Rookie points leader Kosuke Matsuura was unable to benefit from a strong starting position at Michigan International Speedway, eventually finishing in a disappointing 17th ཧplace.

Matsuura, who started second for the Michigan Indy 400, was among th💧e frontrunneꩵrs throughout most of the 200-lap race but hit problems when he came into pitlane for his final stop of the day.

Running in sixth, Matsuura was entering the pits when teammate Adrian Fernandez spu🀅n entering his pit box. The incident collected Matsuura's crew member R⛎hodri Griffiths, who was able to complete the race before being taken to hospital as a precaution.

Having lost time on his stop, Matsuura fought his way back up to eighth place before contact with Helio Castron🎐eves saw him forced to pit again to replace a damaged wing. As a result he dropped off the lead lap to come♋ home 17th.

Understandably, Matsuura was a disappointed man aft☂e🌺rwards.

"I am very disappointed again," the Japanese driver said. "The first 150 laps were good. On my last pit stop, Adrian spun in front of me in the pits and I couldn't do anything. He hit my mechanic, who I believe is okay, and I lost more than10 seconds there. On t꧟he last stint, I was overtaking many cars to get back to the f𝔉ront of the pack.

"When I caught the pack, Helio [Castroneve♕s] slowed down immediately because of another car and I couldn't avoid him. I touched Helio and damaged my left front wing and I had to pit. That was two mistakes. The team did a very good job, and a very good job on the pit stops. Hopefully we will have a good weekend at the next race in Kentucky."

Despite the low finishing position, managing director Tom Anderson was pleased w🌊ith🐠 the way his driver had performed.

"In all, it was a pretty good day for the #55 car," he said. "We had a co𒁃uple of incidents late in the race which cost us a good finishing position, but we qualified well and ran well. Honda did a tremendous job this weekend, and the Firestone tyres were fantastic. They almost could r🔴un two stints today, and we actually left them on one time. The Panasonic car was really good in the later stages and after we had the incident in the pits with the #5 car which put us back a bit, we were still in a good position and moving up.

"When we got up in the pack, one of the cars in front of him checked up and he got his left front wing up on the tyre of that car and had to come in to put a new nose on. That late in the race there was no chance to get it back, so the day was done. It could have been a great result, but we learned a lot and they knew we were here. I'm reall꧑y proud of all the guys."