The 2011 MoveThatBlock.com Indy 225 was an IZOD IndyCar Series open-wheel race that was held on August 14, 2011 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, New Hampshire before 28,000 spectators. It was the 13th round of the 2011 IZOD IndyCar Series and the eighth and final running of the event (counting the four years under Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) sanctioning). The 215-lap race, shortened from its scheduled distance of 225 laps because of rain, was won by Ryan Hunter-Reay of Andretti Autosport. Newman/Haas Racing driver Oriol Servià finished second, and Scott Dixon came in third for Chip Ganassi Racing.

Dario Franchitti, the championship leader heading into the race, won the pole position by setting the fastest two-lap time in qualifying. Pippa Mann was injured in a crash during the final practice session and did not start the race. Franchitti led 115 of the first 117 laps, but was taken out of the race because of a collision with Takuma Sato during a restart, breaking a 43-race streak of consecutive finishes. Hunter-Reay then assumed the lead and dominated the second half of the race, only relinquishing the lead during green-flag pit stops.

A caution flag was issued on the 206th lap for light rainfall, which worsened as the drivers slowly paced around the track. Though many of the drivers and team owners complained that the track surface had become unsafe, the race resumed on lap 218, only for a five-car crash to ensue on the front stretch. Among the drivers involved in the crash was championship contender Will Power, who was so irate that he flipped off the officials on the live broadcast. The failed restart attempt prompted heavy criticism towards Brian Barnhart, the series' already-controversial race director, who was eventually ousted from his role in November 2011.

To undo the championship implications of the crash, the running order on lap 215 was used as the final finishing results, meaning that Hunter-Reay had earned his fifth career victory. The decision was protested by Servià's and Dixon's teams because they had both crossed the start/finish line ahead of Hunter-Reay and they felt that reverting the finishing order was unfair, as no such rule existed in the series' rulebook. However, a three-man panel ruled on August 23 that Barnhart was correct to revert the order and the results were upheld with Hunter-Reay, Servià, and Dixon in the top-three positions. This was ultimately the last IndyCar Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway because of low attendance.

Background

New Hampshire Motor Speedway is a four-turn, oval track with variable banking of two-to-seven-degrees in the turns. Following four CART series races at New Hampshire from 1992 to 1995, the IndyCar Series (then the Indy Racing League) debuted at the track in 1996. However, low attendance rates caused series officials to remove the track from its schedule after 1998.

On the day of the 2010 Lenox Industrial Tools 301 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race, Speedway Motorsports Inc. (SMI) chief executive officer (CEO) Bruton Smith, track vice president and general manager Jerry Gappens, and IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard announced that the IndyCar Series would return to the track on July 30, 2011, as part of a three-year deal. Gappens revealed that he and SMI had been planning the deal since they bought out the track in January 2008. Dario Franchitti, who won the Indianapolis 500 a month prior to the announcement, completed three demonstration laps around the track. The race was later pushed back to August 14, 2011, due to schedule changes for the track's NASCAR weekends. In June 2011, the race gained title sponsorship from real estate website MoveThatBlock.com, thus naming the event the MoveThatBlock.com Indy 225. The Firestone Indy Lights, American Canadian Tour, and NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour hosted support races during the weekend.

The MoveThatBlock.com Indy 225 was to be held over a distance of 225 laps and . It was the 13th of 18 scheduled open-wheel races for the 2011 IZOD IndyCar Series. Heading into the race, Franchitti had earned 428 points and held a 62-point lead over second-placed Will Power in the Drivers' Championship standings. Scott Dixon was third with 335 points, followed by Tony Kanaan on 283 and Oriol Servià on 268. Despite Power's win at Edmonton, two collisions with Franchitti at Toronto and Mid-Ohio raised the championship contenders' tensions and caused the gap between them in the standings to widen. Franchitti initially insinuated that Power purposefully attempted to spin him in the preceding Mid-Ohio race, but later surmised that it was only because he and Power had been racing so closely.

There were 27 cars entered for the race that represented 15 different teams. All cars used the Dallara IR-05 chassis and the Honda Indy V8 engine. Tomas Scheckter took Justin Wilson's seat in the 22 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing car after Wilson suffered a fracture to his fifth thoracic vertebrae in a practice crash at Mid-Ohio and was expected to stay out of racing for the rest of the season. Wilson expressed disappointment with his injury, especially because he felt that his season had been improving, but was determined to heal his back. Alex Lloyd also replaced Sébastien Bourdais in Dale Coyne Racing's No. 19 car because Bourdais decided not to compete in any oval races that season. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing appeared for the first time since the twin Texas races in June with Pippa Mann, who finished fifth in the 2010 Firestone Indy Lights standings. She was also set to compete in the races at Kentucky and Las Vegas.

Because most of the IndyCar Series drivers had no experience racing at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, several tests were conducted at the track leading up to the event. Kanaan and Dixon participated in the first test at the track on August 31 and September 1, 2010, which was conducted by Firestone to assess their tires' durability. Dixon spoke positively of the track and predicted that the race would be "unbelievable". On July 5, 2011, Power and Mann took part in a private test at the track. An open test was held to all teams of the series on August 11, three days before the race. The test was split into a two-and-a-half-hour morning session and a three-hour afternoon session. Franchitti was the quickest driver in both sessions, with lap times of 21.7419 seconds in the morning and 21.5665 seconds in the afternoon. The only incident of the day occurred in the afternoon, when Mann spun into the tire barrier on the left side of the track in turn two with the rear wing of her car.

Practice and qualifying

Two practice sessions on Saturday preceded the race on Sunday; the first session was held for 75 minutes and the second lasted 60 minutes. James Hinchcliffe's time of 21.6492 seconds was the quickest in the first practice session, followed by Graham Rahal, Kanaan, Servià, and Takuma Sato. The session was paused three times: the first was for debris on the track, the second for Mann spinning and avoiding wall contact, and the third for Ed Carpenter spinning in turn two. As Charlie Kimball attempted to avoid Carpenter, Danica Patrick hit the rear of Kimball, who then contacted Carpenter's car.

The second session was planned to be divided into two groups to allow drivers to prepare for qualifying. However, the track surface had become slippery because of the American Canadian Tour race, so IndyCar officials extended the session by ten minutes and allowed all drivers to participate after the first group ended. Rahal led the session with a 21.7008-second lap, while Franchitti, Hinchcliffe, Sato, and Ryan Briscoe were second- through fifth-quickest. With 25 minutes left in the session, Mann slammed the concrete wall in the second turn with the rear end of her car. The black box installed in Mann's car recorded an impact force of over 110 g (1,078.73 m/s2). She was seen limping out of her car, showing clear signs of injury to her left leg. Safety marshals placed her on a stretcher and transported her to the Concord Hospital by ambulance for further evaluation. She also revealed through posts on Facebook and Twitter that she suffered a concussion, two bone injuries to her vertebrae, and a swollen ankle and knee. Although X-rays and CT scans of Mann's neck were negative, the IndyCar medical staff did not approve her to drive until she underwent a final medical test in Indianapolis, Indiana on Monday. As a result, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing withdrew their No. 30 car that she was planning to race. She was later ruled out of competition for the next four-to-six weeks.

During the qualifying session, which was held two hours after the final practice session ended, each driver was required to complete two laps, and the cumulative time of those laps would determine their starting position. Franchitti earned the 26th pole position of his American open-wheel car racing career and his second of the season with a two-lap time of 43.1976 seconds. His second lap, which was timed at 21.5968 seconds, broke an IndyCar Series track record that was established by Richie Hearn in 1996. He also earned a bonus point for winning the pole. Servià qualified second with a time that was 0.2573 seconds slower than Franchitti's. Kanaan took third, while Hinchcliffe earned his best career qualifying result of fourth place. Ryan Hunter-Reay, Briscoe, Dixon, Sato, Hélio Castroneves (in his 200th career start for Team Penske), and Kimball rounded out the top ten. Behind J. R. Hildebrand in 11th and Mike Conway in 12th, Power struggled with grip as he was the first driver to qualify and took 13th. The remaining top-20 positions were occupied by Alex Lloyd, Patrick, Alex Tagliani, E. J. Viso, Scheckter, Vítor Meira, and James Jakes. Ana Beatriz and Marco Andretti took the next two positions. Despite Rahal's notable pace in practice, a near-spin in turn one on his first lap caused him to lose his speed and start 23rd. Sebastián Saavedra in 24th, Carpenter in 25th, and Simona de Silvestro in 26th completed the starting grid for the race.

Qualifying classification + Final qualifying results Driver Team Lap 1 Lap 2 Total 1 10 Dario Franchitti Chip Ganassi Racing 21.6008 21.5968 43.1976 1 2 2 Oriol Servià Newman/Haas Racing 21.7374 21.7175 43.4549 2 3 82 Tony Kanaan KV Racing Technology – Lotus 21.7417 21.7473 43.4890 3 4 06 James Hinchcliffe Newman/Haas Racing 21.7476 21.7692 43.5168 4 5 28 Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport 21.7481 21.7738 43.5219 5 6 6 Ryan Briscoe Team Penske 21.7978 21.7546 43.5524 6 7 9 Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing 21.8215 21.8176 43.6391 7 8 5 Takuma Sato KV Racing Technology – Lotus 21.8201 21.8372 43.6573 8 9 3 Hélio Castroneves Team Penske 21.8755 21.8226 43.6981 9 10 83 Charlie Kimball Chip Ganassi Racing 21.9488 21.8667 43.8155 10 11 4 J. R. Hildebrand Panther Racing 22.0255 21.8909 43.9164 11 12 27 Mike Conway Andretti Autosport 21.9883 21.9789 43.9672 12 13 12 Will Power Team Penske 22.1838 22.0048 44.1886 13 14 19 Alex Lloyd Dale Coyne Racing 22.1818 22.0424 44.2242 14 15 7 Danica Patrick Andretti Autosport 22.1790 22.0566 44.2356 15 16 77 Alex Tagliani Sam Schmidt Motorsports 22.1499 22.0922 44.2421 16 17 59 E. J. Viso KV Racing Technology – Lotus 22.2031 22.1117 44.3148 17 18 22 Tomas Scheckter Dreyer & Reinbold Racing 22.1879 22.1682 44.3561 18 19 14 Vítor Meira A. J. Foyt Enterprises 22.1255 22.2646 44.3901 19 20 18 James Jakes Dale Coyne Racing 22.3455 22.3101 44.6556 20 21 24 Ana Beatriz Dreyer & Reinbold Racing 22.5810 22.1577 44.7387 21 22 26 Marco Andretti Andretti Autosport 22.4444 22.3583 44.8027 22 23 38 Graham Rahal Chip Ganassi Racing 22.7185 22.3320 45.0505 23 24 34 Sebastián Saavedra Conquest Racing 22.7469 22.7286 45.4755 24 25 67 Ed Carpenter Sarah Fisher Racing 22.9183 22.7121 45.6304 25 26 78 Simona de Silvestro HVM Racing 23.5694 23.3064 46.8758 26 27 30 Pippa Mann Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing — — No time 27 Sources:

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