The rest of the Indy Lights field also saw the back of the HMD Trucking sponsored No.79 of David Malukas, who led the Indy Lights spring training timesheet. (Photo Courtesy Of Andersen Promotions)

By Steve Wittich

What the quickest driver said:

“It’s going to be an easy social media post – right where we left off last year,” exclaimed David Malukas. “We’ve tested here, so we’ve already worked on setups and learned a great deal going into today. We were ready, and right off the bat, we got into our checklist, working through even the smallest things. We were quick right away and everything seems good. This is the best team I’ve ever been on and no matter where I end up, I’m so happy to be on this team.”

  • A trio of teammates topped the combined timesheet from Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires spring training at Barber Motorsports Park. The team was led by HMD Motorsports sophomore David Malukas, who finished 0.0437 and 0.206 seconds ahead of Global Racing Group w/ HMD Motorsports rookies Linus Lundqvist and Benjamin Pedersen, respectively.
  • Malukas set his quickest time after lunch, while Lundqvist and Pedersen set their fastest laps during the morning session.
  • Malukas and Lundqvist were both under the Barber Motorsports Park Indy Lights track record set by Spencer Pigot in 2015.
  • The 19-year-old Malukas has led the last two official Indy Lights sessions. The native of Chicago, Ill. led the lone Indy Lights practice on the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla. 358 days ago.
  • The top three drivers all competed in the Formula Regional Americas Championship Powered By Honda last season.
  • A pair of Andretti Autosport drivers rounded out the top five. Robert Megennis turned a lap of 72.6437 seconds and his teammate Kyle Kirkwood completed a circuit of Barber Motorsports Park in 72.6437 seconds late in the session.
  • Fordham University student Megennis started the afternoon session with an approximately 30 lap race run with lap times consistently in high 73s and low 74s. The New Yorker credited the steady full tank run on his experience with the Vasser-Sullivan Lexus GTD team in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Megennis has been part of the team for 36 hours of action at Daytona and Sebring.

The No. 27 of Robert Megennis was the quickest of the four Andretti Autosport/Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport Indy Lights drivers in spring training at Barber Motorsports Park (Photo Courtesy Of Andersen Promotions)

  • After a muddy off-track excursion at the end of the morning session, the Andretti Autosport crew got Kirkwood, the 2019 Indy Pro 2000 champion, back on track with 90-minutes remaining in the afternoon session. Kirkwood was busy during his time on track and completed 84 laps across the two sessions. The 13 drivers averaged 87.6 laps each.
  • Carlin had a successful return to Indy Lights after last appearing in the series in 2017. Alex Peroni, an FIA Formula Three veteran, was consistent with his Car No. 5. The Aussie finished both sessions in the fifth spot. Rookie Christian Bogle completed 243.8-miles during the two sessions, making him the busiest of the 13 pilots.

It was great to see the brilliant blue Carlin utilizes for liveries back in the Indy Lights paddock (Photo Courtesy Of Andersen Promotions).

  • The baker’s dozen Indy Lights drivers completed 1,139 laps of the 2.3-mile, 17-turn natural terrain road course.
  • The afternoon session had a pair of red flags. The first one was for the No. 59 of Nikita Lastochkin, who stopped near the pit road entrance. Megennis, who ran out of fuel with a minute remaining on the clock, brought out the simultaneous red and checkered flags.

Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires spring training combined timesheet.

RANK CAR NO. DRIVER TEAM SESSION QUICK LAP DIFFERENCE TOTAL LAPS
1 79 David Malukas HMD Motorsports 2 72.3418 87
2 26 Linus Lundqvist Global Racing Group w/HMD Motorsports 1 72.3855 -0.0437 103
3 24 Benjamin Pedersen Global Racing Group wHMD Motorsports 1 72.5478 -0.206 100
4 27 Robert Megennis Andretti Autosport 2 72.6437 -0.3019 79
5 28 Kyle Kirkwood Andretti Autosport 2 72.7844 -0.4426 84
6 5 Alex Peroni Carlin 2 72.9075 -0.5657 85
7 68 Danial Frost Andretti Autosport 2 73.1802 -0.8384 76
8 51 Toby Sowery Juncos Racing 2 73.2029 -0.8611 86
9 2 Sting Ray Robb Juncos Racing 2 73.2233 -0.8815 82
10 17 Devlin DeFrancesco Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport 1 73.2237 -0.8819 81
11 11 Antonio Serrevalle Pserra Racing 2 73.4096 -1.0678 87
12 59 Nikita Lastochkin HMD Motorsports 2 73.4920 -1.1502 83
13 7 Christian Bogle Carlin 2 73.9984 -1.6566 106