.
After struggling throughout practice and qualifying 19th, Briscoe started the 300-lap race strong and worked his way through the field to finish eighth.
"I think we should be pretty happy with the race we ran today," said Briscoe. "Man, we fought hard. All weekend, we were struggling with the balance in the No. 5 Arrow Electronics car since first practice and I think we pretty much threw the kitchen sink at it for the race today. We made improvements all weekend and I was really proud of the guys. No one ever gave up.
"I think a top ten - P8 - was a great result. Unfortunately, we couldn't really make the most of new tires today so I think we could've been a bit better, but on new tires we were just hitting the ground too much. We had a very consistent car, very racy, and had a lot of fun out there. It was really physical tonight and I'm proud of the team for bringing home a P8 for me."
Teammate Jakes qualified 14th and made solid gains on the restarts during the first half of the race, picking off positions two at a time on several restarts. After stopping to top off fuel on lap 22, Jakes fell to P22 but quickly gained seven spots and moved back up to P15, where he would ultimately finish the race.
"It was a very difficult night for the No. 7 SPM MediaTech Honda," said Jakes. "The first stint was pretty good. We managed to get pretty close to the top ten but just struggled a bit with the balance all night. It's a shame. It was a long night but we'll take the weekend off now and regroup before we go to Mid-Ohio."
Earlier in the day, the SPM Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires cars qualified in third (Jack Harvey), fourth (Ethan Ringel), fifth (Scott Anderson) and sixth (RC Enerson).
The 100-lap race was fairly uneventful, with the lone yellow flag coming on lap 67 when Ringel's car had a mechanical issue and come to a stop in turn one. He would finish eleventh.
Teammates Enerson, Harvey and Anderson finished third, fifth and sixth, respectively. Harvey's finish extended his championship points lead to 18.
In two weeks, the Verizon IndyCar Series heads to Lexington, Ohio for the 14th race on the 2015 circuit. The Honda Indy 200 will take place on Sunday, August 2 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. The 90-lap race will be broadcast live on NBC Sports Network from 1:30-4:30 p.m. ET and tickets are available at MidOhio.com.
