Archives for Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tire – TSO

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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category: Indy Lights News/Results, Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires
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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     

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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.

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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/

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

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Barber Motorsports Park – Indy Lights qualifying recap and results

Posted by  on Saturday, April 23rd 2016     

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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/

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Barber Motorsports Park – Indy Lights practice #2 recap and times

Posted by  on Friday, April 22nd 2016     

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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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Barber Motorsports Park – Indy lights Practice #1

Posted by  on Friday, April 22nd 2016     

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A pair of sophomores led the way in the first Indy Lights session by just “that much.” RC Enerson (Schmidt Peterson Motorsports with Curb-Agajanian) turned a quickest lap of 1:14.444, while championship leader Kyle Kaiser (Juncos Racing) turned a quickest lap of 1:14.445.

In an amazingly tight field, the top five drivers were all within a second of Enerson, with Santiago Urrutia (Schmidt Peterson Motorsports with Curb-Agajanian), Dean Stoneman (Andretti Autosport) and Zachary Claman de Melo (Juncos Racing) rounding out that top five.

The top 11 drivers were all within only half of a second of the quickest lap.

Originally a half-hour session, the first Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tire practice started 10 minutes late and ended up being a 25 minute session.

The teams receive four sets of Cooper Tire slicks for the weekend.

Halfway through the practice and the top five were: Santiago Urrutia, Dean Stoneman, Kyle Kaiser, Dalton Kellett, and Zach Veach.

The entire session ran green, but Andre Negrao ended up in the sand in “Charlotte’s Web” on his last lap.

Felix Rosenqvist, who was second in testing at Barber Motorsports Park in March, lost some laps early in the session after having a mechanical problem that IndyCar Radio reported as his car entering limp mode exiting the corners.  The Swedish driver ended the session wit the session in seventh spot.

Scott Hargrove, who was third in testing at Barber Motorsports Park in March, also had electrical gremlins and lost the first 15 minutes of practice. The 21 year-old didn’t take long to get up to speed, ending up with the 11th quickest time.

The timesheet for the first Indy Lights practice:

RANK DRIVER TOP LAP

1 RC Enerson 1:14.444

2 Kyle Kaiser 1:14.445

3 Santiago Urrutia 1:14.480

4 Dean Stoneman 1:14.519

5 Zachary Claman De Melo 1:14.559

6 Zach Veach 1:14.714

7 Felix Rosenqvist 1:14.774

8 Shelby Blackstock 1:14.886

9 Dalton Kellett 1:14.910

10 Ed Jones 1:14.918

11 Scott Hargrove 1:14.919

12 Felix Serralles 1:15.128

13 Scott Anderson 1:15.245

14 Juan Piedrahita 1:15.255

15 Andre Negrao 1:15.365

16 Neil Alberico 1:16.026

The second and final Indy Lights practice takes place at 5:25pm this afternoon and qualifying is bright and early at 8am on Saturday morning.

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/

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Barber Motorsports Park – Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tire preview

Posted by  on Friday, April 22nd 2016     

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The pair of Legacy Indy Lights 100 races at Barber Motorsports Park should provide a solid test for the newfound focus and maturity of Juncos Racing sophomore and current Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tire points leader, Kyle Kaiser.

A perfect mix of poise, pace and patience has resulted in one win (Phoenix International Raceway) and a trio of podiums for the 20 year-old. During the Indy Lights race weekend at Barber Motorsports Park in 2015, Kaiser had the pace, qualifying fourth for both races, but it was the patience and poise that the Santa Clarita, California native struggled with, getting into first lap incidents in both races.

The InterVision/NetApp/Juniper Networks sponsored driver does not have a reputation for being hard on equipment and he certainly performed better in the second half of 2015, so TSO will chalk up his early season exuberant errors to the jump in power, braking and downforce from Pro Mazda to Indy Lights.

The two races this weekend will mark the ninth and tenth Indy Lights contests on the on the 2.3-Mile, 17-Turn Barber Motorsports Park Road Course. From 2010 through 2013 there was only one race per weekend but the last two years have featured a pair of Legacy 100s.

Five different teams have scored victories at Barber, with Andretti Autosport’s three visits to victory lane leading the way. In 2015, it Juncos Racing and future Indy Lights champ Spencer Pigot that won from pole on Saturday and Sunday.

The 16 drivers that are entered this weekend are the same group that took part in the opening weekend in St. Petersburg and also took part in the March 5, 2016 official test at Barber Motorsports Park.

That test was led by reigning Pro Mazda presented by Cooper Tire champion Santiago Urrutia (Schmidt Peterson Motorsports with Curb-Agajanian). The Montevideo, Uruguay native may be an Indy Lights rookie, but he did race twice at Barber, and scored a second and third in last year’s Pro Mazda races. Currently ranked seventh in overall points and third in the rookie standings, the 19 year-old’s championship hopes would certainly be aided by another pair of podium finishes in Alabama.

Felix Rosenqvist, who ended up second quickest in his first trip to Birmingham, Alabama during March testing will need to put a forgettable performance at Phoenix International Raceway behind him, and focus on his form that took him to his maiden Indy Lights win in the second race at St. Petersburg. It will be interesting to watch how the 24 year-old performs on a “European style” circuit that is not brand new to him. TSO would be very surprised if he doesn’t run up from the very first session on Friday morning.

Another pair of rookie interlopers from across the pond that should to be looking forward to racing on a “European style” circuit that they have seen before, are Andre Negrao and Dean Stoneman.

Stoneman, a 25 year-old Cancer survivor could only muster 11th in testing at Barber, but if he can get a grasp on when the Cooper Tires “come in” during qualifying, expect to see him contending for podiums in only his third Indy Lights weekend.

Andre Negrao, a native of Campinas, Brazil, who is currently sits sixth in the championship has shown the maturity that you would expect from a multi-year veteran of GP2, and is only one of seven drivers to complete 100% of the laps contested to date. With the 23 year-olds extensive experience on natural terrain road courses, don’t be surprised if he sneaks his way onto a podium this weekend.

In seven starts in USF2000 and Indy Lights at Barber Motorsports Park, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports with Curb-Agajanian sophomore RC Enerson has three wins, four front row starts and five podiums, including his first career Indy Lights podium last year. Enerson’s commitment to finding the edge of adhesion in high g corners equates toe the New Port Richey, Florida native to excelling on high speed road courses. Expect to see the 19 year-old running at the pointy end of the grid all weekend.

Winner of the first Indy Lights race of the year, Felix Serralles (Carlin), is currently sitting second in the 2016 title chase, 18 markers behind Kaiser. Serralles finished March testing at Barber with the sixth quickest time and should have good memories from the second race in 2015. The 23 year-old Puerto-Rican gained five spots from his 9th starting position to just miss out on a podium finish.

After winning the first three races of 2015, Carlin pilot Ed Jones suffered through a mediocre weekend in Birmingham that saw him finish fourth in the first race, and after contentious contact with Kaiser in the first corner, 11th in the second race. Jones ended testing in March with the fifth quickest time, and will need to keep building on the momentum of his second place finish at Phoenix International Raceway if he wants to contend for the $1million Mazda Motorsports Advancement Scholarship for a second straight year.

The experienced Mazda Road To Indy quintet of Neil Alberico (Carlin), Scott Anderson (Schmidt Peterson Motorsports with Curb-Agajanian), Shelby Blackstock (Andretti Autosport), Dalton Kellett (Andretti Autosport), and Juan Piedrahita (Team Pelfrey)  have a combined 30 starts at Barber Motorsports Park, with one win and 11 top fives among them. It will be interesting to see if that experience pays off this weekend.

Juncos Racing rookie, 18 year-old Montreal native Zachary Claman de Melo has shown improved pace each time he steps into the Ugg/Seven for All Mankind/Vince/Vilebrequin sponsored, Mazda powered No. 13. The move from Formula Renault 2.0 to Indy Lights is a big step and so far the young Canadian has not put a tire wrong and appears to be patient to learn how to deal with the increased downforce and power.

The two dark horses in the field this weekend are Scott Hargrove and Zach Veach.

The 21 year-old Hargrove is only confirmed with Team Pelfrey through this weekend, and needs to make a splash if he wants to continue to chase the championship, and if his previous results and testing times are any indication, he should have a good shot to do just that.

The native of Vancouver, British Colombia, finished March testing with the third quickest time and has two wins and two second place finishes in Pro Mazda races at Barber Motorsports Park.

Stockdale, Ohio’s Zach Veach has made three previous Indy Lights starts at Barber Motorsports Park and his last visit in 2014 included a win and third place finish. Belardi Auto Racing is also a past winner at the scenic road circuit, with Gabby Chaves winning for the Brownsburg, Indiana based team in 2014.

What TSO is watching this weekend.

With a string of three straight mature drives, Kaiser has quickly built a big lead in the championship. It’s still only three races into the 18 race championship, but it will be interesting to watch which drivers “get desperate” and take chances that they would not otherwise take.

There is almost no doubt that Canadian Scott Hargrove will have the pace to contend for wins at Barber Motorsports Park this weekend, but with this being his last scheduled pair of races, can he reign in that “need to win” approach enough to drive within himself. Does he need to?

Is this the weekend that Neil Alberico figures out to maximize sticker Cooper Tires in qualifying? The Rising Star Racing sponsored driver has had competitive race pace, but has struggled on fresh rubber.

Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tire weekend schedule:

Friday, April 22, 2016

  • 10:15am-10:45am — Legacy Indy Lights practice #1
  • 5:25pm-5:55pm — Legacy Indy Lights practice #2

Saturday, April 23, 2016

  • 8am-8:30am — Legacy Indy Lights qualifying
  • noon-1:15pm — Legacy Indy Lights race #1

Sunday, April 24, 2016

  • 12:20pm -1:10pm — Legacy Indy Lights race #2

 

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Phoenix Indy Lights Race Results and Notes

Posted by  on Saturday, April 2nd 2016     

By Patrick Stephan and Steve Wittich

Juncos Racing sophomore Kyle Kaiser started on pole for the second time in three races in 2016, and unlike in St. Petersburg, the Indy Lights sophomore was able to get a great start and cruised to his first Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tire victory.

The InterVision/NetApp/Juniper Networks sponsored Kaiser has now stood on all three steps of the podium in the first three races of the season.  This was the second Mazda Road To Indy victory for the 20 year-old from Santa Clara, California native, who also scored one win in Pro Mazda in 2014 at Sonoma.

Front row starters Kaiser (Juncos Racing) and Ed Jones (Carlin) led 16 turbo-charged Mazda powered Dallara race cars to the start/finish line for the 90 lap Indy Lights Grand Prix of Phoenix. The pace car was a little bit late getting off the track, and therefore the start was a little bit chaotic.

Kaiser pulled away quickly as soon as the green flag flew and was followed closely into Turn 1 by Jones, behind the front two the field got three wide with sophomore RC Enerson (Schmidt Peterson Motorsports with Curb-Agajanian) able to get by his teammate Santiago Urrutia, who started in third. Urrutia also lost another spot to his other teammate, Andre Negrao.

At the end of the first lap, the top five were Kaiser, Jones, Enerson, Negrao and Urrutia. The biggest early mover was Zach Veach, who had to start in last position after suffering a punctured tire and crashing his bright red No. 5 Belardi Auto Racing machine in the final practice yesterday.  Veach was able to gain three more spots over the course of the race and ended up gaining eight spots while finishing eigth.

As expected, passing was at premium and Kaiser was able to hold a between a 1 and 1.5 second lead over Jones through the first third of the race. The most excitement in the first 30 laps came when Stoneman was pressing Claman de Melo for seveth, the young Canadian got into the marbles and ended up losing a number of spots slotting into 11th place.

On lap 33, Kaiser was beginning to catch oval rookie Heamin Choi (Schmidt Peterson Motorsports with Curb-Agajanian), who made a mistake and lost the back-end off of Turn 4. The Korean driver was able to keep the car off the wall, but he did retire the No. 77 due to handling issues.

The lap 39 restart provided a great opportunity for passing, but Stoneman was the only one to make any hay when he was able to get by the bright blue No. 4 Carlin machine of Serralles.

Proving it was hard to pass, Stoneman spent the better part of the next 30 laps working on getting by Negrao. At the same time he was defending from Stoneman for fifth, Negrao was also putting pressure on  Urrutia for fourth. Stoneman was finally able to get by Negro on lap 72 and set off after the Soul Red No. 55 of the defending Pro Mazda presented by Cooper Tire champion. Stoneman was unable to catch Urrutia, but he still finished as highest placed oval rookie.

Up front the gap between Kaiser and Jones remained steady with the battle for second, third and fourth providing the only action in the final 15 laps of the race.

Urrutia was able to put some pressure on Enerson and tried to make a move underneath his teammate in Turn 1. The move was not successful, and Enerson was able to use a blistering final lap to just about nip Jones for second at the checkered flag. The Lucas Oil sponsored No. 7 crossed the line only 0.2 seconds behind the Jebel Ali Resorts and Hotels sponsored No. 11.

After the race, the drivers noted that it was quite hard to pass because of the dirty air created by the cars in front of them and also praised the Cooper Tire racing slicks. Most everybody expected tire wear to become a factor but the tires stayed very consistent throughout the 90 lap race. To illustrate that, the first at speed lap for Kaiser was a Lap 2, where he did a 160.82mph lap. The tires came in a little more and in clean air, he turned a 163.128 on Lap 3. From there, speeds would decline steadily, but not dramatically. Lap 33 just before the yellow, he turned a 158.163. He’d turn laps in that same range for remainder after we got back to green.

It wasn’t until lap 81 that we saw his first 156mph lap, and he slowed fairly consistently from there to taking the checked flag at 152mph. It’s important to note that he maintained a gap over Jones that remained 1.3 seconds for most of the event, only fluctuating tenth or two higher or lower for the entire 90 lap race.

Here is the finishing order with more notes from the post race press conference below that:

Pos Car # Driver Diff TL
1 18 Kyle Kaiser — 90
2 11 Ed Jones 1.0088 90
3 7 RC Enerson 1.2089 90
4 55 Santiago Urrutia 1.6121 90
5 27 Dean Stoneman 2.5229 90
6 17 Andre Negrao 3.2298 90
7 4 Felix Serralles 4.5529 90
8 5 Zach Veach 5.3458 90
9 22 Neil Alberico 6.4200 90
10 28 Dalton Kellett 6.9455 90
11 13 Zachary Claman De Melo 10.5512 90
12 2 Juan Piedrahita 11.5030 90
13 3 Scott Hargrove 14.3040 90
14 51 Shelby Blackstock 14.8676 90
15 14 Felix Rosenqvist 22.1871 90
16 77 Heamin Choi 56 LAPS 34

—–

The Top 3 came in to the media center after the race to chat.

Enerson said that he knew they would be strong this weekend after running well at the test. The start was a little messy and he was surprised to get to third so quickly, expecting a little more side by side early on. Compared to yesterday, he said the track was a little slower today. He also noted he really had to concentrate out there today, calling it both a mental and physical challenge.

Second place finisher Ed Jones said it was a great race for the team. Once Kyle got the jump at the start he knew it would be difficult to pass and he was just trying to wait for a mistake or traffic to capitalize on. The yellow though really hurt him since they wouldn’t catch back to the traffic again. He called the race “good fun”, but also said the aero made it hard to really close.

Jones told TSO that every time he tried to “push” and close the gap to Kaiser, he’d heat up the tires and lose grip. He thought they were a little too loose from the start also which meant he had to take care of the tires all that much more.

Kaiser agreed on the aero stuff, noting that being up front was different. Once he did catch a backmarker (just before the yellow), it changed the balance of the car a lot. But, in clean air, the tires didn’t wear much at all.

“This car was perfect from start to finish. Now I can celebrate.”

Kaiser had called ovals ‘scary’ yesterday and he didn’t back away from that today. He still thinks they are scary but now he also has a lot of confidence on them. (When he says “scary” I always think of this quote from Mario Andretti, “If everything seems under control, you’re not going fast enough!”

“It’s still scary (haha). You always have to be on top of it. One mistake and you’ll be in the wall. Stay focused, constantly. If you slip you’ll make a mistake,” said Kaiser.

On when he might plan to try and move up, Kaiser said, “This is my proving year to show we can race with the best.”

Ed Jones, Kyle Kaiser and RC Enerson celebrate Kaiser's win in Phoenix

Ed Jones, Kyle Kaiser and RC Enerson celebrate Kaiser’s win in Phoenix (IMS Photo)

category: Indy Lights News/Results, Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tire - TSO
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