Time for the final Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires race – and with Firestone stepping in next season, this is Cooper Tires’ last day with the series.

In late 2013, Andersen Promotions took over management of the series (though INDYCAR retained ownership), and from 2014 to 2021 all three Road to Indy series (the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship, Indy Pro 2000 Presented by Cooper Tires and Indy Lights) rode on Cooper Tires. Cooper’s director of motorsports, Chris Pantani, has worked tirelessly to promote the Road to Indy – and all the drivers who graduated to the NTT INDYCAR SERIES. INDYCAR took Indy Lights back in house this season and announced that the series would run on Firestone tires beginning in 2023.

The series championship was decided yesterday, with Linus Lundqvist finally securing the title. But two through five in the final standings is up for grabs.

First – the points:

1	Linus Lundqvist	543	Back
2	Sting Ray Robb	443	100
3	Hunter McElrea – R	436	107
4	Matthew Brabham	436	107
5	Benjamin Pedersen	415	128
6	Christian Rasmussen – R	386	157
7	Danial Frost	356	187
8	Jacob Abel – R	325	218
9	Kyffin Simpson – R	294	249
10	Ernie Francis Jr – R	282	256

Second – the season finale starting lineup:

SP Car Driver Name Time

1 28 Rasmussen, Christian (R) 01:15.3618

2 26 Lundqvist, Linus 01:15.3788

3 2 Robb, Sting Ray 01:15.5028

4 24 Pedersen, Benjamin 01:15.6120

5 83 Brabham, Matthew 01:15.6536

6 68 Frost, Danial 01:15.7075

7 99 Francis Jr., Ernie (R) 01:15.8729

8 51 Abel, Jacob (R) 01:15.9349

9 27 McElrea, Hunter (R) 01:16.3453

10 21 Simpson, Kyffin (R) 01:16.4406

11 11 Siegel, Nolan (R) 01:16.5671

12 7 Bogle, Christian 01:16.6484

13 15 Lazier, Flinn (R) 01:16.8634

Sting Ray Robb took a dominant victory from pole yesterday – can he get back to the front today? With two of the series most assertive drivers – Rasmussen and Lundqvist – on the front row, it’s going to be a very interesting turn one.

Green flag at 10:00 a.m.

Rasmussen with the early jump with Lundqvist hanging on the outside, with Robb putting a nose inside Lundqvist but thinking better of it in turn two.

Brabham makes a feint in turn three but slots back into fifth.

McElrea all over Ernie Francis Jr. for eighth – McElrea is third in points, hoping to get to second as he looks to 2023.

Robb makes the pass on Lundqvist on the inside in turn nine.

Penalty on Francis for avoidable contact with McElrea, required to give McElrea eighth position.

Brabham by Lundqvist in the Corkscrew – looked like brief wheel-to-wheel contact between the two. Brabham goes over the kerbs in eight and shoves Lundqvist over the kerbs in turn nine.

Andretti 1-2-3 – and the top three are all former Indy Pro 2000 champs.

Robb packing five-tenths of a second quicker than Rasmussen on lap six, Rasmussen three-tenths quicker on lap seven.

Nolan Siegel and Kyffin Simpson in a battle of the 17-year-olds. Siegel doing a nice job in his series debut weekend.

Top four evenly spaced, so the Siegel/Simpson battle really the only one on track.

Jagger Jones in the booth with Kevin Lee and Charlie Kimball – Jones (grandson of Parnelli) will join Cape Motorsports, moving up to Indy Lights from USF2000 in 2023.

“We’ve seen the talent here (in Indy Lights) and we’ve seen what they’ve done in INDYCAR. This is the place to be,” said Jones.

“We had a few minutes to celebrate last night but Henry (Malukas, team owner) will throw us a party after this,” championship-winning HMD Motorsports team manager AJ Smith tells Georgia Henneberry.

Tire management is critical in this 35-lap race as we hit the halfway point – lap times starting to go up, over five-tenths of a second now.

Robb with the fastest race lap so far – back on lap four.

Benjamin Pedersen with a big off in turn 6, allowing Jacob Abel to get past in turn eight for fifth position.

McElrea reports to pit lane that his push-to-pass system is not working – team answers that the telemetry is working on pit lane.

Rasmussen with a two-car length lead on Robb, with Brabham another eight car lengths back.

Brabham puts four wheels into the dirt between turns four and five.

As the laps wind down, is Robb content with second on track and in the final point standings, or will he make a move?

Simpson spins in turn two and continues.

Checkered flag and the second win of the year for Christian Rasmussen.

P	No	Name	Laps	FL	FTime	Team
1	28	Christian Rasmussen	35	10	1:18.4480	Andretti Autosport
2	2	Sting Ray Robb	35	4	1:18.3304	Andretti Autosport
3	83	Matthew Brabham	35	5	1:18.4620	Andretti Autosport
4	26	Linus Lundqvist	35	8	1:18.6817	HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing
5	51	Jacob Abel	35	11	1:19.0546	Abel Motorsports
6	24	Benjamin Pedersen	35	11	1:18.8426	Global Racing Group with HMD
7	68	Danial Frost	35	12	1:19.1314	HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing
8	27	Hunter McElrea	35	11	1:18.9633	Andretti Autosport
9	11	Nolan Siegel	35	6	1:19.5782	HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing
10	7	Christian Bogle	35	8	1:19.4563	HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing
11	15	Flinn Lazier	35	13	1:19.4503	Abel Motorsports
12	99	Ernie Francis Jr.*	35	7	1:19.4021	Force Indy
13	21	Kyffin Simpson*	35	6	1:19.5863	HMD Motorsports

* Francis, Jr. receives a post-race penalty for avoidable contact, will move to 13th behind Simpson.

And a very nice set of donuts from series champion Linus Lundqvist.

Andretti Autosport’s Hunter McElrea wins rookie of the year honors.

Christian Rasmussen: “That was an awesome way to end the season. It’s been a tough one for us so to end on a high note is awesome. Good job to Andretti Autosports, they put a great car under me all weekend.

“The start was the most nerve-wracking part, especially knowing Sting Ray had the better car. I was excited to get the pole position yesterday, qualifying has been tough for me to figure out, so second yesterday, the pole and the win today is awesome. It’s all about getting better and better and we developed a lot this year. I’m a different driver than I was then and that’s what this series is all about. I’m happy with my progression this year, Andretti Autosport has helped me so much this year. I’m looking to come back to Indy Lights next year so I hope I can keep the momentum and go for the championship.”

Sting Ray Robb: “I don’t think I did as good a job as yesterday saving the rear tires. Once I got into Christian’s aerowash, it felt like I was on ice. I was happy with my pass on Linus – I don’t know if he saw me coming. I made too many mistakes early on and didn’t have anything for Christian but to see another all-Andretti podium sweep and finish second in the championship is great. We were getting better and better every race and eight podiums speak to our consistency.”

Matthew Brabham: “It was one of the most fun races I’ve had. A few passes in the Corkscrew, it was a lot of fun. It was a great year, hats off to the entire team. We worked so well together as a team – they’re like family to me. We’ve all stolen points off each other but the team gave us great cars. Unbeatable in the second half of the year.”

Unofficial Final Top Five Points:

1	Linus Lundqvist	575	—
2	Sting Ray Robb	483	92
3	Hunter McElrea – R	460	115
4	Matthew Brabham	471	104
5	Benjamin Pedersen	443	132

 

By Diane Swintal

Quick quotes from the Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires podium – Sting Ray Robb takes his first series win while Linus Lundqvist finally secures the championship title.

Quoteboard:

Sting Ray Robb: “It was great to get the win today, but there’s one more tomorrow. They were telling me to save the tires – and in reality, I was. The car was just that hooked up. It’s reminiscent of 2019, when I gave the Indy Pro 2000 win to Kyle Kirkwood (spinning off course from the lead late in the race), but we learn from our mistakes. I was worried after practice yesterday, that we were off pace, and we had a gearbox issue as well. Today was a totally different kind of day so we took Kirkwood’s winning setup from last year and made a change just before the race to address tire deg but you never know. This track changes so much. We’ll watch INDYCAR quali, we can learn a lot from the big cars.

“We have a big group of family and friends here today so it’s good to have the “local” support. And they must be good luck!”

Christian Rasmussen: “I knew it would happen at the start, or at the very end. I had the calculations on how late I could brake but unfortunately, we got hit. Sting Ray was super quick, I don’t think we could have gotten him. Lesson learned about tire deg – we knew it would be big, didn’t know it would be that big. We’ll see how we can manage that tomorrow.”

Hunter McElrea: “It was an interesting day. Qualifying was a disaster. We’re in a three-way battle for second in points and that doesn’t help. I was still mad at the start and I just threw it in there and came out third. That was one of the most challenging driving races I’ve had, hanging on for dear life. Starting ninth tomorrow but anything can happen. We’ll definitely go in a different direction with setup.”

Linus Lundqvist: “This is difficult to put into words. I thought I had my emotions under control, but I was clearly wrong. Once we crossed the checkered flag, I realized what I had done. It’s been a long journey, proud of where we are and the people we’ve gotten here with. We waited to celebrate until after the race – we wanted to do well in the race! It wasn’t the best race for us, which was annoying – at least until I passed the start/finish line and saw the team on the wall.

“We have a race tomorrow, so not too much celebrating, but tomorrow will be a proper celebration.

Henry Malukas: “This is pure excitement. HMD has been in this series for two years and I can’t take any credit – we have an amazing group. Linus is a true champion, I’m so glad he came back this year so we could show what we can do as a team. There’s more to come.

“We’ve talked about next year, it would be cool to see him with David, they would push each other just like they did last year in Indy Lights. It’s possible.”

Malukas did confirm that the team is considering a solo NTT INDYCAR SERIES effort, but that is in the future, not 2023.

Daiva Malukas: “I’m extremely happy for Linus and for the team – they worked so hard. It’s so exciting.”

Mike Maurini: “To go against Andretti Autosport is great – they have more resources than we currently have but we’re working to change that. Thanks to Henry and Daiva and to the entire team.”

Maurini confirmed eight Indy Lights cars in the team, including some rookies and “some surprises.”

 

Photo Credit: Mattias Persson / Motorsport Publication

By Patrick Stephan

The penultimate round of the 2022 Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires season starts with Sting Ray Robb on the pole and his Andretti Autosport teammate Christian Rasmussen alongside. Pedersen, McElrea and soon to be 2022 champion Linus Lundqvist round out the Top-5 starters.

On the pace lap, Kyffin Simpson spins at I believe was Turn 4. He is able to get back on the dusty, slick track surface and get in to position for the start.

Flinn Lazier who had qualified 12th, has an issue getting off pit lane and stalls at the top of the hill at the exit of the pits. He rolls the car backwards on to pit lane, the AMR INDYCAR Safety team has come to his aid and he is trying to get his car started in time to take the green this time by.

The field packs up coming down the hill from the corkscrew, and the green flag waves on what is actually Lap 2.

Robb on the inside is half a car length back at Turn 2 (the Andretti Hairpin), but he uses the better line to keep Rasumussen at bay and leads exiting the turn.  Kyffin Simpson cuts the corkscrew on the initial green flag lap – telling his team he was pushed off by Danial Frost.

The order at the end of Lap 2 is Robb, Rasmussen, Hunter McElrea, Jacob Abel, Benjamin Pedersen and Linus Lundqvist who I believe locked up the title by taking the green.

At the end of Lap, Robb is already up to a 1.9 second lead over Rasmussen.

Lap 4 and Danial Frost passes Nolan Siegel for 7th as everyone except Siegel sets their fastest lap of the race on this lap. Clearly the grip level is still improving, but drivers are also already thinking of conserving their tires on this high degradation track.

Robb is out to a 2.78 second second lead on Lap 5.  NOTE: Flinn Lazier is still on pit lane with the Abel Motorsports team working on the left rear – possibly a half shaft or something of that nature.  A disappointment for sure as he got in to an accident on Lap 1 at Portland and so far hasn’t turned any race laps here at Laguna Seca.  It was later confirmed that yes, he broke a half shaft. Lazier would join the even 8 laps down just to get some laps in and prepare for tomorrow’s finale.

The closest battles on the track at this point is Jacob Abel trying to hold off Benjamin Pedersen for 4th place.

Nolan Sigel in 8th is also under a lot of pressure Matthew Brabham for 8th, with Bogle, Simpson and Francis also closely following.

Brabham is looking for a place to pass, and gets it down with an over under crossover at Turn 2. Siegel, the 17 year old making is first Lights appearance, had taken the inside inside line, but couldn’t pinch it down enough to keep it on the line in the center. When Siegel slid a little wide on exit, Brabham was right there to take the position and quickly set sail for Danial Frost in 7th.

Lap 11, and the lead for Robb over Rasmussen is 4.17, and it’s 2.5 further back to McElrea another 4.3 to Abel in fourth.

It gets tighter there as Pedersen is just a couple car lengths back in 5th.

On Lap 15, Kyffin Simpson spins at the top of the corkscrew and then slides down the hill off to the left of the racing line, but still on the track. He is able to get the car pointed the right direction and roll down the hill and rejoin the race.

With 15 of the 35 laps completed, Robb leads by 4.7 over Rasmussen and it still be warned to keep managing his tires. Ernie Francis, Jr., down in 11th turns his quickest lap of the race on Lap 15 with a 1:18.6. Robb up front in clear air has the quickest lap of the race himself at 1:16.7720 – which he did on Lap 5.

After that spin, Simpson is posting his quickest laps of the race with Lap 18 being a 1:18.3106…note that Flinn Lazier is also making his quickest laps now at 1:18.5627.

Christian Bogle gets by Nolan Siegel for 9th on Lap 19, and Siegel is now under a lot of pressure by Ernie Francis, Jr., who two laps in a row has nearly hit Siegel’s attenuator.

Up front, Robb is still extending his lead, now up to 6.6 seconds, McElrea, Abel, Pedersen and Lundqvist round out the Top-6. Frost, Brabham, Bogle, Siegel, Francis, Jr., Simpson and Lazier complete the 13 car field.

With 10 laps to go, Robb leads now by 9.27 over Rasmussen, McElrea, Abel, Pedersen and Lundqvist.

5 Laps to go and Robb continues to lead by 9.4 seconds, with the rest of the field also remaining static.

We could see some action for 5th – 8th, as Lundqvist is 1.3 behind Pedersen and Frost and Brabham are also around a second back of each other.

The drivers are still hustling the cars as we come in to the final three laps. We’ve seen several wheels dropped off in the dirt, and driver’s locking tires entering the corkscrew.

Sting Ray Robb continues to expand his lead, taking the white flag 10.8 seconds ahead.

Checkered flag – Sting Ray Robb wins by 11.0674, his first career Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires. On pit lane, we see team owner Michael Andretti congratulating the Robb family. This is Robb’s seventh career podium.  It moves him to 2nd in the points, 100 behind Lunqvist, but 7 ahead of McElrea and Brabham – unofficially of course.

Unofficial Results IndyLights presented by Cooper Tires – WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca Race #1

Pos	Car #	Driver	Laps	Diff	ST	Status	Team
1	2	Sting Ray Robb	35	LAP 35	1	Active	Andretti Autosport
2	28	Christian Rasmussen	35	11.0674	2	Active	Andretti Autosport
3	27	Hunter McElrea	35	19.2306	4	Active	Andretti Autosport
4	51	Jacob Abel	35	20.1513	7	Active	Abel Motorsports
5	24	Benjamin Pedersen	35	24.5887	3	Active	Global Racing Group with HMD
6	26	Linus Lundqvist	35	27.6857	5	Active	HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing
7	68	Danial Frost	35	28.1225	6	Active	HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing
8	83	Matthew Brabham	35	28.7642	13	Active	Andretti Autosport
9	7	Christian Bogle	35	45.2572	11	Active	HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing
10	11	Nolan Siegel	35	55.7876	9	Active	HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing
11	99	Ernie Francis Jr.	35	56.3358	10	Active	Force Indy
12	21	Kyffin Simpson	35	57.1577	8	Active	HMD Motorsports
13	15	Flinn Lazier	28	7 LAPS	12	Active	Abel Motorsports

 

What a difference a day makes – yesterday’s heat is gone, replaced first by a few drops of rain (creeping north from Hurricane Kay, which made landfall in Southern California yesterday before breaking apart) and then by the thick marine layer that is so typical of the Monterey Bay area.

Temperate is 61F, track temps are 71F. The marine layer is making the air quite heavy.

Reminder – there will be two 12-minute qualifying sessions, with a six-minute break in between. The first session will set the grid for race one later today, the second session sets the grid for tomorrow’s season finale.

Started with a brief hold for a line of oil in turn 10 that track workers and the AMR INDYCAR Safety Team needed to finish cleaning up before the green flag.

Race one qualifying

As the drivers all complete their first lap, it’s Linus Lundqvist to the top of the charts with a lap at 1:24.4341.

Benjamin Pedersen with the fastest lap two, at 1:18.8885.

Christian Rasmussen and Matthew Brabham headed out of pit lane with seven minutes remaining.

Christian Bogle spun in turn eight and continued – but received a penalty for causing a yellow flag and impacting another driver’s qualifying effort. Bogle will lose his two quick qualifying laps from this session.

Pedersen remains on top, but Sting Ray Robb posts a lap just 1/100th of a second behind, with Lundqvist third.

Lundqvist through the dirt in turn 10.

Brabham with a big rear wiggle going through turn 10.

Robb with the quick lap at the checkered flag, with a lap at 1:15.7209. Rasmussen second, Pedersen third.

This is Robb’s second pole of the year (first pole was at Road America).

Sting Ray Robb: “That was a good lap. Starting position is so important here if you’re going to go for the win. We saw massive tire deg yesterday so hopefully, it won’t be as bad today. We’ll do our best to stay up front.”

P	No	Name	FTime	Team
1	2	Sting Ray Robb	1:15.7209	Andretti Autosport
2	28	Christian Rasmussen	1:15.7976	Andretti Autosport
3	24	Benjamin Pedersen	1:15.8297	Global Racing Group with HMD
4	27	Hunter McElrea	1:15.9300	Andretti Autosport
5	26	Linus Lundqvist	1:16.0549	HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing
6	83	Matthew Brabham	1:16.1377	Andretti Autosport
7	68	Danial Frost	1:16.3295	HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing
8	51	Jacob Abel	1:16.4801	Abel Motorsports
9	21	Kyffin Simpson	1:16.5339	HMD Motorsports
10	11	Nolan Siegel	1:16.7499	HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing
11	99	Ernie Francis Jr.	1:16.9470	Force Indy
12	15	Flinn Lazier	1:17.2277	Abel Motorsports
13	7	Christian Bogle	1:18.5105	HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing

Race two qualifying

Flinn Lazier will serve a five-minute hold in pit lane for running the checkered flag at the end of the previous session.

Matthew Brabham also received a penalty that voids his times from session one. Per INDYCAR:

The driver was in violation of Rule 14.30.4. of the Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires rulebook. The rule involves Driver Equivalency Weight.

According to Rule 14.30.4.7., the penalty can include a minimum $100,000 fine and/or other penalties. Brabham’s qualification laps for Race 1 have been voided and the driver will start in the final position of the 13-car field.

Nolan Siegel with the fastest first lap in the field at 1:22.7268, with Kyffin Simpson and Ernie Francis Jr. right behind. His second lap at 1:18.0377 keeps him on top.

McElrea and Siegel side by side through turn two – and those moves are under review by race control. McElrea receives a penalty for qualifying interference, losing his two quick laps.

The rest of the top six in points joining McElrea on track now.

Francis Jr. with the quick time of 1:15.8729 with four minutes remaining.

Race control reviewing an incident between Robb and Simpson.

Lundqvist to the top with a 1:15.3788 with 2:30 remaining.

Plenty of drivers putting wheels off between four and five, plenty of dirt on the racetrack now.

Robb with a lap of 1:15.3783 – that’s a whopping 5/10,000th of a second difference.

At the checkered flag, Christian Rasmussen grabs the pole with a lap at 1:15.3618, with Robb and Lundqvist second and third.

This is Rasmussen’s first Indy Lights pole position.

Christian Rasmussen: “It’s been so long! We had a great car underneath us – we made some good changes overnight so I’m very happy. I can’t thank Bob Stellrecht and everyone at Andretti Autosport enough.”

P No Name FTime Team 1 28 Christian Rasmussen 1:15.3618 Andretti Autosport 2 26 Linus Lundqvist 1:15.3788 HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing 3 2 Sting Ray Robb 1:15.5028 Andretti Autosport 4 24 Benjamin Pedersen 1:15.6120 Global Racing Group with HMD 5 83 Matthew Brabham 1:15.6536 Andretti Autosport 6 68 Danial Frost 1:15.7075 HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing 7 99 Ernie Francis Jr. 1:15.8729 Force Indy 8 51 Jacob Abel 1:15.9349 Abel Motorsports 9 27 Hunter McElrea 1:16.3453 Andretti Autosport 10 21 Kyffin Simpson 1:16.4406 HMD Motorsports 11 11 Nolan Siegel 1:16.5671 HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing 12 7 Christian Bogle 1:16.6484 HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing 13 15 Flinn Lazier 1:16.8634 Abel Motorsports

Race one takes the green flag today at 12:25 p.m. Pacific / 3:25 p.m. Eastern.

 

By Diane Swintal

Ask anyone about WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca and one of the first things they will tell you is “bring a sweater.”

The cold morning fog on the Monterey Peninsula is legendary – similar to the San Francisco Bay area, which prompted the legendary quote often attributed to Mark Twain: “the coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.”

That is not the case this weekend.

The weather is a story

With the entire West Coast enduring the second week of a significant heat wave, the ambient temperatures sit at 85F with track temps of 110F, under blazing sunshine. The forecast was for 79F as a high, and we cleared that at noon.

It’s a fairly light schedule this weekend, relatively speaking, with the Road to Indy having finished the USF2000 and Indy Pro 2000 series schedules last weekend in Portland. This weekend, it’s the doubleheader Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires and NTT INDYCAR SERIES finales (along with the US Touring Car Championship and Spec Racer Ford series).

The championship

The INDYCAR championship title is up for grabs – but the Indy Lights title is not. All Linus Lundqvist needs to do is start today’s practice session to seal the deal on his championship victory. Where he goes in 2023 remains to be seen, but the 23-year-old Swede hopes to join his mentors Marcus Ericsson and Felix Rosenqvist behind the wheel of an Indy car very soon.

But first things first. Clearly, Lundqvist would like to add to his five-win tally this season, and his nine podiums – as well as add to his history at WRLS, where he scored two podium finishes in last year’s Indy Lights doubleheader.

Second through fifth is still up for grabs – points as we start the weekend:

1	Linus Lundqvist	515	—
2	Matthew Brabham	412	103
3	Hunter McElrea – R	401	114
4	Sting Ray Robb	389	126
5	Benjamin Pedersen	385	130

The future

It’s been a good news week for Indy Lights, with Nolan Siegel his debut with HMD Motorsports this weekend. Siegel, 17, has won races in both USF2000 and Indy Pro 2000. And Cape Motorsports – moving up the ladder from USF2000 to Indy Lights in 2023 – announced that Jagger Jones (grandson of Parnelli) will also make the jump next year. Indy Pro 2000 champ Louis Foster has not yet announced where he will run in 2023 but the announcement is expected any day now.

Past WRLS / Road to Indy results

Christian Rasmussen won a USF2000 race here in 2019, with McElrea second. Sting Ray Robb scored an Indy Pro 2000 podium here that same year.

Onto the task at hand, with a one-hour practice session

Green flag at 1:20 p.m. Pacific.

Frenzied first 20 minutes of the session, outlined below:

Lundqvist with the fast out lap, bested by Jacob Abel with the first lap under 1:24 (1:23.2839).

Frost set a quick time, but Abel bested that, only to be topped by Mathew Brabham with the first sub-1:20 lap (1:19.9636).

Hunter McElrea, Lundqvist and Benjamin Pedersen each set quick laps in succession, also then bested by Brabham.

Christian Rasmussen went to the top of the charts with 42 minutes remaining.

Pedersen with the first sub 1:18 lap (1:17.8211) immediately bested by Lundqvist (1:17.6920), then Brabham (1:17.5963).

25 minutes in and less than two seconds separates the entire field.

At the halfway mark, Brabham leads Pedersen, McElrea, Lundqvist and Frost.

Red flag for Christian Bogle in the tires in turn six with 28 minutes remaining.

Green flag with 21:38 remaining.

For those of you playing at home, the term “tire deg” made it’s first appearance on IndyCar Radio 46 minutes into the first session of the weekend – tire degradation will be a storyline for both the Cooper and the Firestone tires.

Impressive first practice for Siegel, pacing only 8/10s of a second back of Brabham (1:18.3500) and setting the fastest sector one time.

With 10 minutes remaining, much of the field comes into pit lane for fresh Cooper Tires.

Speaking of impressive – Siegel goes to the top of the charts with a 1:16.9746, but  30 seconds later, Lundqvist puts down a huge lap – 1:16.2159 with six minutes left.

Robb stopped at the end of pit road, red flag with 5:35 remaining. The AMR INDYCAR Safety team on the scene, race control hopes to get Robb moved in order to give the drivers a couple more laps.

Unfortunately, Robb is apparently stuck in first gear, so it requires a wrecker to remove the car, which the track wrecker does in short order (though the team cannot have enjoyed seeing the car dangling precariously as the wrecker hauled it off the racetrack).

Green flag with just enough time for an out-and-in to check setups ahead of qualifying at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow.

Indy Lights Grand Prix of Monterey – Practice
FLAG: CHECKERED Time Remaining: 1
CHECKERED FLAG at 14:10:01.
P No Name FTime Laps FL Speed FSpeed Team 1 26 Linus Lundqvist 1:16.2159 21 19 93.370 105.710 HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing 2 11 Nolan Siegel 1:16.9746 23 21 92.308 104.668 HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing 3 83 Matthew Brabham 1:17.5963 24 7 25.128 103.830 Andretti Autosport 4 68 Danial Frost 1:17.6377 18 17 85.561 103.774 HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing 5 24 Benjamin Pedersen 1:17.6575 20 7 94.680 103.748 Global Racing Group with HMD 6 27 Hunter McElrea 1:17.6766 23 8 22.636 103.722 Andretti Autosport 7 2 Sting Ray Robb 1:17.8489 20 6 101.659 103.493 Andretti Autosport 8 28 Christian Rasmussen 1:18.0961 19 4 22.302 103.165 Andretti Autosport 9 51 Jacob Abel 1:18.3493 20 14 24.868 102.832 Abel Motorsports 10 99 Ernie Francis Jr. 1:18.4121 24 17 22.244 102.749 Force Indy 11 21 Kyffin Simpson 1:18.4466 21 20 96.183 102.704 HMD Motorsports 12 7 Christian Bogle 1:18.4940 10 7 102.305 102.642 HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing 13 15 Flinn Lazier 1:18.9610 22 15 100.862 102.035 Abel Motorsports

 

 

By Diane Swintal

By Diane Swintal

By Patrick Stephan

Before we get to the practice session, here are some notes from the media bullpen earlier today where I got to talk to some of the drivers.

Matthew Brabham

Chatted with Matthew Brabham, who is currently 2nd in Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires points, 108 behind Linus Lundqvist with three races to go (1 here, 2 at Laguna Seca). Brabham won the first race of the year at St. Pete and the most recent at WWT Raceway at Gateway.

28 years old, Brabham is still doing whatever he can to get in to the NTT INDYCAR SERIES full-time. In 2016 he made 2 starts, running the Indy GP and the Indy 500, finishing 16th and 22nd respectively, finishing all but one lap in the 500.

Brabham told me he is actively talking to teams and sponsors with his #1 priority being the top series, even if only for a few races. He is willing to do another year of Indy Lights if that option is there. Having talked to Brabham for pushing a decade now, his main concern has always been to go fast in anything he’s been given – including things like the Stadium Super Truck Series where he’s been their champion three times (2018, 2019, and 2021) with 24 wins.

Brabham said that those recent wins back in open wheel racing are helping to show teams and sponsors that he is ready to go Indycar racing, but nothing is set yet for 2023.

Hunter McElrea

A driver is that is set for 2023 is Hunter McElrea who will return to Andretti Autosport for a second year of Indy Lights competition. McElrea is one point behind Brabham, so third in the title fight, with 2 wins and 3 poles this year. After a rough start to the season, McElrea has the most points since Detroit, which had him back in the title fight for a bit, but now he can look forward to finishing strong and getting ready for 2023.

McElrea told TSO that he just put too much pressure on himself early in the year and that lead to mistakes. Now that he is focusing on having fun, the results are coming and he will go in to 2023 much more refined. He also noted there aren’t a ton of NTT INDYCAR Series opportunities available for 2023 so he’s looking forward to making his debut in 2024.

“I don’t want to go to Indy car half cooked, so another year of Lights will be good for me,” he said.

While he expects to fight for the title next year, he also knows there will be a lot of good guys in Lights, including some very strong drivers from Indy Pro 2000 that will be moving up.

Making his Indy Lights debut this weekend is Flinn Lazier, the 23 year old son of 1996 Indy 500 winner Buddy Lazier, and grandson of Bob Lazier. Flinn has been racing mostly in SCCA Formula Atlantic and working to put together a program to get to Indy Lights.

After graduating from the University of Denver a year ago, Flinn has been working at the family’s hotel (the Tivoli Lodge) in Vail, Colorado.

This deal came together just a couple weeks ago and Flinn said his plan for this race and next weekend at Laguna Seca is just to learn as much as he can. And for the record, like his father and grandfather Flinn is a skier. (I’m personally a snowboarder that goes to Vail a few times a year, so of course I had to ask how he preferred to get down the mountain).

PRACTICE #1

The lone practice session today for Indy Lights got started at 1:25pm Pacific Time with the air temp at 82F and the track at 112.3F. Scheduled for 50 minutes, most of the field went out and started turning some laps as soon as the track went green.

The exception was point leader Linus Lundqvist who was still on pit lane 12 minutes in to the session.

Christian Rasmussen was leading at this point with a best of 1:05.4082, though as soon as I typed that, Jacob Abel moved to the top spot at 1:05.3040, that too was quickly bettered by Sting Ray Robb with a 1:05.2840.

With 35 minutes to go, Hunter McElrea missed Turn 1 by a lot, and to quote Nick Yeoman on INDYCAR Live! he “blasted through the signs,” as he didn’t even try to make the first right hand portion of the front stretch chicane. McElrea was able to drive his car back around to the pits, but we went red so the AMR INDYCAR Safety team could reset the signs and cones.

Under the red, Matthew Brabham was now P1 at 1:05.1334, followed by Sting Ray Robb, Jacob Abel, Christian Rasmussen, and Danial Frost.  They were followed by McElrea, Bogle, Lazier, Simpson, Francis, Jr., and Pedersen.

Back to green Pedersen would move to P1 heading in to the final third of the session, followed by Brabham, Lundqvist, Robb and Rasmussen.  Yes, Lundqvist did get out and start turning laps with about 15 minutes to run.

For comparison, with 12 minutes to go, Lundqvist had 4 laps completed to Jacob Abels 25 laps.  The only other driver in single digits was McElrea as his car still being looked over after he hit the signs (and sand bags) earlier in the session.

And with 10 minutes to go, Benjamin Pedersen was still up front at 1:04.4820, the only driver in the 1:04’s. Brabham, Lundqvist, Robb, and Rasmussen follow. Kyffin Simpson moved up to 6th, then Abel, Bogle, Lazier, Frost, Francis, Jr., and McElrea.

Unfortunately, timing and scoring seemed to freeze up on me and others at this point, so I couldn’t follow along with changes over the last few minutes of the session.

I can say that several drivers got in some quick laps at the end with Pedersen still leading, but Lundqvist, Brabham, Bogle, Robb, Abel and Simpson all getting in to the 1:04’s. Rasmussen, Lazier, Frost, Francis, Jr., and McElrea followed.

RANK	CAR NO.	DRIVER	BEST TIME	DIFF	BEST LAP	TOTAL LAPS
1	24	Benjamin Pedersen	01:04.4820	–.—-	17	20
2	26	Linus Lundqvist	01:04.5247	0.0427	6	11
3	83	Matthew Brabham	01:04.5694	0.0874	15	27
4	7	Christian Bogle	01:04.6980	0.216	22	24
5	2	Sting Ray Robb	01:04.7967	0.3147	26	27
6	51	Jacob Abel	01:04.9403	0.4583	30	33
7	21	Kyffin Simpson	01:04.9480	0.466	24	28
8	28	Christian Rasmussen	01:05.0462	0.5642	19	29
9	15	Flinn Lazier	01:05.1873	0.7053	19	31
10	68	Danial Frost	01:05.2257	0.7437	14	14
11	99	Ernie Francis Jr.	01:05.2331	0.7511	19	27
12	27	Hunter McElrea	01:05.4431	0.9611	6	8