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Rinus VeeKay takes points lead with Indy Lights win at Indianapolis

by Craig Woollard

Rinus Veekay

Juncos Racing?s Rinus VeeKay moved into the Indy Lights series lead by taking his second victory of the season on the Indianapolis road course.

The reigning Pro Mazda champion had an excellent start compared to Friday’s race and battled hard with fellow front row starter Robert Megennis on the opening lap, with the latter making a mistake.

From there, VeeKay was able to control the race from the front and won the 35-lap race by a margin of 6.8849s over Belardi Auto Racing?s Zachary Claman DeMelo.

Former IndyCar driver DeMelo started sixth but capitalised on a strong start and Megennis?s mistake to move up to second in the opening exchanges.

He attempted to pressure VeeKay but had no answer. VeeKay took the fastest lap on the final lap just to stamp his authority on the race.

By leading every lap and taking pole position, VeeKay took the series lead away from Oliver Askew by a solitary point.

Askew finished in third place despite a penalty late on for blocking Andretti Autosport team-mate Megennis, as well as having a loose piece of bodywork on the side of his car. He had to concede the position, but Askew retook the position late on.

Megennis recovered to finish fourth after dropping to last early on. Toby Sowery, who started towards the rear of the pack, had a somewhat uneventful race en route to fifth, ahead of David Malukas who similarly had an uneventful race.

Dalton Kellett, Ryan Norman and Lucas Kohl, who all spun off at one point of the race or another, finished at the rear of the field.

Juncos?s Kellett spun on the ninth lap on his own coming out of turn 2, while both Norman and Kohl spun off on the opening tour. Norman, despite showing good speed in qualifying, failed to recover as well as Andretti team-mate Megennis.

 

Race results (35 laps)
Pos Name Team Time
1 Rinus VeeKay Juncos Racing
2 Zachary Claman DeMelo Belardi Auto Racing +6.8849s
3 Oliver Askew Andretti Autosport +10.2778s
4 Robert Megennis Andretti Autosport +11.1657s
5 Toby Sowery BN Racing/Team Pelfrey +12.5255s
6 David Malukas BN Racing +19.4287s
7 Dalton Kellett Juncos Racing +35.2233s
8 Ryan Norman Andretti Autosport +51.1560s
9 Lucas Kohl Belardi Auto Racing +56.9862s
Fastest lap: VeeKay, 1m16.0745s.

Championship standings

1?VeeKay 146 ??2?Askew 145? ?3?Megennis 125? ?4?DeMelo 124? ?5?Sowery 110? ?6?Malukas 101? ?7?Norman 89? ?8?Kohl 77 ?9? Kellett 75??10?Julien Falchero 66