Hunter McElrea in the Giltrap Group/Doric NZ/Miles Advisory Partners sponsored No. 18 on pit road at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course (Photo credit: Gavin Baker Photography/Road to Indy)

By Steve Wittich

For the second time this season and in his Indy Pro 2000 career, Pabst Racing veteran Hunter McElrea will start from the pole. It’s the Kiwi’s seventh career Road To Indy (RTI) pole, and his third RTI pole at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

Exclusive Autosport’s Artem Petrov will start outside the front row, the same position he’ll start Race #1.

Race #1 pole winner Christian Rasmussen (Jay Howard Driver Development) and Kyffin Simpson (Juncos Racing) will start on the second row.

Juncos Racing rookie Reece Gold initially qualified fourth, but the 16-year-old went a lap after the checkered flag. The penalty for running afoul of Rule 8.5.7 is a two grid spot penalty, meaning he’ll start sixth.

Once again, it was a close Indy Pro 2000 qualifying session, with the top nine within a scant half-second.

The one dozen 2.0L engines powering the Indy Pro 2000 field served at an 8:20 am alarm clock for those campers still slumbering at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

The ball of fire we call the sun was bright in the eastern sky, and the conditions were perfect for making speed. The ambient temperature was a comfortable 63F, there was no humidity or wind, and the track temperature was 82F.

After drivers had completed two laps each, the early leader in the session was Rasmussen, who was followed closely by James Roe (Turn 3 Motorsport).

The majority of the field completed three or four laps on used Cooper Tires before hitting pit road for sticker Cooper Tires and adjustments for the inevitable evolution of the 2.258-Mile, 13-Turn Mid-Ohio Road Course.

At the halfway point of the 20-minute session, Rasmussen, with a lap timed at 80.8517 seconds, held the provisional pole. That lap was a slim 0.0166 seconds ahead of Juncos Racing rookie Kyffin Simpson. Jack William Miller (Miller Vinatieri Motorsports), Jacob Abel (Abel Motorsports), and Hunter Yeany (Velocity Racing Development) rounded out the top five.

The first drivers to go quicker on their new tires were the Exclusive Autosport duo of Braden Eves and Petrov. With a lap of 80.6034 seconds, Petrov jumped to the provisional pole with eight minutes remaining in the session.

With seven minutes left in the session, McElrea jumped to the provisional pole with a lap a slim three-hundredths of a second quicker than Petrov.

The first driver to go under 80 seconds was Petrov, but times were still quickly falling, as, on the next lap, McElrea turned a lap at 78.9989 seconds, the first under 79 seconds.

First, Rasmussen and then Petrov supplanted McElrea on the provisional pole with three minutes remaining. At that point of the session, the top six were within three-tenths of a second of the provisional pole.

With two minutes remaining, Rasmussen lowered the provisional pole again, getting within a second of his pole-winning time for Race #1.

Eves kept getting quicker and grabbing the provisional pole, but because he was penalized for qualifying interference (Rule 8.5.6) for impeding Rasmussen, he lost his fastest qualifying lap and dropping down the order. As a result, the Ohioan will start Sunday’s race from the outside of the fourth row.

Rasmussen went quicker on his next lap, but that wasn’t enough, with Petrov and then McElrea able to go quicker on their final laps.

Cooper Tires Indy Pro 2000 Grand Prix Of Mid-Ohio Race #2 qualifying results

The middle rung of the Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires will be back on track in less than two hours for Cooper Tires Indy Pro 2000 Grand Prix Of Mid-Ohio Race #1 at 10:50 am. Here is the starting line-up for race #1:

Michael d’Orlando – Photo credit: Gavin Baker Photography/Road to Indy

By Steve Wittich

The call to fire the 2.0L engines powering 28 USF2000 cars was given by race control at 4:15pm, making it the last track activity of the day at the 2.258-Mile, 13-Turn Mid-Ohio Road Course.

The front row of veterans Michael d’Orlando (Cape Motorsports) and Kiko Porto (DEForce Racing) brought the 16 rows of two slowly to the green flag on the front straight in front of the Cooper Tire sponsored Mid-Ohio tower.

Porto got a slight jump, getting through the fast left-hander before d’Orlando. But behind the first few rows, things got messy as the field bunched up. The drivers who started 14th (Prescott Campbell), 17th (Myles Rowe) and 19th (Dylan Christie) were involved in an incident resulting in a yellow flag. Rowe in the No. 99 Force Indy USF-18 made contact with Campbell. The No. 11 spun, collecting Rowe, with both driver stranded in the gravel trap and unable to continue.

Christie could not get slowed up quick enough, running into the back of the tangle of cars, damaging his front wing. He came to pit road and the attention of the Turn 3 Motorsport crew, who was able to make repairs and get the Columbus, Ohio born driver out before losing a lap.

The running order as the field crossed under the yellow flag on the front straight was Porto, d’Orlando, Sikes, Nolan Siegel (Jay Howard Driver Development), Frazer, Bijoy Garg (Jay Howard Driver Development), Josh Pierson (Pabst Racing), Jace Denmark (Pabst Racing), Josh Green (Turn 3 Motorsport), Matthew Round-Garrido (Exclusive Autosport), Thomas Nepveu (Cape Motorsports), Spike Kohlbecker (Ignite Autosport w/Cape Motorsports), Yuven Sundaramoorthy (Pabst Racing), Christian Brooks (Exclusive Autosport), Peter Vodanovich (Jay Howard Driver Development), Evan Stamer (Ignite Autosport w/Cape Motorsports), Erik Evans (Velocity Racing Development), Michael Myers (Michael Myers Racing), Jackson Lee (Jay Howard Driver Development), Ely Navarro (DEForce Racing), Trey Burke (Joe Dooling Autosports), Kent Vaccaro (Miller Vinatieri Motorsports), Chase Hyland (Jay Howard Driver Development), Nathan Byrd (Legacy Autosport), Dylan Christie (Turn 3 Motorsport), Prescott Campbell (

The green flag came back out to start Lap 4. Porto got a good jump, but d’Orlando got a great exit from The Keyhole, looking to the outside of the Brazilian in Turn 4 before attempting an over-under in Madness. He was unable to complete the pass and dropped in behind the No. 12.

On Lap 4, championship contenders Sundaramoorthy and Brooks were making passes with the No. 22 Pabst Racing moving from 13th to 10th and the No. 44 from 15th to 13th.

The leaders went side-by-side through Turn 5, 6 and 7 on Lap 5 before Porto was once again able to get to Turn 8 first.

On Lap 11, the No. 42 of Michael Myers and No. 29 of Erik Evans made contact at the exit of Turn 5. Myers continued with rear wing damage, while Evans stopped on the track, requiring the AMR INDYCAR Safety Team to clear the Velocity Racing Development machine.

The running order under yellow as the field got the crossed flags to signifiy halfway was Porto, d’Orlando, Sikes, Frazer, Siegel, Garg, Denmark, Green, Peirson, Sundaramoorthy, Round-Garrido, Nepveu, Brooks, Kohlbecker, Vodanovich, Stamer, Wier, Lee, Navaro, Burke, Vaccaro, Byrd, Evans, Myers, Hyland, Campbell and Rowe.

The green flag came back out to start Lap 13. d’Orlando in the No. 4 tucked in behind Porto through Turn 1, 2 and 3 before moving to the outside of the No. 12 in the brake zone of Turn 4. d’Orlando utilized the banking on the outside of the corner to stay side-by-side through the right hander, giving him the preferred inside line in Turn 5.

On Lap 14, Pierson was able to get around Green for eighth, with Brooks moving past Nepveu for 12th.

With three laps remaining, d’Orlando was able to build a 1.1 second lead over Porto, who also had a second on Sikes. The best battle on track was between Siegel and Frazer for fourth, but the action was close throughout the field, with the top 22 within 13 seconds of the leader.

d’Orlando’s lead when he took the white flag was 1.3 seconds, with the veteran crossing the line 1.6 seconds ahead of Porto.

On the final lap, Round-Garrido allowed his Exclusive Autosport teammate Brooks to get by him in the final corner, moving the championship contender into 11th.

Cooper Tires USF2000 Grand Prix Of Mid-Ohio Race #1 Results (unofficial)

The second race of the weekend is set to roll off tomorrow at 2:30pm.

The view of Kyle Kirkwood’s Road To Indy/Cooper Tires/Construction Contractors Club/Dallara that the 2019 Indy Pro 2000 champion hopes the rest of the field will see Photo credit: Gavin Baker Photography/Road to Indy

For the third time this season and 14th time in his Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires career Kyle Kirkwood will start from the pole after turning the quickest lap at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

Qualifying for Cooper Tires Indy Lights Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio Race #1 got the green flag at 3:35 pm. The ambient temperature was 66F, and the track temperature was 90F. The sun was out, but large dark clouds still obscured it.

The Global Racing Group w/HMD crew repaired the orange and black No. 26, and freshman pilot Linus Lundqvist was able to take part in the half-hour session.

Kirkwood was the quickest driver early. The Floridian, who won the GTD pole for the Sahlen’s Six Hour Of The Glen in Lexus RC F GT3 last weekend, held the provisional pole after the field had finished four laps.

Lundqvist’s difficult day continued with an off-road excursion in Turn 10 during the first third of the session. However, the Dane continued, coming to his team’s attention on pit road, before continuing.

Drivers started to come to pit road for adjustments and fresh Cooper Tire slicks just before the halfway point of qualifying.

Kirkwood, with a lap of 72.2494 seconds, held the provisional pole after 15-minutes. Malukas, Lundqvist, Sowery, Pedersen, DeFrancesco, Frost, and Megennis were within a half-second of Kirkwood and the provisional pole.

With the track quiet, as crews made adjustments and bolted on new tires, race control reported moderate rain in Turn 1, Turn 5, and Turn 9.

Somewhat surprisingly, most of the field went out on track to see if they could improve their qualifying positioning. The first few laps at speed dried the track, and times started to approach the earlier times with five minutes remaining.

The first driver to improve and grab the provisional pole was Malukas. Just behind him, Kirkwood crossed the line, the first driver to break the 72-second barrier.

Malukas lowered the provisional pole on his next lap, with Frost and Lundqvist also going quicker than the Andretti Autosport rookie.

Kirkwood retook the provisional pole on his 14th lap.

With one minute remaining, Sowery’s No. 51 Juncos Racing IL-15 found the grass in The Carousel, continuing slowly down the front straight.

After the session, race control told the driver of the No. 28 that they needed to see the race director.

Cooper Tires Indy Lights Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio Race #1 qualifying results

The baker’s dozen drivers are back on track at 10:05 am on Saturday for a second qualifying session; the first race of the weekend rolls off tomorrow at 4:30 pm.

Christian Rasmussen and the JHDD, CSU | One Cure/Lucas Oil sponsored No. 1 will start from the pole for Cooper Tires Indy Pro 2000 Grand Prix Of Mid-Ohio Race #1 Photo credit: Gavin Baker Photography/Road to Indy

By Steve Wittich

Indy Pro 2000 championship leader Christian Rasmussen, for the second time this season and the 11th time in his Road To Indy career, will start a race from the pole.

The green flag for Cooper Tires Indy Pro 2000 Grand Prix Of Mid-Ohio qualifying for Race #1 got underway at 1:45 pm. The ambient temperature was 67F, and the track temperature was 94F.

The sun was out, but the clouds were threatening once again, and the camera in The Keyhole showed a few drops of rain.

After a dozen drivers had completed a pair of laps, championship leader Rasmussen held the provisional pole with a lap time of 79.7496 seconds.

Also holding the provisional pole in the first half of the 20-minute session, Jack William Miller (Miller Vinatieri Motorsports) and James Roe (Turn 3 Motorsport).

At the session’s halfway point, much of the field was in pit road for a second set of Cooper Tire slicks.

Rasmussen, with a lap timed at 78.2323 seconds, held the provisional pole. Miller, Roe, McElrea, and Petrov.

The first driver to get his tires up to temperature, Gold was looking for his fifth pole of the season.

With five minutes remaining in qualifying, McElrea went to the provisional pole but was quickly supplanted by Eves at the top of the timing screens.

With 90 seconds remaining, Rasmussen went a half-second quicker than Eves, jumping to the provisional pole.

Cooper Tires Indy Pro 2000 Grand Prix Of Mid-Ohio Race #1 qualifying results

The series is the Saturday morning dew-sweepers, with their second qualifying session getting underway at 8:20 am. The first of two races get underway at 10:50 am.

The Banco Daycoval/Petromega sponsored No. 12 of Kiko Porto on track at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Photo credit: Gavin Baker Photography/Road to Indy

By Steve Wittich

DEForce Racing sophomore Kiko Porto will start his fourth USF2000 race of the 2021 season from the pole, turning a lap of the 2.258-Mile, 13-Turn Mid-Ohio Road Course at 81.4401 seconds, almost three-tenths of a second quicker than fellow veteran Michael d’Orlando (Cape Motorsports).

When the 20-minute USF2000 qualifying session got underway at 1:10 pm, the ambient temperature was 69F, with the track temperature at 94F. The sun was out, but some building clouds were threatening the 2.258-Mile, 13-Turn Mid-Ohio Road Course.

As the drivers worked on building a gap for a clean lap, the leader after 25 drivers had completed a pair of laps at speed was d’Orlando, but times were falling rapidly.

The drivers that were still waiting on pit road? Spike Kohlbecker, Thomas Nepveu, and Evan Stamer, a trio of Cape Motorsports pilots.

Kent Vaccaro and Dylan Christie both spun in the first half of the 20-minute qualifying session but could keep it off the barriers with their engines running, and the track remained green.

With just over 11 minutes remaining in the session, d’Orlando, the quickest driver at that point in the session, came to pit road for fresh tires.

d’Orlando’s quick lap at the halfway portion of qualifying was 82.0591 seconds, and he was followed in the top 10 by Porto, Kohlbecker, Siegel, Denmark, Rowe, Lee, Nepveu, Green, and Round-Garrido.

Times continued with fall, with Pierson, Porto, Kohlbecker, and Nepveu all under only a tenth of a second out of the provisional pole.

With just over six minutes remaining in the session, Frazer knocked d’Orlando from the provisional pole, but that didn’t last long. The Cape Motorsports veteran was quickly supplanted by d’Orlando, who had his second set of Cooper Tire slicks up to the optimum temperature for qualifying.

With just under two minutes remaining in qualifying, championship leader Porto went to the provisional pole, besting d’Orlando by almost three-tenths of a second.

Drivers improving on their final laps were Siegel, Denmark, Green, Myers, Burke, and Weir.

Cooper Tires USF2000 Grand Prix Of Mid-Ohio Race #1 qualifying results

The teams have just under three hours to prepare for Cooper Tires USF2000 Grand Prix Of Mid-Ohio Race #1, which is set to get the green flag at 4:20 pm.

The view of Kyle Kirkwood’s Road To Indy/Cooper Tires/Construction Contractors Club/Dallara that the 2019 Indy Pro 2000 champion hopes the rest of the field will see Photo credit: Gavin Baker Photography/Road to Indy

By Steve Wittich

Making an early statement at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course during the lone Indy Lights test was Andretti Autosport rookie Kyle Kirkwood. The 22-year-old, who is eight points behind David Malukas (HMD Motorsports) on the championship table, turned a lap timed at 72.3606 seconds. That was almost three-tenths of a second quicker than Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport rookie Devlin DeFrancesco.

Positions two through eight on the timing screens were separated by less than 0.2 seconds, with spots two through six separated by only one-tenth of a second, with four of the top five drivers coming from the Andretti Autosport stable.

When the lone Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires practice began at 11:25 am, the ambient temperature was 69F, and the track temperature was 90F. The track temperature cooled down a little as thicker cloud cover started to build at the track, celebrating its 60th birthday in 2021.

The red flag came out only two minutes into the session after an incident that involved the No. 5 of Alex Peroni and the No. 26 of Linus Lundqvist.

The Carlin diver continued while the Global Racing Group with HMD Motorsports rookie climbed from the car after contacting the tire barriers for the second straight session. The Dane also had an incident in the final test session this morning.

The crew could not get the Utah Airguns/HPD/Global Racing Group/FX Airguns/Paytrim/JULA sponsored No. 26 back on track, putting the 22-year-old on the back foot heading into a crucial qualifying session.

Malukas led much of the first half of 45-minute practice; before giving way Frost Kirkwood went to the top of the timing screens just before the halfway point, followed by Megennis, Frost, Toby Sowery (Juncos Racing), and Benjamin Pedersen (Global Racing Group).

Kirkwood held the top spot for the second half of practice as times started to fall. DeFrancesco grabbed the second spot on his final lap.

Cooper Tires Indy Lights Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio practice results

The top rung of the Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires is back on track for their first qualifying session at 3:35 pm.

Artem Petrov in the Road To Success/Bell/226ers sponsored No. 42 Exclusive Autosport PM-18 during testing at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Photo credit: Gavin Baker Photography/Road to Indy

By Steve Wittich

With the top ten Indy Pro 2000 drivers from the first practice separated by less than a half-second, the pair of Cooper Tires Indy Pro 2000 Grand Prix Of Mid-Ohio races will be a must-watch.

Exclusive Autosport sophomore Artem Petrov, a 2020 Indy Pro 2000 winner at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, turned a lap timed at 77.8364 seconds, leading the first practice of a vital championship weekend. The Russian comes to the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course 56 points from the Indy Pro 2000 championship lead.

Only seven-hundredths of a second behind Petrov was Jacob Abel, a winner in the Formula Regional Americas Championship Powered By Honda at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course last weekend. Also within a half-second of Petrov were championship leader Christian Rasmussen (Jay Howard Driver Development), Jack William Miller (Miller Vinatieri Motorsports), Braden Eves (Exclusive Autosport), Hunter McElrea (Pabst Racing), Manuel Sulaiman (Juncos Racing), Kyffin Simpson (Juncos Racing), Reece Gold (Juncos Racing) and James Roe (Turn 3 Motorsport).

The ambient temperature when the 30-minute session began was 69F, and the track temperature was 89F.

At the session’s halfway point, Eves was the quickest, with Abel, Petrov, Rasmussen, and McElrea rounding out the top five.

With ten minutes left in practice, Eves, with a circuit of the 2.258-Mile, 13-Turn Mid-Ohio Road Course timed at 78.1435 seconds, was still at the top of the timing screens.

The first driver to knock the Ohioan from the top spot was his teammate Petrov, followed closely by Miller.

Cooper Tires Indy Pro 2000 Grand Prix Of Mid-Ohio practice results

The middle rung of the Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires is back on track for qualifying at 1:45 pm.

Michael d’Orlando – Photo credit: Gavin Baker Photography/Road to Indy

By Steve Wittich

Cape Motorsports veteran Michael d’Orlando, a winner at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in 2020, led Friday’s lone Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship practice. The native of Hartsdale, New York, is currently fourth in the championship fight, only 29 points behind leader Kiko Porto (DEForce Racing), who turned the fourth quickest lap of practice.

Fellow championship contenders – Christian Brooks (fifth in the championship), Yuven Sundaramoorthy (second in the championship), and Josh Pierson (sixth in the championship) – were second, fifth, and sixth in practice and within three-tenths of a second of d’Orlando, setting things up for an entertaining qualifying session this afternoon.

The first and only Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship practice session got underway at 9:55 am. The skies were blue but with big fluffy grey clouds, possibly foreshadowing some rain later. The ambient temperature was chilly for July in Ohio, 62F, and the track temperature was 77F.

Orlando was the quickest driver after 10 minutes of practice, but times were dropping quickly as the impressive field of 28 USF-17’s put down plenty of Cooper Tire rubber on the green race track.

The red flag came out with just under 15 minutes left in the half-hour session when the No. 7 of newcomer Chase Hyland came to a stop at entry to pit road.

The green flag came out for ten more minutes before the red came out for a second time. This time it was for an incident involving the No. 16 of Kent Vaccaro (Miller Vinatieri Motorsports) and an unidentified Jay Howard Driver Development car who made wheel-to-wheel contact in The Keyhole (Turn 2). Vaccaro ended up in the barriers while his combatant spun but was able to continue.

Two minutes remained in the session when the AMR INDYCAR Safety Team got the No. 16 cleared, and the track went back to green. None of the 28 drivers were able to continue.

The series had a trio of 45-minute practice sessions on a humid and damp Thursday.

Josh Green (Turn 3 Motorsport) and Christian Brooks (Exclusive Autosport) led the first two sessions, while Michael d’Orlando (Cape Motorsports) led the final session and the combined timesheet with a lap timed at 82.5365 seconds. d’Orlando, the 19-year-old championship contender, was a USF2000 winner at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course

Championship leader Kiko Porto (DEForce Racing) had the 13th quickest time of the 28 drivers in the test day. Fellow championship contenders Yuven Sundaramoorthy (Pabst Racing), Josh Pierson (Pabst Racing), and Brooks ended with the second, fourth, and sixth times on the combined timesheet.

Cooper Tires USF2000 Grand Prix Of Mid-Ohio practice results

The bottom rung of the Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires is back on track two more times today. They qualify at 1:10 pm, and the first of three races gets started at 4:20 pm.

The rear wing of the Road to Indy/Cooper Tires/Construction Contractors Club sponsored No. 28 was all the rest of the Indy Lights field saw during race #1 at Road America Photo credit: Gavin Baker Photography/Road to Indy

The front row of Frost and Malukas brought the field to the green flag, with Malukas quickly slotting in behind the pole-sitter.

The HMD Trucking sponsored No. 79 popped to the outside of the DAN-JET sponsored No. 68, forcing Frost onto the curbing inside the fast right-hander. That put the Singaporean’s car into a lazy spin and initiated contact with Malukas.

Devlin DeFrancesco (Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport), who started third, also took slight contact with Frost while trying to avoid the spinning cars. Also forced wide but avoiding contact was Kyle Kirkwood (Andretti Autosport).

That opened the door for Juncos Racing’s Toby Sowery to duck down the inside to

The surprising running order at the end of the first lap was Sowery, Linus Lundqvist (Global Racing Group with HMD Motorsports), Kirkwood, Alex Peroni (Carlin), Sting Ray Robb (Juncos Racing), Benjamin Pedersen (Global Racing Group w/HMD), Antonio Serravalle (Pserra Racing), Nikita Lastochkin (HMD Motorsports), Christian Bogle (Carlin), Robert Megennis (Andretti Autosport), Malukas, DeFrancesco and Frost.

Frost came to come to pit road for a new front wing and left front tire. Unfortunately, the pole-sitter lost a lap.

DeFrancesco also came to pit road so that the crew could look over the PowerTap No. 17. The Canadian also fell down a lap.

Malukas dropped down to 11th after the incident but was able to recover to seventh place.

On Lap 3, Lundqvist was able to get past Sowery going to the inside of the Juncos Racing veteran before Turn 1. Kirkwood quickly jumped on Sowery, going down the inside in Turn 5.

Kirkwood outbroke Lundqvist into Turn 5, quickly pulling a one-second gap as they completed Lap 5.

On Lap 6, Lundqvist went a little too deep into Turn 6, opening the door for Carlin rookie Peroni, who was now second after starting ninth.

Things finally settled down, with drivers settling into a rhythm to work on keeping as much life as possible in their Cooper Tires.

At the halfway point of the race, Kirkwood’s lead over Peroni was 2.8 seconds.

At the halfway point of the race, the running order was Kirkwood, Peroni, Lundqvist, Pedersen, Sowery, Megennis, Robb, Serravalle, Bogle, Malukas, Lastochkin, DeFrancesco, and Frost.

On the next lap, Peroni had an issue, falling six seconds adrift of Kirkwood. The Aussie was slow on the track and was forced to come to pit road after reporting to the team that he had lost fourth gear.

With five laps remaining, Kirkwood had pulled a 9.1 second lead over Lundqvist, who was starting to face some pressure from his teammate Pedersen.

With three laps remaining, the battle for second and third between the bright orange and black cars from Global Racing Group was joined by Megennis.

On Lap 19, Pedersen used push-to-pass to get beside Lundqvist into the braking zone of Turn 5. The Dane made a brave pass around the outside of Lundqvist in Turn 5, getting the power down at the exit of the 90-degree

Kirkwood took the white flag 10.2 seconds ahead of Pedersen. Behind Pedersen, the tussling wasn’t over.

Megennis got a good run off Turn 3, diving to the inside of Lundqvist in Turn 5. The pair went side-by-side on the run uphill to Turn 6. Megennis had the preferred inside line, solidifying the final spot on the podium.

Cooper Tires Grand Prix of Road America Powered By AER Race #1 Results

The second Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires of the weekend at Road America is set to roll off at 8:50 am on Sunday.