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Freedom 100 – Indy Lights Preview

Posted by  on Thursday, May 26th 2016     

Indy Lights Logo

A bigger crowd, a live TV appearance and bragging rights in the biggest race of the season.

It must be time for the Freedom 100, for the Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Since the revived Indy Lights ran its first Freedom 100 at IMS in 2003, there’s been a bevy of surprises, some stunning finishes and a higher level of interest for this race than almost any other event on the Mazda Road to Indy schedule.

And when you consider 23 of the 33 starters in the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500 are Mazda Road to Indy graduates, including nine Indy Lights champions, you realize that the Freedom 100 is the site to meet and watch the rising stars before they run the “Greatest Spectacle of Racing.”

Indeed, a record nine Indy Lights champions have qualified for the 100th Running of the Indianapolis 500: Spencer Pigot (2015), Gabby Chaves (2014), Sage Karam (2013), Josef Newgarden (2011), JR Hildebrand (2009), Townsend Bell (2001), Scott Dixon (2000), Oriol Servia (1999) and Tony Kanaan (1997). In addition, Jon Beekhuis (1988) will work the pit lane for ABC, with Townsend Bell (2001) and Paul Tracy (1990) in the NBCSN booth.

Chaves and Newgarden, of those nine, are past Freedom 100 winners.

Winning the Freedom 100 hasn’t always been a guarantee of success for the rest of the season or for graduating into IndyCar.

Each of the first nine winners from Ed Carpenter in 2003 through Newgarden in 2011 graduated to IndyCar and made at least one series start. However, three of the last four winners – Esteban Guerrieri, Peter Dempsey and Jack Harvey – have a combined zero starts in IndyCar. Dempsey continues to work with Juncos Racing as an engineer, while Harvey has been present with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports in coaching and spotting roles. He’s still keen to make it into IndyCar though and has been present this month at the Speedway.

So who might shine this Friday at noon ET, with live coverage on NBCSN?

TSO is particularly noting two series veterans – Zach Veach and RC Enerson – who are the two strongest bets to become the seventh different winner in eight races this year.

Veach, of Belardi Auto Racing, made it over 200 mph in testing at 201.455 mph in his No. 5 Dallara IL-15 Mazda during Monday’s test session. The lap time is unofficial, but nonetheless, the 22-year-old of Stockdale, Ohio is poised for his fourth career series win heading into this weekend.

“To be the first Indy Lights driver to go over 200 mph, then to be P1 in no-tow times and tow times for most of the afternoon is great,” he said. “I was beat in the tow times right at the end by my teammate. I never look at the speeds around here, so when I did the quick lap this morning and came in to the pits, I looked up at the pylon, saw 201 and had to ask if that was the average!

“The lap felt quick, but I didn’t know how quick this car needed to feel to be quick. We were working on qualifying setup this morning, so I set that on my second lap. It had to have had a tow in it somewhere, but we’re still in the 199s in no-tow times, so to be close to 200 mph on our own really speaks to how good our Belardi cars are. I’ve never felt so good going into a Freedom 100.”

Enerson, meanwhile, could lead the Schmidt Peterson four-car brigade this weekend. The native of New Port Richey, Fla., in the No. 7 Lucas Oil/Curb Records-backed car, has endured a number of mechanical woes throughout the season that have limited the talented 19-year-old from fulfilling his potential.

Schmidt Peterson enters this race having finished 1-2-3-4 last year, and with eight wins in the first 13 Freedom 100s (2004, 2005, 2007, 2009-2012, 2015). So whether its Enerson, Pro Mazda champion Santiago Urrutia or race rookies Andre Negrao and Heamin Choi, you expect their cars should be strong. Choi replaces Scott Anderson this race for his second start of the year, having also driven at Phoenix. Likable Brazilian Negrao, meanwhile, was apologetic and keen to recover after his pace lap accident took him out of the second race on the Indy road course before it even began.

While Veach is an oval veteran, teammate at Belardi Felix Rosenqvist makes only his second oval start. Rosenqvist led the afternoon test session on Monday and was wowed by his inaugural experience of the legendary 2.5-mile palace of speed.

“The last time I felt so excited driving a race car was when I was in Macau for the first time, in 2010. After that, nothing really seemed special until I came here. It’s just a fantastic track. It’s awesome to drive here. You have to be so committed turning in to the turns,” said the driver of the No. 14 car.

With Belardi having won in 2013 and 2014 – both in photo finishes led by Dempsey and Chaves – don’t put it past them winning their third Freedom 100 in four years this weekend.

TSO will also be monitoring Kyle Kaiser, team leader at Juncos Racing this year, who came out of the Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis weekend a happy camper to end on the podium. In the No. 18 InterVision/NetApp/Juniper Networks car, the cool Californian will look to capitalize on his year of experience and topple the Schmidt Peterson train this weekend. Teammate Zachary Claman De Melo will be learning throughout his first Freedom 100.

Carlin’s trio of points leader Ed Jones, Felix Serralles and rookie Neil Alberico will be interesting. The team is owed a better year on the IMS oval than it did last year. Max Chilton didn’t even get to start the race due to a pre-race fuel leak; Jones, meanwhile, had a late race crash that ended his hopes. Jones has been strong this season, of course, as the only two-time race winner and with a 21-point lead on both Urrutia and Kaiser. Alberico, fourth in testing on Monday and a guest photographer during Indianapolis 500 qualifying weekend, is due for a good result in his Rising Star Racing-supported entry, which sees PennGrade Motor Oil on the sidepods of his Carlin blue No. 22.

At Andretti Autosport, rookie Dean Stoneman is emerging as a man to watch. The Englishman bagged his first win in the most recent race on the Indy road course, and will look to emulate countryman Harvey as an Indy Lights winner of both the road course and oval races while in his No. 27 Stellrecht entry. Teammates Shelby Blackstock and Dalton Kellett should be good as well; Blackstock has an added bonus with mom Reba McEntire confirmed to give the command to fire the Mazda engines for the race.

Team Pelfrey struggled in Monday’s test and with neither Juan Piedrahita nor Scott Hargrove overflowing in confidence heading into the weekend – Hargrove having just returned from a one-off IMSA Porsche GT3 Canada event at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park – hopes aren’t particularly high here. But the beauty of having lower expectations is that when you exceed them, you become a pleasant surprise and a good story line.

What TSO is watching this weekend.

Tires, tires, tires. The Cooper Tires allow you to run slightly higher in the groove through the turns here than do their IndyCar brethren and as such, drivers may be a little more ambitious going into Turns 1 and 3. But beyond the additional half lane – perhaps full lane if you’re lucky – is tire management. Tire conservation over 40 laps and 100 miles is always a factor and he who hangs on best and most consistently will be one to reckon with in the final few laps.

The points championship is also very important to note here. Just 59 points separate the top half of the 16-car field, from first-placed Jones down to eighth-placed Enerson. A bad result here could knock you even further back and potentially cost you your championship hopes and the shot at the $1 million Mazda advancement scholarship that goes with it. With Rosenqvist, Veach and Enerson 52, 57 and 59 points in arrears, respectively, this could be a pivotal weekend to make hay or fall by the wayside.

Then, there’s a big rivalry starting to develop between Stoneman and Urrutia. It’s really getting scrappy between the two after the last weekend of the year at the Indy road course. If it’s the two of them battling for the win in the final laps, get your popcorn ready.

Freedom 100 schedule

Thursday, May 26, 2016

  • 9am-12pm – Practice
  • 1:15pm-2:15pm – Qualifying

Friday, May 27, 2016

  • 12:30pm-1:20pm – Freedom 100 (40 laps)

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Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course – Indy Lights – Race #2

Posted by  on Saturday, May 14th 2016     

Indy Lights Logo

There’s no shortage of talent in the 2016 Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires series and another of those drivers who seemed on the verge of a victory, Andretti Autosport’s Dean Stoneman, broke through Saturday to become the sixth winner in seven races to start the year.

The driver of the No. 27 Stellrecht supported Dallara IL-15 Mazda started fifth but was in the lead at the end of the first green flag lap on Lap 3.

Why Lap 3, you ask? Because the craziness on a cold day at the 2.439-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course began before the green flag even flew.

Here was the starting grid, and then here’s how the race evolved from there.

Rank Car Driver Time
1 11 Ed Jones 01:15.0014
2 55 Santiago Urrutia 01:15.0914
3 4 Felix Serralles 01:15.1006
4 14 Felix Rosenqvist 01:15.1164
5 27 Dean Stoneman 01:15.1669
6 7 RC Enerson 01:15.1987
7 5 Zach Veach 01:15.4457
8 77 Scott Anderson 01:15.4825
9 3 Scott Hargrove 01:15.5652
10 51 Shelby Blackstock 01:15.5707
11 18 Kyle Kaiser 01:15.6489
12 17 Andre Negrao 01:15.7930
13 28 Dalton Kellett 01:15.8319
14 22 Neil Alberico 01:15.8718
15 13 Zachary Claman De Melo 01:15.9174
16 2 Juan Piedrahita 01:15.9856

RC Enerson spun out of sixth on the grid exiting the final turn, Turn 14, but resumed without damage. Not as fortunate was his teammate at Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, rookie Andre Negrao, who made a notable error by losing control of his car on the front straight when warming up his tires. He crashed into the outside retaining wall, knocking off his front wing and damaging both his left front suspension and left front Cooper tire in the process. Negrao limped back to pit lane and apologized to his team afterwards, while Enerson made it to Lap 3 before retiring with mechanical issues.

The first green flag lap, Lap 3, was equally as chaotic as the infamous – or perhaps legendary – Lap 27 in Friday’s first of two races where the lead changed hands three times following a restart.

Polesitter Ed Jones led away from Carlin teammate Felix Serralles and Stoneman, who started fifth, made it up to third. Serralles locked his brakes going in too deep into Turn 1, then proceeded to run through the grass, and claimed he got punted into the corner.

https://twitter.com/felixserralles/status/731552934471839749

Jones and Stoneman looked set to advance into first and second but Stoneman lost the second position to Belardi Auto Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist, who’d started fourth but made it up to second by corner exit.

Serralles, meanwhile, re-entered the course at driver’s left exiting Turn 2, and the field did well to stay right and avoid the stricken Carlin driver as he resumed back to speed.

Jones led Rosenqvist before Stoneman made a move of Rosenqvist on the outside for second on the run to Turn 7.

Then it all went haywire there at the second of two notable 90-degree turns, like Turn 1. Jones ran wide on corner exit and fell to eighth; behind them, Zach Veach clipped his teammate Rosenqvist into a spin to knock the Swede back in the field.

In the chaos, Stoneman led with Santiago Urrutia, who’d fallen back to fourth off his initial second starting position, back into second with Scott Anderson having survived all the madness and running third in the No. 77 Schmidt Peterson entry – easily his best lap of the season.

The order was Stoneman, Urrutia, Anderson, Serralles and Scott Hargrove the top five with Kyle Kaiser, Shelby Blackstock, Jones, Juan Piedrahita and Zachary Claman De Melo the top 10.

Serralles quickly got around Anderson, who didn’t have the pace to remain as high up.

On Lap 7 Anderson ran wide ahead of Jones and De Melo and continued to drop.

Urrutia started closing a bit on Stoneman as the race progressed. The gap was 0.6375 of a second on Lap 8 and 0.3120 a lap later. The tightening at the top also allowed Serralles, who was often two to three tenths of a second quicker per lap, to close on Urrutia.

On Lap 12 Jones set what had been the fastest lap of the race to date as he tried to recover.

Serralles made it by Urrutia for second on Lap 14 around the outside into Turn 1.

The order on Lap 15 was Stoneman up by 0.7806 of a second over Serralles with Urrutia, Kaiser and now Jones in the top five. Rosenqvist, Hargrove and Anderson completed the top half of the field.

Hargrove, Anderson and De Melo ran seventh through ninth and got a bit too racey from there. Going into Turn 4 on Lap 18 De Melo tried a three-wide passing attempt and speared Hargrove, with Anderson stuck on the outside with nowhere to go. All three went into the gravel but the only driver to retire from the accident was De Melo. The race stayed green.

On Lap 22, Veach pitted for a new front wing, his primary wing having taken a battering from hitting Rosenqvist on the opening lap.

Up front Stoneman held the gap from Serralles and Urrutia.

The final dramatic moment of the race came on Lap 29. Serralles closed to within 0.4477 of a second on Lap 28, but a lap later went in too deep at Turn 12 and ran off course. That gave Stoneman more than a one-second buffer over Urrutia and promoted Kaiser to third with Serralles back to fourth.

Jones got Serralles for fourth a lap later, on Lap 30. Dalton Kellett and Neil Alberico also had off course excursions in the same time frame, with Alberico also sustaining front wing damage.

Urrutia closed to within half a second of Stoneman but got no closer.

Hargrove was on the tail end of the lead lap but did not come into play ahead of the leaders.

Stoneman came through 0.8659 of a second clear of Urrutia to claim the win over Kaiser in third, with Jones and Serralles completing the top five.

Post-race Stoneman was more relieved than anything, noting how much better the team has gotten despite no testing in preseason prior to Phoenix. He said he learned from his dramatic battle with Urrutia on Friday and defended expertly throughout the day.

Urrutia said he let Serralles by because he thought Serralles was faster, but he otherwise drove a smart race free of drama.

For Kaiser, the difference was using an extra set of sticker Cooper tires, noting many in the field hadn’t gone for that strategy throughout the weekend. Considering he said the Juncos Racing team didn’t have the outright fastest car this weekend, he was very pleased to come away with a podium. Having three years of track experience also meant he knew where the trouble spots were, and he was smart to avoid trouble throughout the weekend.

Jones maintained his points gap and unofficially leads Kaiser and Urrutia by 21 (160-139, with the latter two tied), while Stoneman moves into a tie with Serralles for fourth on 125 points. Rosenqvist (108), Veach (103) and Enerson (101) are also over the century mark in points before the series races the Freedom 100 on May 27.

Unofficial results are below.

P No Name Laps
1 27 Dean Stoneman 35
2 55 Santiago Urrutia 35
3 18 Kyle Kaiser 35
4 11 Ed Jones 35
5 4 Felix Serralles 35
6 14 Felix Rosenqvist 35
7 51 Shelby Blackstock 35
8 77 Scott Anderson 35
9 3 Scott Hargrove 35
10 5 Zach Veach 34
11 2 Juan Piedrahita 34
12 28 Dalton Kellett 34
13 22 Neil Alberico 29
14 13 Zachary Claman De Melo 18
15 7 RC Enerson 3
16 17 Andre Negrao —

—

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Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course – Indy Lights – Warmup and Race #2 Grid

Posted by  on Saturday, May 14th 2016     

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You never want to be a guinea pig on a day where ambient temperatures are south of 50 degrees.

But with 46-degree ambient temperatures, the Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires field of 16 competitors were first to venture out on the cold, dark and overcast 2.439-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course for a crucial 20-minute morning warmup session to kick off the Mazda Road to Indy activity on Saturday.

Santiago Urrutia had a tough start to the session with IndyCar Radio reporting the driver of the No. 55 Soul Red Mazda for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports was stuck in the pits with an apparent fuel pump issue, which sidelined the Uruguayan for the remainder of the session.

After incidents in race one of the Mazda Indy Lights Grand Prix of Indianapolis, both Team Pelfrey cars of Juan Piedrahita and Scott Hargrove, plus Andretti Autosport’s Dalton Kellett, all returned to the track.

Up front Felix Rosenqvist posted a best time of 1:15.4152 in the No. 14 Belardi Auto Racing entry ahead of Hargrove, Dean Stoneman, Friday winner and series points leader Ed Jones and Kyle Kaiser.

Zach Veach’s car, the second Belardi Dallara IL-15 Mazda, was stranded just prior to pit-in and needed a tow-in.

Warmup times are below.

P No Name FTime Diff Laps
1 14 Felix Rosenqvist 1:15.415 0.000 10
2 3 Scott Hargrove 1:15.681 0.2655 10
3 27 Dean Stoneman 1:15.791 0.3760 12
4 11 Ed Jones 1:15.850 0.4351 14
5 18 Kyle Kaiser 1:15.872 0.4572 12
6 4 Felix Serralles 1:15.907 0.4915 14
7 17 Andre Negrao 1:15.994 0.5787 9
8 22 Neil Alberico 1:16.176 0.7612 14
9 77 Scott Anderson 1:16.230 0.8146 11
10 7 RC Enerson 1:16.298 0.8832 14
11 28 Dalton Kellett 1:16.311 0.8959 14
12 5 Zach Veach 1:16.348 0.9328 12
13 13 Zachary Claman De Melo 1:16.447 1.0313 11
14 2 Juan Piedrahita 1:16.620 1.2052 10
15 51 Shelby Blackstock 1:16.689 1.2736 14
16 55 Santiago Urrutia No Time — —

—

Meanwhile here’s the starting grid for race two of the weekend, which has an estimated 1:25 p.m. green flag.

Jones and Urrutia are set to resume their battle from Friday, with the pair of Felixes third and fourth and Stoneman starting fifth.

Rank Car Driver Time
1 11 Ed Jones 01:15.0014
2 55 Santiago Urrutia 01:15.0914
3 4 Felix Serralles 01:15.1006
4 14 Felix Rosenqvist 01:15.1164
5 27 Dean Stoneman 01:15.1669
6 7 RC Enerson 01:15.1987
7 5 Zach Veach 01:15.4457
8 77 Scott Anderson 01:15.4825
9 3 Scott Hargrove 01:15.5652
10 51 Shelby Blackstock 01:15.5707
11 18 Kyle Kaiser 01:15.6489
12 17 Andre Negrao 01:15.7930
13 28 Dalton Kellett 01:15.8319
14 22 Neil Alberico 01:15.8718
15 13 Zachary Claman De Melo 01:15.9174
16 2 Juan Piedrahita 01:15.9856

—

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Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course – Indy Lights – Race #1

Posted by  on Friday, May 13th 2016     

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In 2013, Indy Lights staged one of the most dramatic finishes in racing history at Indianapolis Motor Speedway with a four-wide photo finish to the Freedom 100, won by Peter Dempsey.

In 2016, the Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires made a Kodak moment on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course with arguably one of the most dramatic restarts in recent memory in the closing laps of the Mazda Indy Lights Grand Prix of Indianapolis, won by Ed Jones.

Though polesitter Jones, of Carlin, delivered in a flag-to-flag triumph for his second win of the year, saying it was just a straightforward pole-to-flag victory would not do this restart – and the finish of this race – justice.

Jones took his No. 11 Jebel Ali Resorts and Hotels Dallara IL-15 Mazda to the win over the Soul Red No. 55 Mazda of Santiago Urrutia and the No. 27 Stellrecht Andretti Autosport entry of Dean Stoneman, and how they got there came courtesy of Stoneman’s lap number – 27 – being the deciding lap.

At the start of the 30-lap race, Jones held the lead from Urrutia in second, with RC Enerson making a run in his No. 7 Schmidt Peterson car up to third. Slight contact occurred between the SPM teammates and Enerson, who was on the outside with Urrutia in the middle and Jones on the inside, was forced off course into the runoff area of oval Turn 4 on the 2.439-mile road course.

Behind them, Kyle Kaiser was forced to take evasive action and there was a separate incident where Zachary Claman De Melo, Neil Alberico and Shelby Blackstock all lost time in the melee. De Melo was spun around and the three of them fell to the rear of the 16-car field.

After the first lap, Jones led Stoneman, second-starting Felix Rosenqvist, Urrutia, Zach Veach and Scott Anderson. Enerson and Kaiser fell to 11th and 12th.

A further incident occurred on Lap 2 when Dalton Kellett hit Juan Piedrahita entering Turn 1, with both cars sustaining too much damage to contine. A less than pleased Piedrahita told IndyCar Radio he thought Kellett had no idea what he was doing, following a rare mistake from the Canadian.

On Lap 6, Urrutia passed Rosenqvist for third on the inside of Turn 12.

On Lap 10, Jones led Stoneman by 0.8321 of a second with Urrutia, Rosenqvist, Veach and Felix Serralles the top six.

By Lap 15, the only change at the top of the order was Serralles by Veach for fifth place.

Enerson, who’d been trying to recover from the first lap, then closed on Anderson for seventh. He tried a move at Turn 7 on Lap 20 but overcooked his entry and locked the brakes.

Things escalated two laps later once Enerson was already past. Anderson and Scott Hargrove in the No. 3 Team Pelfrey entry collided entering Turn 12 and the damage, with Hargrove’s car high-sided, brought out a full course caution.

And that was what led to the dramatic finish.

The restart was initially planned for Lap 26 but was waved off after the formation was out of order. Jones led Stoneman, Urrutia, Rosenqvist, Serralles and Veach.

Then Lap 27 happened.

To start it off, Jones had to defend against both Stoneman and Urrutia. Jones held his lane in the middle of the track going into Turn 1 before Stoneman went to the inside and made it past for the lead. Jones locked up on corner entry but was able to sustain enough momentum to carry through the corner; problem was, Urrutia then made it through on the inside into second.

Rosenqvist tried to get a run on the ailing Jones but when he caught him, he got caught in dirty air. Serralles then tried to get a run on Rosenqvist but was unable to pass.

Stoneman led Urrutia into Turn 7, but gradually, then more increasingly, moved to driver’s left heading into the 90-degree left-hander. Urrutia made it past Stoneman into the corner but both drivers ran wide on corner exit, and so Jones had a path through on the inside to retake the lead after Stoneman and Urrutia had both held it.

The Stoneman/Urrutia lead battle then hurt both of them exiting the corner and they fell into the Felix battle of Serralles and Rosenqvist.

Serralles then proceeded to pull off a double move, briefly getting into third in the No. 4 Carlin car after passing to Rosenqvist’s inside for a right-hander and then to Stoneman’s outside for a left-hander. But then he ran wide exiting Turn 10 and the would-be third place fell away from him; Stoneman and Rosenqvist got back by immediately and Veach tried a corner later for fifth. There were several other cars – Kaiser, Andre Negrao and even Blackstock – who tried to make headway in the closing laps.

The crescendo of activity started and peaked at Lap 27 and following that, the race ran to a less dramatic conclusion, but still with Jones up front and winning by 0.9501 from Urrutia and 1.8290 from Stoneman.

It was the same podium as at Barber last race, albeit in a different order – Urrutia and Jones swapped spots following Urrutia’s Turn 5 pass there. Carlin now joins the list of recent winners at IMS after Schmidt Peterson and 8Star won here last year.

Rosenqvist and Veach made it two Belardi cars in the top five, with Kaiser recovering nicely to sixth ahead of Serralles, Enerson, Blackstock and Negrao in the top 10.

Unofficially Jones has 140 points having extended his championship lead, with Kaiser on 117 and Urrutia on 114. Serralles is fourth with 109.

After the race Jones said he was probably a little more cautious this year than he might have been last year. He worked to avoid collisions and then capitalized on his opportunity.

Urrutia had a loose race car for most of the race, but said the balance wasn’t off too bad following his hectic first lap. When he tried to move on Stoneman, he said Stoneman was working hard to close the door, and that opened the door for Jones.

Stoneman said he felt he had a lot left to use, with the Safety Car proving a valuable assist. He said the team is using the first day of a weekend as a test day to get better; he expects to start fifth and said he knows what he needs to go quicker.

Unofficial results are below and the second race of the weekend occurs tomorrow at 1:25 p.m.

P No Name Laps
1 11 Ed Jones 30
2 55 Santiago Urrutia 30
3 27 Dean Stoneman 30
4 14 Felix Rosenqvist 30
5 5 Zach Veach 30
6 18 Kyle Kaiser 30
7 4 Felix Serralles 30
8 7 RC Enerson 30
9 51 Shelby Blackstock 30
10 17 Andre Negrao 30
11 22 Neil Alberico 29
12 77 Scott Anderson 29
13 13 Zachary Claman De Melo 29
14 3 Scott Hargrove 22
15 2 Juan Piedrahita 2
16 28 Dalton Kellett 1

—

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Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course – Indy Lights preview

Posted by  on Wednesday, May 11th 2016     

Indy Lights Logo

The word of the day going into the twin Mazda Indy Lights Grand Prix of Indianapolis Presented by Cooper Tires races at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is… different.

Five different drivers representing five different countries and four different teams have found victory lane over the first five races of the 2016 Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tire season.

Different in 2016, is also represented  by the eight different drivers representing six different teams and five different countries that have won the eight Indy Lights races on the two iterations of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.

Previous Indy Lights winners on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course:

Year — Race — Driver — Team

  • 2015 — Race #1 — Sean Rayhall — 8Star Motorsports
  • 2015 — Race #1 — Jack Harvey — Schmidt Peterson Motorsports
  • 2014 — Race #2 — Luiz Razia — Schmidt Peterson Motorsports
  • 2014 — Race #1 — Matthew Brabham — Andretti Autosport
  • 2007 — Race #2 — Bobby Wilson — Brian Stewart Racing
  • 2007 — Race #1 — Hideki Mutoh — Panther Racing
  • 2006 — one race — Alex Lloyd — AFS Racing
  • 2005 — one race — Marco Andretti — Andretti Autosport
A young Michael Andretti celebrates winning the first Indy Lights race on the road course at IMS with his father Michael Andretti (Photo courtesy of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, LLC Photography)

A young Marcol Andretti celebrates winning the first Indy Lights race on the road course at IMS with his father Michael Andretti (Photo courtesy of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, LLC Photography)

None of the eight previous IMS road course race winners are entered in this year’s Mazda Indy Lights Grand Prix of Indianapolis Presented by Cooper Tires, so a ninth different name will become an Indy Lights winner at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

After a slow start to the season with seventh and 10th place finishes in St. Petersburg, Carlin sophomore Ed Jones has parlayed a win and two second place finishes into a six point championship lead over Kyle Kaiser.

Jones also led the championship early in 2015 before falling to third by the end of the season, and when TSOLadder asked the 21 year-old if he planned a different approach this year. His answer was an emphatic affirmative, and he explained that he was out to gain every possible position this year and not worry about points.

“We had extremely good pace last year (on the IMS road course) so I do feel confident that we will have a solid base to work from and hopefully be able to produce another pole position car,” said Jones. “At this point of the year it’s great to have the points lead of course but you can’t dwell on it too much as it’s still early and you still need to optimize every weekend to its maximum so that you are there when it counts.”

Jones did have success on the 2.439 mi Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course last year, starting both races on the front row and finishing third and fourth.

After a win at Phoenix, Juncos Racing sophomore Kaiser entered the Barber Motorsports Park double-header with the points lead and drove a smart first race after a mediocre qualifying effort saw him start eighth. The Santa Clara, California native was patient and had moved his way into the top five before an unfortunate mechanical issue dropped him to 15th and out of the points lead.

After a disappointing day on Saturday opened a door for the “impatient Kyle Kaiser” of 2015 to make an appearance on Sunday, the 20 year-old drove with poise and brought home his InterVision/NetApp/Juniper Networks sponsored No. 18 in sixth after starting seventh, thus proving that 2016 is a new year and that the new more grown-up Kyle is here for good.

In the first race of the weekend at Barber Motorsports Park, Carlin sophomore Felix Serralles improved an impressive nine spots from his 11th place starting spot and scored his second podium of the young 2016 season.  The 23 year-old also inherited the points lead, but his time atop the points table would not last long after contact in Sunday’s race relegated him to 15th place finish. The Ponce, Puerto Rico native only trails Jones by 14 points heading into this weekends twin-bill, and will  need to put the two “DNF’s” he suffered at IMS during last years event completely out of his mind.

Schmidt Peterson Motorsports with Curb-Agajanian teammates Santiago Urrutia and RC Enerson enter the sixth and seventh round of the 2016 championship only 19 and 26 points, respectively, adrift of leader Jones.

Schmidt Peterson Motorsports with Curb-Agajanian RC Enerson and reigning Pro Mazda presented by Cooper Tire champion Santiago Urrutia (Photo courtesy of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, LLC Photography)

Schmidt Peterson Motorsports with Curb-Agajanian RC Enerson and reigning Pro Mazda presented by Cooper Tire champion Santiago Urrutia (Photo courtesy of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, LLC Photography)

After an up-and-down first four races and an uncharacteristic mistake resulted in a driver through penalty in the first race of the Barber Motorsports Park weekend, Urrutia, the reigning Pro Mazda presented by Cooper Tire champion, put it all together for the first time in 2016. The 19 year-old, who currently has the second quickest race lap average through the first five races made a bold pass of pole-sitter Jones to take the lead on the fourth lap of  Sunday’s race and was able to cruise to his first Indy Lights win.

“Finally, the month of May,” exclaimed sophomore Enerson. “I can’t wait to get things started at the GP. We had really strong cars there last year and pulled off some amazing results. I’m really looking for that first win of the season and I won’t stop pushing until I get it.”

Despite being in fifth place in the chase for the $1million Mazda Motorsports Advancement Scholarship, the 19 year-old Enerson has to be happy with his position heading to central Indiana and second third of the schedule where he excelled in 2015. The Lucas Oil TV sponsored driver currently trails leader Jones by only 26 points, while in 2015 he came to IMS trailing the points leader (Pigot) by 58 points.

Belardi Auto Racing teammates sophomore Zach Veach and rookie Felix Rosenqvist are only separated by two points in sixth and seventh place in the championship, but will have to find a solution to the tire wear issues the squad faced at Barber Motorsports Park if they want to compete on the abrasive asphalt at IMS.

After qualifying poorly, but showing considerable race pace in the first two race events of the year, it was only a matter of time before Andretti Autosport rookie Dean Stoneman figured out how to maximize his sticker Cooper Tire slicks during qualifying. After qualifying second for race #1 in Alabama, the Croydon, England native had a mechanical issue and didn’t get to take the green flag. Stoneman also started second in the second tilt of the weekend, and this time was able to hold onto to finish third, his first podium in the U.S.A.. Don’t be surprised if this opens the floodgates for a string of podium finishes.

Other drivers TSO is watching:

After an uncharacteristically sloppy start to 2016, steady Andretti Autosport sophomore Shelby Blackstock found his groove in Alabama, finishing fourth in Saturday’s race and fifth in Sunday’s race. In four previous races on the IMS road course the Nashville, Tennessee native has one second place finish.

Juncos Racing sophomore Zachary Claman De Melo made up a total of 19 positions in two races in the last event at Barber Motorsports Park. After qualifying on the front row, the Montreal, Quebec native was forced to start in last place after technical inspection found the floor of his car to be just  one mm too low. Calman De Melo, who is only 17, was able to advance to fifth place in the first race of the weekend and to seventh place on Sunday.

Rookies Dalton Kellett and Neil Alberico have both kept their noses clean, but will need to up the aggressiveness if they want to move up the running order. Both drivers have had success on the IMS road course in the past, so hopefully that translates into more confidence and better results.

After finishing second in the first race of the year, 2013 Cooper Tires USF2000 Powered by Mazda champion Scott Hargrove, who is only confirmed through the next two events at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway has finishes of 14th, 13th, 13th and 12th and appears to pushing a little too hard. The 21 year-old from Vancouver, British Colombia does have two Pro Mazda victories at this circuit.

Start up front, finish up front.  

Despite two great passing zones, the winner of the four Indy Lights races on current iteration of the 2.439-mile, 14-turn Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course the eventual winner came from the front row. Matthew Brabham (2014 #1), Luiz Razia (2014 #2), and Jack Harvey (2015 #1) all won from pole position, while  Sean Rayhall (2015 #2) started outside of the front row.

Previous Indy Lights pole sitters on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course:

Year — Race — Driver — Team

  • 2015 — Race #2 — Ed Jones — Carlin
  • 2015 — Race #1 — Jack Harvey — Schmidt Peterson Motorsports
  • 2014 — Race #2 — Luiz Razia — Schmidt Peterson Motorsports
  • 2014 — Race #1 — Matthew Brabham — Andretti Autosport
  • 2007 — Race #2 — Ryan Justice — Schmidt Peterson Motorsports
  • 2007 — Race #1 — Hideki Mutoh — Panther Racing
  • 2006 — one race — Alex Lloyd — AFS Racing
  • 2005 — one race — Marco Andretti — Andretti Autosport

Links to Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tire info

Schedule Standings Results Stats Liveries Social Media

 Mazda Indy Lights Grand Prix of Indianapolis Presented by Cooper Tires schedule:

Wednesday, May 11, 2016

  • 11:30am – 12:30pm — Indy Lights testing
  • 4:30pm – 5:30pm — Indy Lights testing

Thursday, May 12, 2016

  • 12:30pm – 1:15pm — Indy Lights practice #1
  • 4:30pm – 5:15pm — Indy Lights practice #2

Friday, May 13, 2016

  • noon – 12:45pm — Indy Lights qualifying
  • 4:30pm – 5:30pm — Indy Lights race #1 (40 minutes)

Saturday, May 14, 2016

  • 9:45am – 10:05am — Indy Lights warm-up
  • 11:30am – noon – Indy Lights autograph session
  • 1:18pm – 2:25pm — Indy Lights race #2 (50 minutes)

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You can watch last year’s races here:

You can catch the NBC Sports Network broadcast with Kevin Lee, Anders Krohn and Katie Hargitt on Sunday, May 22, 2016 at 1pm (EDT).

category: Indy Lights News/Results, Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tire - TSO
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Barber Motorsports Park – Indy Lights – Race #2 recap and results

Posted by  on Sunday, April 24th 2016     

Indy Lights Logo

With the deepest field in over 15 years, it’s not a surprise that there have been five different winners during the 2016 chase for the Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tire championship, but that it occurred at the fifth race of the season is a little bit of a surprise.

Santiago Urrutia, the reigning Pro Mazda presented by Cooper Tire champion became the fifth different driver from the fourth different team to win in the fifth race of 18 race contest for the $1million Mazda Motorsports Advancement Scholarship. With the win, Urrutia moved up to fourth in the championship.

Schmidt Peterson Motorsports with Curb-Agajanian team owner Sam Schmidt told IndyCar Radio that it felt good to get an Indy Lights win again. Schmidt, whose team scored it’s 69th win today, also complimented the improved competition in Indy Lights.

After a slow start to the season at St. Petersburg, Ed Jones visited the podium for the third race in a row and for the tenth time in his short Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tire. The three race run of consistency, combined with his competitors issues in Alabama equates to the 21 year-old heading to the three “Month of May” races as the points leader for the second straight year.

Jones was happy with his weekend and explained that he didn’t have the pace this weekend. He told ndyCar Radio that consistency is going to be the key with such a deep field and minimizing your mistakes

After stalling yesterday due to a sensor issue and starting from the back, Dean Stoneman was able to make it to the start of the second Firestone Indy Lights race having earned a second starting position for this race as well.

Holding onto the podium despite some pressure from behind, Stoneman, who was clearly relieved to finally finish the race and score a podium, is pleased with how the Andretti Autosport team is working together and more importantly that they are making progress in developing the race car.

Ed Jones maintained the lead on the start while a very loose Stoneman held onto second.

Kyle Kaiser moved up to sixth and gave Shelby Blackstock a strong run for fifth before Blackstock held onto the position.

On the second lap, Juan Piedrahita spun Felix Serralles at Turn 2.  That earned Piedrahita a drive-through penalty.

Serralles kept the car running, but with caution free race was not able to recover and finished fifteenth. The Puerto Rican driver held a slim championship lead going into the race, but fell to third in the standings.

Up front, also on Lap 2, Santiago Urrutia got past Stoneman for second place.  Urrutia then set off in chase of leader Ed Jones.

On the third lap, Urrutia put a super-late, aggressive move on leader Jones at Turn 5 and made the inside move work for the lead.  He then began to stretch out a lead that was up to 2.2 seconds by Lap 10.

Urrutia admitted to the mistake that he made yesterday (a late pass attempt on Felix Rosenqvist in Turn 1 that ruined both of their races), but explained that with Barber Motorsports Park being a difficult circuit to pass on

That pass for the lead also enabled Stoneman, RC Enerson, and Shelby Blackstock to catch up but Jones was able to stretch out a decent gap over the third-place Stoneman.

Zachary Claman De Melo had started in the back in 15th place, but he had already moved up to seventh place and was the fastest car on the track.

Half-way through the 30 lap event and the top ten were: Urrutia, Jones, Stoneman, Enerson, Blackstock, Kaiser, Clam De Melo, Rosenqvist, Kellett and Veach.

Urrutia was able to gap Jones by 3.6 seconds, and the best battle on the track was between the Juncos Racing teammates Claman De Melo and Kaiser who were going hard at it for sixth place. The top eight were all within 10 seconds of Urrutia.

With ten laps to go, while the gap up front began to grow, rookie Stoneman began to put some pressure on Jones for second, and just behind them his Andretti Autosport teammate Blackstock was right on the gearbox of Enerson for the fourth spot.

After losing the points lead to Serralles after suffering a mechanical failure on Saturday, Kaiser drove a smart race to finish in sixth and head to the next event trailing only Jones in the championship.

Full results:

RANK DRIVER GAP

1 Santiago Urrutia 30 laps

2 Ed Jones 4.2437

3 Dean Stoneman 5.2194

4 RC Enerson 6.0994

5 Shelby Blackstock 8.1662

6 Kyle Kaiser 8.6812

7 Zachary Claman De Melo 9.3748

8 Felix Rosenqvist 13.5499

9 Dalton Kellett 18.9099

10 Zach Veach 20.6633

11 Andre Negrao 21.6868

12 Scott Hargrove 23.7974

13 Scott Anderson 24.6182

14 Neil Alberico -124.5400

15 Felix Serralles -123.1720

16 Juan Piedrahita -117.6190

The Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tire championship heads north to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course in support of the Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis in two short weeks.

You can find our Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tire preview here —> http://www.tsoladder.com/2016/04/22/barber-motorsports-park-indy-lights-presented-by-cooper-tire-preview/

You can find the Practice 1 recap here —> http://www.tsoladder.com/2016/04/22/barber-motorsports-park-indy-lights-practice-1/

You can find the Practice 2 recap here —> http://www.tsoladder.com/2016/04/22/barber-motorsports-park-indy-lights-practice-2-recap-and-times/

You can find qualifying results here —> http://www.tsoladder.com/2016/04/23/barber-motorsports-park-indy-lights-qualifying-recap-and-results/

You can find a race #1 recap here —> http://www.tsoladder.com/2016/04/23/barber-motorsports-park-indy-lights-race-1-recap-and-results/

category: Indy Lights News/Results, Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tire - TSO
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Barber Motorsports Park – Pro Mazda & Indy Light Race #2 – starting line-ups and points

Posted by  on Sunday, April 24th 2016     

Pro Mazda Logo

Mazda North American Operations Presents the Pro Mazda Grand Prix of Alabama Cooper Tires Race #2

Time: 11:15am (CST)

Starting Lineup for Race #2

START DRIVER SESSION
1 O’Ward, Pato Race 1
2 Telitz, Aaron (R) Race 1
3 Grist, Garett Quals
4 Jamin, Nico (R) Race 1
5 Owen, Will Race 1
6 Parsons, Jake (R) Race 1
7 Tan, Weiron Race 1
8 Eidson, Jake (R) Race 1
9 Dapero, Nicolas (R) Race 1
10 Cevallos, Jorge (R) Race 1

Points entering Race #2

RANK DRIVER POINTS
1 Pato O’Ward 90
2 Aaron Telitz – R 84
3 Weiron Tan 58
4 Nico Jamin – R 53
5 Garett Grist 50
6 Jake Eidson – R 49
7 Will Owen 44
8 Jake Parsons – R 41
9 Jorge Cevallos – R 38
10 Nicolas Dapero – R 36
11 Bobby Eberle 20

Indy Lights Logo

Legacy Indy Lights 100 Race #2

Time: 12:20pm (CST)

Starting Lineup for Race #2
RANK DRIVER SESSION
1 Jones, Ed Quals
2 Stoneman, Dean (R) Quals
3 Urrutia, Santiago (R) Quals
4 Enerson, RC Quals
5 Blackstock, Shelby Quals
6 Rosenqvist, Felix (R) Quals
7 Kaiser, Kyle Quals
8 Kellett, Dalton (R) Quals
9 Hargrove, Scott (R) Quals
10 Veach, Zach Quals
11 Piedrahita, Juan Quals
12 Alberico, Neil (R) Quals
13 Negrao, Andre (R) Quals
14 Serralles, Felix Quals
15 Claman De Melo, Zachary (R) Race 1
16 Anderson, Scott Race 1

Points entering Race #2
RANK DRIVER TOTAL POINTS
1 Felix Serralles 88
2 Kyle Kaiser 87
3 Ed Jones 82
4 Zach Veach 64
5 RC Enerson 63
6 Felix Rosenqvist – R 60
7 Andre Negrao – R 60
8 Santiago Urrutia – R 57
9 Dean Stoneman – R 50
10 Scott Hargrove – R 48
11 Juan Piedrahita 48
12 Shelby Blackstock 43
13 Zachary Claman de Melo – R 42
14 Dalton Kellett – R 40
15 Neil Alberico – R 36
16 Scott Anderson 31
17 Heamin Choi – R 5

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category: Indy Lights News/Results, Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tire - TSO, Pro Mazda News/Results, Pro Mazda presented by Cooper Tire - TSO
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Barber Motorsports Park – Indy Lights Race #1 – Recap and Results

Posted by  on Saturday, April 23rd 2016     
Ed Jones celebrates his first Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tire win in over a year at Barber Motorsports Park. (Photo courtesy of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, LLC Photography)

Ed Jones celebrates his first Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tire win in over a year at Barber Motorsports Park. (Photo courtesy of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, LLC Photography)

After winning the first three Indy Lights races in 2015, Carlin sophomore Ed Jones was in the midst of a 16-race drought heading to Barber Motorsports Park. A difficult first practice session did not provide the 20 year-old much confidence, but a set of fresh Cooper Tires and revisiting a previous set-up shot the Jebel Ali Resorts and Hotels sponsored No. 11 to the top of the time charts in the afternoon.

Jones led all 35 laps, holding off teammate Felix Serralles by 1.5 seconds, and credited the decision to do a new tire run yesterday as the springboard to starting on pole today.

The victory was driver Jones fourth career Indy Lights win and the sixth team win for Carlin.

Quick note from qualifying: Zachary Claman De Melo who turned in the quickest time during the early morning qualifying session was disqualified from the session for pursuant to Rule 14.6.1.

Rule 14.6.1 states that:

The minimum underwing height as measured from the reference plane is 1.250”

In layman’s terms, that means that the floor of the car was lower than allowed. The lower the floor, the higher the downforce, so it was a definite advantage for the No. 13 Juncos Racing machine.

Just as the two rows of eight Mazda powered Dallaras began to pair-up for their side-by-side start, the Stellrecht sponsored No. 27 piloted by Dean Stoneman, who was to start in the second spot, sputtered in Turn 14 backing up the field and causing the start to be waved off.

The green flag flew the next lap by and Jones was able to get the jump on the field into Turn 1. Andretti Autosport’s Shelby Blackstock who had an empty spot vacated by Stoneman directly in front of him was not able to take advantage as he ran wide in Turn 2 and RC Enerson was able to take advantage and slot into second place.

The Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tire field streams through the Alabama Roller Coaster on their first green flag lap in Race #1 at Barber Motorsports Park (Photo courtesy of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, LLC Photography)

The Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tire field streams through the Alabama Roller Coaster on their first green flag lap in Race #1 at Barber Motorsports Park (Photo courtesy of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, LLC Photography)

There running order at the end of the first lap was: Jones, Enerson, Felix Rosenqvist, Santiago Urrutia, Scott Hargrove, Blackstock, Serralles, Zach Veach, Kyle Kaiser, Claman De Melo, Dalton Kellett, Andre Negrao, Juan Piedrahita, Scott Anderson, Neil Alberico and Stoneman.

On Lap 3, Urrutia made a late attempt to jump inside Rosenqvist in Turn 1, and his right front wing made contact with left rear tire of Rosenqvist, with both cars spinning off track.

The bright red Belardi Auto Racing No. 14 of Rosenqvist ended up beached in the gravel trap causing a full course yellow. Rosenqvist was restarted by the Holmatro Safety Team but was forced to pit losing three laps in the process. The 24 year-old protege of Stefan Johansson finished the race in 14th position.

Urrutia was penalized for avoidable contact and between the mandatory drive-thru penalty under green and the pit stop for a new nose and front wing, the Soul Red Madza sponsored No. 55 ended the day in 11th.

The field went back to green on Lap 6 and while Jones was able to get a good jump, Hargrove was able to get a good run on Enerson. The bright yellow and black Team Pelfrey No. 2 and the Lucas Oil sponsored No. 7 went side by side through T1 – T3 and T5 before Hargrove forced Enerson wide on the exit of Turn 5.

Enerson dropped back to seventh, and ended the day in sixth.

After taking the second spot, Hargrove was forced to pit with a punctured right rear Cooper Tire and was able to continue at the very back of the lead lap, eventually ending the day in 13th, the last car on the lead lap.

The biggest beneficiary of the early contact by four of the front runners was Serralles who started 11th but found himself all the way up to 2nd on Lap 7. Veach who began the race in sixth was able to move up to third. But, the biggest early mover was Claman De Melo, who started dead last after being disqualified from qualifying, and was able to capitalize on others misfortune to gain ten spots and move up to sixth place. The 17 year-old Canadian ended up with an impressive fifth place finish.

The race finally settle down for the middle portion as drivers started to take care of their Cooper Tires in the hops of make a late race run at their fellow competitors.

At the end of Lap 10, Jones held a 0.6 second lead on teammate Seralles with Veach, and Blackstock following closely. Kaiser, Claman De Melo, Enerson, Piedranhita, Negrao and Kellett made up the remainder of the Top 10.

At the halfway point of the 35 lap race, leader Jones had a 0.7377 second lead over Serralles. Veach was was another second back with Blackstock, Kaiser and Claman De Melo all within five seconds of Jones.

By lap 20, Serralles began to reel in his teammate Jones and had narrowed the gap to 0.4 seconds. Further back in the field Juncos Racing teammates Kaiser and Claman De Melo were turing the quickest laps in fifth and sixth and were quickly catching up to fourth place Blackstock.

On lap 26 misfortune befell Kaiser, the championship leader going into the race. The No. 18 InterVision/NetApp/Juniper Networks ground to a halt in Turn 7 relegating the 20 year-old to 15th and dropping him to second in the championship.

Meanwhile, the battle at the front of the field began to heat up with Serralles putting pressure on Jones, but with only three laps left, Serralles went wide at the exit of the final corner, giving Jones some breathing room.

Right behind the leaders, the battle between Veach and Blackstock caught fire. Blackstock took a look underneath Veach in Turn 5 on the final two laps, but Veach was able to defend against the Andretti Autosport sophomore and grab the final spot on the podium. The second podium of 2016, and his 22nd career Indy Lights podium.

With Kaiser having his issues, Serralles now moves into first place in the championship, just passing Kaiser. TSO asked if that changes his approach, and he replied that it doesn’t and that he’s going to keep racing for wins and doesn’t pay attention to the points.

Here are the unofficial results:

RANK DRIVER GAP

1 Ed Jones 0.0000

2 Felix Serralles 1.5881

3 Zach Veach 2.6705

4 Shelby Blackstock 3.3133

5 Zachary Claman De Melo 5.3350

6 RC Enerson 6.5415

7 Juan Piedrahita 14.9831

8 Andre Negrao 15.7903

9 Dalton Kellett 17.7290

10 Scott Anderson 17.7891

11 Santiago Urrutia 21.1585

12 Neil Alberico 25.6381

13 Scott Hargrove 58.7255

14 Felix Rosenqvist 3L

15 Kyle Kaiser 8L

16 Dean Stoneman 30L

The final Indy Lights race of the weekend takes place at 12:20pm (CT) on Sunday.

Don’t miss any of the action

You can find our Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tire preview here —> http://www.tsoladder.com/2016/04/22/barber-motorsports-park-indy-lights-presented-by-cooper-tire-preview/

You can find the Practice 1 recap here —> http://www.tsoladder.com/2016/04/22/barber-motorsports-park-indy-lights-practice-1/

You can find the Practice 2 recap here —> http://www.tsoladder.com/2016/04/22/barber-motorsports-park-indy-lights-practice-2-recap-and-times/

You can find qualifying results here —> http://www.tsoladder.com/2016/04/23/barber-motorsports-park-indy-lights-qualifying-recap-and-results/

category: Indy Lights News/Results, Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tire - TSO
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Barber Motorsports Park – Indy Lights qualifying recap and results

Posted by  on Saturday, April 23rd 2016     

Indy Lights Logo

After leading the final practice session yesterday afternoon, Carlin sophomore Ed Jones continued the momentum that started with a second place finish at Phoenix International Raceway, by grabbing the pole for the first of two Legacy Indy Lights 100 races this weekend.

The Jebel Ali Resorts and Hotels No. 11 of Ed Jones (Carlin) (Photo courtesy of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, LLC Photography)

The Jebel Ali Resorts and Hotels No. 11 of Ed Jones (Carlin) (Photo courtesy of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, LLC Photography)

Jones told IndyCar radio that they struggled during yesterday morning’s practice, but made a huge improvement in the afternoon session. The 20 year-old also credited doing a sticker tire run late yesterday afternoon as giving them a good baseline to start from for qualifying.

This is the fourth career Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tire pole for Jones, and the first in 2016.

In a bit of a surprise, it is Juncos Racing rookie Zachary Claman De Melo will start outside of Jones. In the previous four races, the best that the 17 year-old has started is seventh, and he told IndyCar radio that he is happy starting second, but thought that the driver and car had a little bit more in it.

Claman De Melo’s championship leading Juncos Racing teammate Kyle Kaiser will start inside the fifth row, and will surely have his newfound maturity and patience tested.

In our preview, we mentioned that Andretti Autosport’s Dean Stoneman has raced extremely well, but has yet to come to grips with the Cooper Tires in qualifying, and would have to get that issue sorted if he wanted to chase wins and podiums. The 25 year-old clearly found the answer in qualifying and after starting a previous best ninth at Phoenix International Raceway, the No. 27 will roll off on the inside of the second row for today’s race.

Drivers spent the first-half of the session getting their turbo-charged 2.0L Mazda engines warmed-up to proper operating temperatures, and as the first on-track session on Saturday, feeling out the the semi-green track.

Ten minutes into the 30 minute qualifying session and the top five were: Felix Rosenqvist, Kaiser, RC Enerson, Santiago Urrutia, and Shelby Blackstock. The five drivers were separated by only one-tenth of a second.

Juan Piedrahita had a spin at T9, but was able to keep his engine fired and the session remained green for the entire scheduled 30 minutes.

With ten minutes left in qualifying the top five were: Enerson, Blackstock, Urrutia, Jones and Stoneman. This time it was three-tenths of a second that separated the top quintet.

Most teams utilized two sets of sticker Cooper Tire slicks for qualifying and with the cooler early morning temperatures, finding the optimal lap for speed was tricky.

It’s not uncommon to see the top spot change a dozen times in the last few minutes of qualifying, but this morning it only changed hands twice in the last four minutes when Jones topped Claman De Melo with about two and half minutes to go.

Felix Serralles, who currently sits second in the championship lost his quickest lap of the session due to qualifying interference. He ended up qualifying 12th.

With the top two in points struggling in qualifying this opens up a great opportunity the rest of the field to climb back into the hunt for the $1million Mazda Motorsports Advancement Scholarship.

The only car to not take part in qualifying was Schmidt Peterson Motorsports with Curb-Agajanian veteran Scott Anderson who according to the team, was side lined with a turbo charger issue.

All 15 drivers that took place in qualifying were separated by only one second, and the five teams were represent in the top five.

Final qualifying results:

RANK DRIVER QUICK LAP GAP
1 Ed Jones 1:12.674 0.000
2 Zachary Claman De Melo 1:12.847 0.1734
3 Dean Stoneman 1:12.856 0.1826
4 Felix Rosenqvist 1:12.908 0.2344
5 RC Enerson 1:12.975 0.3012
6 Shelby Blackstock 1:12.990 0.3159
7 Santiago Urrutia 1:12.995 0.3208
8 Zach Veach 1:13.245 0.5716
9 Kyle Kaiser 1:13.286 0.6124
10 Scott Hargrove 1:13.319 0.6454
11 Dalton Kellett 1:13.348 0.6739
12 Felix Serralles 1:13.373 0.6988
13 Juan Piedrahita 1:13.524 0.8504
14 Neil Alberico 1:13.623 0.9487
15 Andre Negrao 1:13.769 1.0956
16 Scott Anderson No Time —

The first of two Legacy Indy Lights 100 races rolls of at noon (CT).

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You can find our Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tire preview here —> http://www.tsoladder.com/2016/04/22/barber-motorsports-park-indy-lights-presented-by-cooper-tire-preview/
You can find the Practice 1 recap here —> http://www.tsoladder.com/2016/04/22/barber-motorsports-park-indy-lights-practice-1/
You can find the Practice 2 recap here —> http://www.tsoladder.com/2016/04/22/barber-motorsports-park-indy-lights-practice-2-recap-and-times/

category: Indy Lights News/Results, Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tire - TSO
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Barber Motorsports Park – Indy Lights practice #2 recap and times

Posted by  on Friday, April 22nd 2016     

Indy Lights Logo

The theme of the second Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tire practice session of the day was: differing objectives. Some teams and drivers did new tire runs and some teams did full tank runs on old tires in order to simulate race conditions, and those objectives were likely reversed in the first session.

The true pace of each team and driver will be on full display during qualifying bright and early at 8am tomorrow morning (Saturday).

Here is the time sheet for the sesssion.

RANK DRIVER QUICK LAP
1 Ed Jones 1:13.961
2 Felix Serralles 1:14.041
3 Zach Veach 1:14.504
4 Neil Alberico 1:14.557
5 Felix Rosenqvist 1:14.643
6 Zachary Claman De Melo 1:14.706
7 Juan Piedrahita 1:14.715
8 Scott Hargrove 1:14.747
9 Dalton Kellett 1:14.775
10 Shelby Blackstock 1:14.822
11 Kyle Kaiser 1:14.837
12 Andre Negrao 1:14.991
13 Dean Stoneman 1:15.082
14 Santiago Urrutia 1:15.260
15 Scott Anderson 1:15.324
16 RC Enerson 1:15.419

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You can find our Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tire preview here —> http://www.tsoladder.com/2016/04/22/barber-motorsports-park-indy-lights-presented-by-cooper-tire-preview/http://www.tsoladder.com/2016/04/22/barber-motorsports-park-indy-lights-presented-by-cooper-tire-preview/
You can find the Practice 1 recap here —> http://www.tsoladder.com/2016/04/22/barber-motorsports-park-indy-lights-practice-1/

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