INDIANAPOLIS — Panther Racing driver Hideki Mutoh notched the first Indy Pro Series victory of his career Saturday in race one of the Liberty Challenge at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, while snapping the record five-race winning streak of Alex Lloyd.
Lloyd, who started on the outside of row one, finished in second, 6.273 seconds behind the polesitter Mutoh.
“You can’t win them all,” said Lloyd of his streak coming to an end. “When you’re in a position where you’re not able to win, you have to do the best you can. Second was as good as we could do. Obviously, I’m disappointed in not winning, but all in all, we had a good, strong day.”
The victory was the first for Panther Racing since 2003 when the team won the championship with Mark Taylor.
While the two leaders pulled away from the field, there was an intense battle for positions behind them. In the end, Andretti Green Racing’s Jaime Camara finished third, his second podium finish of the season, 2005 series champion Wade Cunningham was fourth and rookie Stephen Simpson was fifth. Richard Antinucci and Bobby Wilson, who battled each other for third for several laps, ended up sixth and seventh, respectively.
After the race, Mutoh participated in a blind draw to determine the top starters for race two of the Liberty Challenge, which ran on Sunday. Mutoh drew the No. 8, meaning the top-eight finishers of race one were  inverted for the start of tace two. Mutoh started eighth, while Ryan Justice was on the pole in race two.
The finish:
Hideki Mutoh, Alex Lloyd, Jaime Camara, Wade Cunningham, Stephen Simpson, Richard Antinucci, Bobby Wilson, Ryan Justice, Logan Gomez, Mike Potekhen, Chris Festa, Phil Giebler, Sean Guthrie, Doug Boyer, Micky Gilbert, Brad Jaeger, Ken Losch, Joey Scarallo, Jonathan Klein, Marc Williams, Andre Prendeville, Daniel Herrington, Jon Brownson, Robbie Pecorari, Tom Wieringa.