Archives for Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tire – TSO

MRTI “Soul Red Finale” at Watkins Glen International – Saturday – my travel notes and today’s schedule

Posted by  on Saturday, September 2nd 2017     

By Steve Wittich

Good morning from a chilly Watkins Glen International – my car had a number three as the beginning number of the temperature – where the first Mazda Road To Indy presented by Cooper Tire champion of the 2107 season will be crowned this afternoon.

We’ll get into the MRTI coverage with our next update, but wanted to update you with my travel adventures.

My journey, like it always does, started in Carmel, Ind., and similar to all but two of my trips, it involved windshield time, instead of a flight. I will miss only three IndyCar events this year – Long Beach, Phoenix, and Texas – and the only events I have flown to are St. Petersburg, and to the finale at Sonoma Raceway. That means I’ve driven to: Barber, Indy (duh), Detroit, Road America, Toronto, Mid-Ohio, Pocono, Gateway, and Watkins Glen.

My normal travel partner is my wife’s trusty Honda Fit, aka Roxy, who has now travelled to at least 60 races in the last five years. Roxy was fully prepared to be put into service one last time for the trip to “The Glen,” but our good friends at Mazda made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.

My Soul Red travel partner (Photo – Steve Wittich)

My road trip partner this weekend is a brand new Soul Red Mazda CX-5. The color is fitting since this weekend is the Mazda Road To Indy presented by Cooper Tire’s “Soul Red Finale.” I’ll have a full review of the mid-size crossover at a later date, but I’m awfully impressed with the sporty ride so far.

On Wednesday afternoon/evening I drove to Erie, Pa, before completing the drive to Watkins Glen International on Thursday morning. I’m staying west of the track in Bath, N.Y., which equates to a scenic 35-minute drive through the Finger Lakes region to get to the 11-Turn, 3.4 mile road course.

On Thursday night, a colleague and I made the pilgrimage to Seneca Lodge for a pint of beer in the historic Tavern Room, and dinner in dining room. Traditionally, the food at Seneca Lodge isn’t great, and isn’t bad, and that was the same this year.  But, you don’t go to Seneca Lodge for the food, you go to soak in the history of all the legendary racing names that have celebrated at the 69 year old watering hole, and that we did.

The Tavern Room at Seneca Lodge is a must visit for any racing fan. (Photo – Steve Wittich)

On Friday night, I joined with three other friends at Jerlando’s Ristorante and Pizza Company on Franklin Street in the heart of the village of Watkins Glen. If you are in the mood for massive servings of traditional Italian dishes, this is the place to visit. It’s also the place to be if you want to see some racing celebrities. Four-time winner at “The Glen,” Scott Dixon sat a few table away from us, and many other table were filled with familiar names from the paddock.

I had the Veal Parmigiana, which was melt in your mouth good. I also hear that the Pasta Carbonara is out of this world.

All right, USF2000 qualifying begins in 10 minutes. We’ll be back with those results in half-an-hour.

Saturday’s “Soul Red Finale” MRTI Schedule

TIME EVENT
7am Gates Open
8am – 8:30am USF2000 Qualifying
8:45am – 9:15am Indy Lights Practice #2
11:30am – 12:15pm Pro Mazda Race #1
1:15pm – 2pm USF2000 Race
2:15pm – 2:45pm Indy Lights Qualifying
5:30pm – 5:50pm Pro Mazda Qualifying #2

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category: Cooper Tires USF2000 powered by Mazda - TSO, Indy Lights News/Results, Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tire - TSO, Pro Mazda News/Results, Pro Mazda presented by Cooper Tire - TSO, USF2000 News/Results

“Soul Red Finale” at Watkins Glen International – Indy Lights practice #1

Posted by  on Friday, September 1st 2017     

By Steve Wittich

Belardi Auto Racing, the team the won the Indy Lights race at Watkins Glen International last year with Zach Veach, has not lost that set-up. Three of the top six spots in the first Indy Lights practice were held by pilots from the Brownsburg, Ind. based squad.

A lap at 92.790 seconds by Shelby Blackstock, who finished sixth in last years race,was the quickest of the session, and was followed by Andretti-Steinbrenner Racing rookie Colton Herta, and Carlin rookie Matheus Leist.

Garth Rickards was the first driver to have an issue when he went on a wild ride through the grass in The Esses. He was able to drive the Luther Sponsored No. 22 from the Carlin stable back to pit road. The Carlin crew was able to make repairs to the rear wing of the car, and Rickards was able to get back on track for the final 15 minutes of practice.

At the half-way point of the session the top five were: Aaron Telitz, Neil Alberico, Zachary Claman DeMelo, Colton Herta, and Santiago Urrutia.

The entire session was run under green flag conditions, and Teltiz’s early flier of 93.092 seconds remained at the top of the time sheet until the final minute of practice, when Blackstock, Herta and Leist were able to bump Telitz’s down to fourth.

A total of seven drivers turned their fastest lap of the session on their final lap, and 11 of the 14 drivers were within one second of Blackstock’s quickest lap.

The 14 drivers were able to complete a total of 276 laps through

Mazda Indy Lights Watkins Glen Grand Prix Presented by Cooper Tires practice # 1 results

RANK CAR NO. DRIVER FASTEST LAP DIFFERENCE TOTAL LAPS
1 51 Shelby Blackstock 1:32.790 –.—- 21
2 98 Colton Herta 1:32.996 0.2052 20
3 26 Matheus Leist 1:33.081 0.2903 22
4 9 Aaron Telitz 1:33.092 0.3014 21
5 22 Neil Alberico 1:33.218 0.4278 21
6 5 Santi Urrutia 1:33.301 0.5107 20
7 18 Kyle Kaiser 1:33.321 0.5304 19
8 48 Ryan Norman 1:33.337 0.5465 21
9 13 Zachary Claman De Melo 1:33.514 0.7238 20
10 28 Dalton Kellett 1:33.536 0.7461 19
11 27 Nico Jamin 1:33.683 0.8923 20
12 31 Nicolas Dapero 1:34.073 1.2823 17
13 2 Juan Piedrahita 1:34.279 1.4887 20
14 11 Garth Rickards 1:37.314 4.5235 15

The Indy Lights teams and drivers are back on track for a second practice at 8:45am, and they will qualify at 2:15pm.

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Gateway Motorsports Park – Pro Mazda and Indy Lights qualifying

Posted by  on Saturday, August 26th 2017     

Pro Mazda qualifying order

  • 1 —> No. 31 — Brenden Puderbach
  • 2 —> No. 80 — Nikita Lastochkin
  • 3 —> No. 60 — Jeff Green
  • 4 —> No. 23 — Victor Franzoni
  • 5 —> No. 81 — Carlos Cunha
  • 6 —> No. 8 — Anthony Martin
  • 7 —> No. 14 — Sting Ray Robb
  • 8 —> No. 13 — Bobby Eberle
  • 9 —> No. 82 — TJ Fischer

Qualifying begins at 1pm (CT) / 2pm (ET)

Indy Lights qualifying order

  • 1 —> No. 11 — Garth Rickards
  • 2 —> No. 26 — Matheus Leist
  • 3 —> No. 22 — Neil Alberico
  • 4 —> No. 84 — Chad Boat
  • 5 —> No. 31 — Nicolas Dapero
  • 6 —> No. 5 — Santiago Urrutia
  • 7 —> No. 48 — Ryan Norman
  • 8 —> No. 2 — Juan Piedrahita
  • 9 —> No. 27 — Nico Jamin
  • 10 —> No. 98 — Colton Herta
  • 11 —> No. 9 — Aaron Telitz
  • 12 —> No. 51 — Shelby Blackstock
  • 13 —> No. 13 — Zachary Claman DeMelo
  • 14 —> No. 28 — Dalton Kellett
  • 15 —> No. 18 — Kyle Kaiser

Qualifying begins at 1:45pm (CT) / 2:45 (ET)

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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

Gateway Motorsports Park – Indy Lights practice

Posted by  on Friday, August 25th 2017     

Santiago Urrutia, who desperately needs to score maximum points this weekend, led the lone Indy Lights qualifying session before qualifying. The Uruguyan’s fastest lap was at 162.438mph, that’s 2.5mph quicker than the track record set by NBC Sports Network’s Townsend Bell in 2000.

Fellow sophomore Dalton Kellett turned in the second quickest lap and was joined by his Andretti Autosport teammate Nico Jamin (3rd) and Colton Herta (5th) in the top five. Team Pelfrey’s Juan Piedrahita who had the fourth quickest time, was the final pilot in the top five.

The lone Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tire series practice for the Mazda St. Louis Indy Lights Oval Challenge Presented by Cooper Tires began at 7:45pm with temperatures of

Halfway through the practice and the top five speeds were held by: Kaiser, Dapero, Zachary Claman DeMelo, Juan Piedrahita, and Santiago Urrutia.

The final half of the session saw teams and drivers bolt on fresh Cooper Tire rubber, and complete a mix of qualifying simulations and race running.

Points leader Kyle Kaiser, who led much of the session ended up with the seventh quickest time of the session. When TSO chatted with Kaiser’s team owner Ricardo Juncos after the session, he was really happy with how the session went, and explained to us that they did not do any new tire runs or qualifying simulations.

When we chatted with the teams and drivers after the session, the one constant was that qualifying will take A LOT of commitment. The Cooper Tire slicks take at least five laps to come up to optimal temperatures, so expect teams to compensate by starting out with super high pressures.

Mazda St. Louis Indy Lights Oval Challenge Presented by Cooper Tires practice results

Santiago Urrutia, who desperately needs to score maximum points this weekend, led the lone Indy Lights qualifying session before qualifying. The Uruguyan’s fastest lap was at 162.438mph, that’s 2.5mph quicker than the track record set by NBC Sports Network’s Townsend Bell in 2000.

Fellow sophomore Dalton Kellett turned in the second quickest lap and was joined by his Andretti Autosport teammate Nico Jamin (3rd) and Colton Herta (5th) in the top five. Team Pelfrey’s Juan Piedrahita who had the fourth quickest time, was the final pilot in the top five.

The lone Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tire series practice for the Mazda St. Louis Indy Lights Oval Challenge Presented by Cooper Tires began at 7:45pm with temperatures of

Halfway through the practice and the top five speeds were held by: Kaiser, Dapero, Zachary Claman DeMelo, Juan Piedrahita, and Santiago Urrutia.

The final half of the session saw teams and drivers bolt on fresh Cooper Tire rubber, and complete a mix of qualifying simulations and race running.

Points leader Kyle Kaiser, who led much of the session ended up with the seventh quickest time of the session. When TSO chatted with Kaiser’s team owner Ricardo Juncos after the session, he was really happy with how the session went, and explained to us that they did not do any new tire runs or qualifying simulations.

When we chatted with the teams and drivers after the session, the one constant was that qualifying will take A LOT of commitment. The Cooper Tire slicks take at least five laps to come up to optimal temperatures, so expect teams to compensate by starting out with super high pressures.

Mazda St. Louis Indy Lights Oval Challenge Presented by Cooper Tires practice results

RANK CAR NO. DRIVER QUICK LAP TOTAL LAPS
1 5 Santi Urrutia 162.438 61
2 28 Dalton Kellett 162.138 54
3 27 Nico Jamin 161.705 50
4 2 Juan Piedrahita 161.413 54
5 98 Colton Herta 161.348 66
6 13 Zachary Claman De Melo 161.245 54
7 18 Kyle Kaiser 161.170 50
8 48 Ryan Norman 161.078 52
9 31 Nicolas Dapero 160.976 44
10 22 Neil Alberico 160.343 42
11 26 Matheus Leist 160.324 51
12 51 Shelby Blackstock 159.873 54
13 11 Garth Rickards 159.381 50
14 9 Aaron Telitz 158.414 57
15 84 Chad Boat 156.778 50
category: Indy Lights News/Results, Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tire - TSO
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Indy Lights at Gateway Motorsports Park – Preview – Kaiser looking to be first driver to clinch early since Newgarden 2011

Posted by  on Thursday, August 24th 2017     

By Steve Wittich

As the Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tire series travels to the 1.25 mile oval for the seventh time, all eyes are on junior Juncos Racing driver Kyle Kaiser.

Kaiser, who currently holds a 42 point championship advantage over Belardi Auto Racing sophomore Santiago Urrutia, and Andretti-Steinbrenner Racing rookie Colton Herta, is attempting the first Indy Lights driver to guarantee themselves the $1 million Mazda Motorsports Advancement Scholarship before the final race of the season since 2011. That year, current Verizon IndyCar Series championship leader Josef Newgarden clinched the title at Kentucky Motor Speedway, one race before the Las Vegas finale.

The easiest way for Kaiser to clinch early is to bring the No. 18 Juncos Racing Mazda/Dallara across the finish line in fourth or better in Sunday evening’s 75 lap Mazda St. Louis Indy Lights Oval Challenge Presented by Cooper Tires.

If Kaiser finishes outside the top four on Sunday, he can still celebrate if Valencia, Calif. native Herta, and Miguelete, Uruguay denizen Urrutia finish off the podium and fail to collect any bonus points.

Phew… got all that.

Here are what the three combatants are saying:

Kaiser: “Going into Gateway, I feel very confident. We had a really strong test day and I know we’re going to have a good baseline starting the weekend. I know we have a car to win, so if everything falls in place that’s the result I’m expecting. I’m aware of the championship implications but that isn’t the focus for this race. I’m going to go out and drive the best I can and let the rest take care of itself.”

Urrutia: “I feel the test went very well at Gateway, I drove it to the edge to get everything out of my car.  I’m going into the race with confidence, ready to win, and then head to Watkins Glen winning there too, to win the Championship.”

Herta: “I’m really excited to get back on an oval, this weekend at Gateway. It sounds like the repaving went very well and I loved Gateway when I tested there. I’m looking forward to the race and hoping for another good weekend.”

The series recently held a test at Gateway Motorsports Park on August 10, 2017, and from all reports it was certainly “interesting.”

Urrutia, who is still looking for his first MRTI oval victory, unofficially led the testing, but from all reports the lap times were really tight.

Championship contenders Herta and Matheus Leist both hit the wall, and three cars had a coming together on the tight pit road.

The 18 year-old Leist still has an outside chance at the championship, and the Brazilian who won at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Iowa Speedway will be attempting to complete an oval sweep. The only other Indy Lights driver to accomplish that was Greg Moore, who won at Phoenix International Raceway, Nazareth Speedway, The Milwaukee Mile, and New Hampshire International Speedway in 1995.

With only 22 points separating Herta and Urrutia in second, and Aaron Telitz in seventh, each and every position could move a driver up or down the championship table.

Zachary Claman DeMelo, who has finishes of first, second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth in his last six races, has scored the most points of any driver over the last half-dozen races, and with a pair of good finishes, could easily move into second place in the championship.

Heralded rookies Nico Jamin (3 wins) and Aaron Telitz (1 win) have both struggled with power plant issues at times during the season. They are both outside of championship contention, but adding to their win totals will only help boost their already high stocks.

Neil Alberico, Shelby Blackstock, Dalton Kellett, and Juan Piedrahita are veterans who have shown well on ovals in the past, and the foursome will be hungry for their first Indy Lights win.  Don’t expect any of them to roll over.

Chad Boat, who had his Indy Lights debut at Iowa Speedway in July put on hold after a tumble in his USAC National Midget at Lincoln (Ill.) Speedway, will instead make his first Indy Lights start at Gateway Motorsports Park in the Pristine Auction sponsored No. 84 from the Belardi Auto Racing stable.

Boat made his return to USAC action on August 1st at Jefferson County Speedway in Fairbury, Neb., and since then has won three times in eight starts, including a win at the Bellville Midget Nationals and two victories during Pennsylvania Midget Week.

“I am looking forward to my first Indy Lights race and using what I learned at the test to have the best possible race weekend,” explained the second generation driver. “The repave at Gateway has made the track very smooth, so it should make for some great racing. I know the Belardi Auto Racing team will have a great car prepared for the event. None of this would be possible without Pristine Auction and all of our sponsors.”

Some other interesting Indy Lights at Gateway Motorsports Park notes:

  • The first race in 1997 was won by Lee Bentham, who is currently a driver coach/spotter for Ed Carpenter Racing.
  • Chris Simmons, who is Scott Dixon’s race engineer, sat on pole for the inaugural race in 1997.
  • Current Verizon IndyCar Series drivers Helio Castroneves and Tony Kanaan both started the 1997 race and finished third and 10th respectively.
  • Two of the six previous winners – Townsend Bell in 2000 and Ryan Hampton in 2002 – started from pole.
  • The winner in six races has never started outside of the front two rows.
  • NBC Sports Network IndyCar analyst Townsend Bell led 146 laps in two Indy Lights starts.
  • Townsend Bell holds the track record at 28.625 seconds or 157.205 mph set during qualifying in 2000.
  • Current Gateway Motorsports Park owner Curtis Francois started third and finished fifth in the No. 9 Sam Schmidt entry in 2002.
  • Ed Carpenter made two Indy Lights starts, finishing third in 2002, and fourth in 2003.
  • The average number of cautions in the six races is 2.3 per race, and the average number of caution laps is 19.3.

The first Indy Lights action is a practice session at 7:45pm on Saturday. The 15 entries qualifying at 1:45pm on Sunday, and the 75 lap race rolls off at 6pm on Sunday.

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MRTI at Mid-Ohio – Sunday – Indy Lights Race #2

Posted by  on Sunday, July 30th 2017     

For the sixth time in his last seven visits to the 2.258-mile, 13-Turn Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Nico Jamin made a visit to the top step of the podium.

This was the third win of the season for the 21 year-old driver from Rouen, France, and the fifth of the year for his Andretti Autosport team.

The 38-lap Cooper Tires Indy Lights Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio Powered by Mazda got under way when pole sitter Colton Herta quickly got to the gas as  he and Urrutia entered the start zone, and it appears that Herta caught the sophomore Uruguayan a little off guard.

Herta easily led the 14 car field to Turn 1, and his No. 98 Andretti-Steinbrenner Racing car was followed closely by his teammate Jamin, who was able pass Urrutia for second.

On the field’s first run down to Turn 4, Jamin made a power move around the outside of Turn 4, leaving him on the preferred line in Turn 5 and allowing him to grab the lead for the first time.

Further back in the field, Dalton Kellett and Garth Rickards made contact exiting Madness. Both drivers were able to keep going, but Rickards was forced to retire with damage, and Kellet finished one lap down.

The top 10 at the completion of the hectic first lap were: Jamin, Herta, Urrutia, Shelby Blackstock, Nicolas Dapero, Zachary Claman DeMelo, Juan Piedrahita, Ryan Norman, Kyle Kaiser, and Aaron Telitz.

Herta grabbed the lead back on the next lap, utilizing his push-to-pass to get by Jamin on the inside of Turn 4.

After the race, Jamin, Urrutia, and Blackstock all described the track as being super slippery for the first few laps, and on Lap 3, it was leader Herta who was caught out, losing the rear end going over the crest of the hill at the apex of Turn 10 and looping the car to the inside of the corner.

The rest of the field was able to safely get by Herta, and the second generation driver was able to keep the his turbo charged 2.0L Mazda power plant spooled up and got his car pointed in the right direction and was able to remain on the lead lap, but fell back to 12th.

With five laps complete, Jamin’s gap had grown to 1.7 seconds over Urrutia.  Urrutia’s Belardi Auto Racing teammate was another 2.5 seconds in arrears.

Things remained fairly stagnant until Lucky Lap 13.

Dapero, Piedrahita, and Kaiser were battling for fifth, sixth and seventh when Piedrahita tried to get by Dapero in Turn 4, slowing both drivers, allowing Kaiser to enter the picture. Dapero held on to the fifth spot, but Piedranhita’s No. 2 had a late entry into Turn 5, creating a sliver of daylight that Kaiser unwisely drawn towards.

Kaiser was only able to get a quarter of his No. 18 beside Piedrahita’s No. 2 going over the hill in Turn 5, and both drivers spun into the grass on the inside of Madness. Both drivers were able to keep going, and ended up finishing outside of the top 10.

Despite a pair of 12th place finishes this weekend, Kaiser only gave up ten points to his closest championship contender. When the weekend began, the Californian began the weekend 52 points ahead of Matheus Leist, and after two disappointing races, has a 42 point gap to Colton Herta and Santiago Urrutia.

By the time the race hit Lap 21, Jamin was able to build a comfortable 2.7 second lead, but over the course of the next nine laps the 2016 Indy Lights vice-champion turned his quickest laps of the race and was able to cut the Frenchman’s lead to 0.7 seconds.

Jamin immediately responded and turned his quickest lap of the race on the 32nd lap of the race, growing the lead to just under a second.

Further back in the field, it was Herta, who was on a furious comeback drive, that was making the moves, passing Alberico, Norman, and Dapero in a five lap span, ending the race in sixth.

With five laps to go, Urrutia started to cut into Herta’s lead again, and looked outside of Jamin on the outside of Turn 4 with four laps remaining. Both drivers broke deeply and went through the banked right hander side-by-side, but Jamin was able to pull ahead in Turn 5.

Urrutia was not able to get close enough to Jamin over the last three laps, and had to settle for his 22nd second career MRTI podium.

Cooper Tires Indy Lights Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio Powered by Mazda Race #2 Results

RANK CAR NO. DRIVER DIFFERENCE
1 27 Nico Jamin 38 laps
2 5 Santi Urrutia 0.5026
3 51 Shelby Blackstock 13.8909
4 13 Zachary Claman De Melo 14.3358
5 9 Aaron Telitz 25.1355
6 98 Colton Herta 26.9240
7 48 Ryan Norman 34.4449
8 31 Nicolas Dapero 35.3834
9 22 Neil Alberico 36.0207
10 26 Matheus Leist 40.3761
11 2 Juan Piedrahita 53.6766
12 18 Kyle Kaiser -1 LAP
13 28 Dalton Kellett – 1 LAP
14 11 Garth Rickards -37 LAPS
category: Indy Lights News/Results, Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tire - TSO
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MRTI at Mid-Ohio – Saturday – Indy Lights Race #1

Posted by  on Sunday, July 30th 2017     

 

A near flawless drive by Santiago Urrutia, who started from pole and led all 30 laps of Saturday’s “sprint” race, gave the top rung of the Mazda Road to Indy it’s seventh different winner in 2017. The trip to the top step of the podium is the 20 year-old’s third straight at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course after winning both Indy Lights races in 2017.

Urrutia, who’s win marks the third race in the last four that he’s visited the podium (the fourth, in Toronto, where he had a mechanical issue, would have likely been a podium as well) credited the hard work that he and the Belardi Auto Racing squad have put in since Road America, for the improved pace and results.

“It’s been an up and down season for sure,” explained Urrutia. “The key is that my team has never given up, they have been working so hard and I have been working hard too. We put everything yesterday in qualifying, and today in the race, and I’m happy to back here at the top.”

Santiago Urrutia celebrates his first win of the 2017 Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tire win of the season at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. (Photo courtesy of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, LLC Photography)

Championship leader Kyle Kaiser, who started the race in sixth place lost three spots on the first lap, and fought an ill-handing No. 18 Juncos Racing machine all day, eventually finishing a disappointing 12th.

Fortunately for Kaiser, his closest competitor entering the race, Matheus Leist, was only able to was only able to finish one spot ahead of him in 11th. Kaiser, a 21 year-old Californian, held a 51 point lead heading into the race, and starts Sunday’s 38-lap “feature” race with a 49 point lead.

Herta’s stellar drive leap-frogged him over Leist on the points table, and the 17 year-old American is now in second place. Leist remains in third, a single point behind Herta and 50 points behind Kaiser. Race winner Urrutia jumped from 6th to 4th in the points, and starts Sunday’s race 10 points out of second, and 59 points out of the lead.

The front row of Urrutia and Herta brought the two-by-two field slowly through The Carousel (Turn 12) , but when they were in the middle of the final corner(Turn 13) before entering the entering the start zone on the front straight, the starter showed the field the yellow flag to wave off the start.

The 14 Dallaras powered by Mazda turbo-charged 2.0L made their way back around to Thunder Valley where they started paring up for a second attempt to get the first Cooper Tires Indy Lights Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio Powered by Mazda underway. Once again, race control deemed that the pole sitter was not going the prescribed speed and the start was waved off for the second time.

The third time was the charm, as the field, at a visibly rapider pace, took the green flag and streamed towards Turn 1, and finally began green flag racing on the third of thirty scheduled laps.

Up front, Urrutia was able to hold off Herta to lead the first lap, but the outside front row starter gave up the second spot to his Andretti Autosport teammate Nico Jamin.

As the field steamed under the starter’s stand on that first green flag lap, the top 10 were: Urrutia, Jamin, Herta, Shelby Blackstock, Zachary Claman DeMelo, Neil Alberico, Aaron Telitz, Dalton Kellett, Kyle Kaiser, and Juan Piedrahita

As things settled in, and drivers started to conserve their tires, Herta spent the next four laps hounding fellow rookie Jamin, and on Lap 7 was finally able to get by him on the long run downhill to Turn 4.  Despite an ill-handling car and some mechanical issues, the Frenchman held on for his fourth podium of the year, and 26th of his MRTI career.

“I was struggling quite a bit with the car,” explained the 21 year-old. “I don’t think we made the right changes for the conditions, and I had a few power issues as well. I was losing power for three seconds, and then it would come back. That happened 10 or 15 times during the race.”

Herta immediately started to eat into the 2+ second lead that Urrutia had built up at increments of one and two tenths of a second per lap. With the help of push-to-pass, the second generation driver was able to close to within three tenths of a second of the leader, and made an attempt to get by Urrutia in Turn 6, but couldn’t get the pass completed.

“Throughout the race, I had a little understeer, and that got amplified when I got close to Santi,” said Herta. “I had one crack at him, but he drove a good race, and didn’t make any mistakes, so I didn’t really get another good shot.”

Colton Herta takes his one shot to pass leader Santiago Urrutia in the “sprint” Indy Lights race at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in 2017 (Photo courtesy of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, LLC Photography)

Urrutia, and Herta were consistently the quickest cars on track, but not by much. The top five consisting of those two, Jamin, Blackstock and Claman DeMelo were never out of touch, if Urrutia and Herta had an issue. The top five spent the race covered by a scant four or five seconds. Belardi Auto Racing veteran Shelby Blackstock set the quickest lap of race, completing a circuit of the 2.258-mile, 13-Turn natural terrain road course in 62.5798 seconds on his 21st lap of the race.

Neil Alberico, who moved from eighth to sixth, and Dalton Kellett, who moved ninth to seventh, were the two biggest movers of the race.

Cooper Tires Indy Lights Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio Powered by Mazda race # 1 results

RANK CAR NO. DRIVER DIFFERENCE
1 5 Santi Urrutia 30 LAPS
2 98 Colton Herta 0.4812
3 27 Nico Jamin 2.0408
4 51 Shelby Blackstock 2.7217
5 13 Zachary Claman De Melo 3.3116
6 22 Neil Alberico 9.9257
7 28 Dalton Kellett 11.6356
8 9 Aaron Telitz 13.0471
9 48 Ryan Norman 31.7669
10 2 Juan Piedrahita 33.3395
11 26 Matheus Leist 34.9518
12 18 Kyle Kaiser 46.2645
13 11 Garth Rickards 61.2224
14 31 Nicolas Dapero -5 LAPS
category: Indy Lights News/Results, Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tire - TSO
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MRTI at Mid-Ohio – Saturday – Indy Lights qualifying #2

Posted by  on Saturday, July 29th 2017     

By Steve Wittich

With his series leading sixth pole of the season, second generation California racer Colton Herta will have the opportunity to match one of his father’s Indy Lights feats. Bryan Herta, who was driving for the Ohio based Tasman Motorsports won the 1993 Indy Lights at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course from the pole.

Herta’s quickest lap of 61.102 seconds, that the Andretti-Steinbrenner Racing rookie turned late in the half-hour session, withstood a last minute flyer by race one pole sitter Santiago Urrutia.

Andretti-Steinbrenner Racing’s Colton Herta pushes hard at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course – Herta won a series best sixth pole of the 2017 Indy Lights season. (Photo courtesy of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, LLC Photography)

Urrutia, a sophomore Belardi Auto Racing pilot, who won both Indy Lights races at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in 2016, spent the first 25 minutes of the half-hour session with a firm hold on the provisional pole, but was not able to hold on, and will start on the outside of the front row.

The majority of the field came to the attention of their crews just before the half-way point of the 30 minute session. The teams mounted fresh Cooper Tire rubber, and the drivers made a final push to improve their qualifying position.

At that half-way point of the session, the top 10 were: Urrutia, Shelby Blackstock, Nico Jamin, Herta, Zachary Claman DeMelo, Juan Piedrahita, Dalton Kellett, Neil Alberico, Aaron Telitz, and Ryan Norman.

It took four or five laps for the sticker tires to get up to the optimal operating temperature but when it did, the times started to drop precipitously.

Jamin, who has won his last five Mazda Road To Indy starts on the 2.258-mile, 13-Turn natural terrain Mid-Ohio road course, was the first to knock Urrutia off the top spot.

The Frenchman didn’t hold the top spot for long, before it was his teammate Herta who went to the top of the timing and scoring screen. Jamin will start the race on the inside of the second row, and will be joined by Carlin sophomore Claman DeMelo.

Championship leader Kyle Kaiser, who qualified sixth for the first race of the weekend, will have even more work to do. The best the Juncos Racing veteran could do was the ninth quickest lap.

Cooper Tires Indy Lights Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio Powered by Mazda qualifying #2 results:

RANK CAR NO. DRIVER QUICK LAP DIFFERENCE
1 98 Colton Herta 1:11.102 –.—-
2 5 Santi Urrutia 1:11.226 0.1242
3 27 Nico Jamin 1:11.394 0.2926
4 13 Zachary Claman De Melo 1:11.658 0.5565
5 51 Shelby Blackstock 1:11.764 0.6621
6 48 Ryan Norman 1:12.091 0.9890
7 31 Nicolas Dapero 1:12.235 1.1331
8 2 Juan Piedrahita 1:12.322 1.2196
9 18 Kyle Kaiser 1:12.332 1.2297
10 28 Dalton Kellett 1:12.537 1.4355
11 9 Aaron Telitz 1:12.572 1.4704
12 22 Neil Alberico 1:12.696 1.5944
13 26 Matheus Leist 1:12.846 1.7442
14 11 Garth Rickards 1:15.014 3.9121

The first Cooper Tires Indy Lights Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio Powered by Mazda race of the weekend rolls off at 3:35 P.M. later this afternoon.

category: Indy Lights News/Results, Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tire - TSO
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MRTI at Mid-Ohio – Friday – Indy Lights practice #1 – Urrutia a half-second clear of the field

Posted by  on Friday, July 28th 2017     

By Steve Wittich

The lone Indy Lights practice session of the wekeend began under overcast skies. The ambient temperature was 68F and the track temperature was 75F.

The first red flag of the session came out 10 minutes into the session. The No. 11 of Garth Rickards spun in Turn 11, and came to a stop just off the track surface. At the same time, Dalton Kellett made contact with the tire barriers. The Carlin machine of Rickards was restarted and he was able to drive back to pit lane on his own, but the No. 28 Andretti Autosport car of Kellett needed the attention of the Holmatro Safety Team, and a tow truck.

Santiago Urrutia’s lap of 74.7710 seconds led the way, and was followed at the top of the timing and scoring screens by Neil Alberico, Nico Jamin, Kellett, and Shelby Blackstock, who made up the top five lap times.

The green flag came back out with just under 30 minutes in the session, and the 2.258-mile, 13-Turn natural terrain road course, but nobody was able to turn a hot lap before the red flag flew for the second time when the No. 11 came to a stop in The Carousel with reported fuel pressure issues.

The green flag came back out with just over 20 minutes left in the 45 minute session, and most teams and drivers put fresh sticker Cooper Tire rubber on their twin-turbo charged Mazda powered Dallara race cars. It took a few laps for the tires to come up to temperature on this overcast day, but as soon as they did, the lap times started to quickly drop.

Nico Jamin, and Neil Alberico were able to sit a top timing and scoring for a few seconds before Urrutia was able to go back to the top of the charts.

For the majority of the session, current points leader Kyle Kaiser was mired around the 10th spot, but with five minutes left in the session, the 21 year-old jumped up to fourth, and continued to get quicker ending the session in fourth – six-tenths of a second behind Urrutia.

Nobody could touch Urrutia, who’s quickest lap of the session of 71.9455 is just a few hundredths of a second shy of the track qualifying record set by the Uruguayan last year. The Belardi Auto Racing Indy Lights sophomore who won both races at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports last year, was a full half-second ahead of Jamin, who was followed in the top five by Claman DeMelo, Kaiser, and Alberico, who were all within one second of Urrutia.

Cooper Tires Indy Lights Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio Powered by Mazda practice #1

RANK CAR NO. DRIVER QUICK LAP DIFFERENCE LAPS TURNED
1 5 Santi Urrutia 1:11.945 –.—- 28
2 27 Nico Jamin 1:12.446 0.5007 25
3 13 Zachary Claman De Melo 1:12.505 0.5597 23
4 18 Kyle Kaiser 1:12.582 0.6370 26
5 22 Neil Alberico 1:12.694 0.7488 27
6 26 Matheus Leist 1:12.967 1.0214 24
7 2 Juan Piedrahita 1:13.093 1.1470 25
8 98 Colton Herta 1:13.106 1.1609 26
9 48 Ryan Norman 1:13.367 1.4210 25
10 51 Shelby Blackstock 1:13.414 1.4683 21
11 9 Aaron Telitz 1:13.527 1.5818 24
12 31 Nicolas Dapero 1:13.692 1.7466 25
13 28 Dalton Kellett 1:16.285 4.3395 6
14 11 Garth Rickards 1:21.166 9.2210 6
category: Indy Lights News/Results, Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tire - TSO
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MRTI in Toronto – Sunday – Indy Lights Race #2

Posted by  on Sunday, July 16th 2017     

By Steve Wittich

In the four races prior to arriving in Canada, it was Carlin’s Matheus Leist who was the hottest driver in the Indy Lights series, winning three of four races and gaining 37 points on Kyle Kaiser in the chase for the $1 million Mazda Motorsports Advancement Scholarship. But a trip to the “Great White North” has cooled off the 18 year-old Brazilian who was out scored by 38 points this weekend by double Toronto race winner and points leader Kyle Kaiser.

For the second straight Indy Lights race in Toronto, Kyle Kasier crossed the finish line with a comfortable margin over the second place finisher. However, today’s tale is much different than yesterday’s.

On Saturday, the 21 year-old won pole and led every lap in a dominant performance. Today, it was an aggressive start and a little luck that helped Kaiser climb back to the top of the podium.

Kaiser, who has continued to tell TSO that he’s going to remain aggressive held true to his word, not holding back and pushing hard until he grabbed the lead.

Aaron Telitz, who started seventh was able to make up five spots to finish on the second step of the podium, the Wisconsin driver’s third podium of his Indy Lights rookie season.

Claman DeMelo started fifth, but ended up with his second “home field” podium of the weekend.

The beautiful blue skies that greeted the first rung of the MRTI, had changed to overcast when the 14 turbo-charged Mazda 2.0L power plants were fired for the final MRTI race of the weekend

The green flag for the the 45 race lap was waved off when there were stragglers trying to catch up to the top three rows who were all in perfect side-by-side formation.

Herta was able to jump out to a slight lead on the second lap double file start redo, but behind him Kaiser jumped to inside and Nico Jamin jumped to outside of Santiago Urrutia making three wide going into Turn 1.

That was never going to work, and didn’t when the black and gold Arrow sponsored No. 5 of Urrutia made contact with the red and silver Synovus sponsored No. 27 of Jamin. The French rookie made contact with the wall on the outside of Turn 1, and with no where to go, Shelby Blackstock’s familiar red Belardi Auto Racing car came upon the stranded car of Jamin and the Nashville, Tenn. native went for a wild ride, climbing up and over the right rear wheel of the No. 26.

The car’s of Jamin and Blackstock were not able to continue, and after limping around to the pits, the No. 22 of Neil Alberico was also retired.

Four drivers, Matheus Leist, Garth Rickards, Juan Piedrahita, and Dalton Kellett were all forced to pit to make repairs, but all four were able to continue and remain on the lead lap.

After three laps of clean-up, the race was restarted with the following drivers making up the top 10: Herta, Kaiser, Urrutia, Claman DeMelo,

Kaiser was able to closely follow Herta on the restart, and took a look on the outside of Turn 3, but smartly tucked in behind the fellow American driver. Right behind that battle, Claman De Melo was able to get by Urrutia for third. A lap later, Telitz was able to get by Urrutia for fourth place.

A few laps later, Leist nudged into the tire barrier in Turn 3 after missing his braking point while trying to pass Ryan Norman for seventh. The Brazilian was able to get the No. 26 re-started and pointed in the right direction but fell down to 11th. Leist was able to recover, making up six spots in the final 30 laps of the race.

The yellow flag was shown by starter for second time on Lap 12 after the No. 5 of Santiago Urrutia came to a stop right under the flag stand, and on the racing line. Urrutia told TSO after the race that his power plant just shut down.

The green came back out for the final time on Lap 14, and once again Kaiser made an effort to get by Herta on the outside of Turn 3, and once again, he thought better of it and tucked in behind the No. 98. Behind the leaders, Teltiz was able to get by Claman de Mello for what at that point in the race, was the final spot on the podium

Herta was able to pull out to almost a two-second lead with 20 laps to go, but IndyCar Radio reported that their spotter said that Herta might have tagged the concrete wall, and that he was reporting an issue but his lead continued to grow until Lap 26, when Herta came to a stop in the run-off in Turn 3 with visible suspension damage to the left rear of the Andretti-Steinbrenner Racing No. 98.

Herta told IndyCar radio that he didn’t think he hit the wall, but qualified it by saying that “those things don’t just fail.” After the race, Kaiser told TSO that he witnessed Herta tag the wall at the exit of Turn 6 on a number of occasions and that he wondered how long it would be before he had an issue.

With ten laps left Kaiser was able to pull out to a 8.6 lead over Telitz, and the best action on track was between Norman, and Leist for the final spot in the top five.

It took three laps for Liest to muscle his way by Norman, but he was eventually able to get the outside Turn 3 pass completed.

Telitz was able to eat into Kaiser’s lead over the final ten laps, but the points leader still had a 5.8 second lead when he crossed under the checkered flag.

Cooper Tires Indy Lights Grand Prix of Toronto Presented by Allied Building Products Race #2

RANK CAR NO. DRIVER DIFFERENCE
1 18 Kyle Kaiser 45 LAPS
2 9 Aaron Telitz 5.8649
3 13 Zachary Claman De Melo 8.3334
4 2 Juan Piedrahita 14.9281
5 26 Matheus Leist 21.9308
6 48 Ryan Norman 26.2344
7 31 Nicolas Dapero 52.3313
8 11 Garth Rickards -1 LAPS
9 28 Dalton Kellett – 1 LAPS
10 98 Colton Herta -20 LAPS
11 5 Santi Urrutia -34 LAPS
12 27 Nico Jamin -44 LAPS
13 51 Shelby Blackstock -44 LAPS
14 22 Neil Alberico -44 LAPS
category: Indy Lights News/Results, Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tire - TSO
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