Home News Kyle Kirkwood launches into Indy Pro 2000 lead at Portland

Kyle Kirkwood launches into Indy Pro 2000 lead at Portland

by Tim Lumb

Photo: Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Kyle Kirkwood launched into the Indy Pro 2000 championship lead after extending his win streak to six with victory in both races in Portland.

Starting from the front row in the opening race, Kirkwood quickly moved into the lead after polesitter Sting Ray Robb was hit by Artem Petrov entering the first set of corners.

Throughout the race he was untroubled, eventually taking the chequered flag with a gap of over 12 seconds to second place driver Danial Frost.

Race two – which Kirkwood started from pole position – was very much the same story. The RP Motorsport driver quickly started to create a gap to Robb which had risen to 7.5856s by the time the race ended.

The two victories extended Kirkwood’s winning streak to six races, propelling him into the IP2000 championship lead with a 20 point gap to Rasmus Lindh.

Juncos Racing’s Lindh had a difficult start to the weekend after qualifying seventh for race one, although he was able to move up to fifth. He capped off the weekend by finishing third for the 11th time this season.

Parker Thompson – who won the opening two races of the season – stays third in the standings after a third and fourth-place finish in race one and two respectively. Frost is still just six points away from Thompson heading to Laguna Seca, with Robb also 20 points back.

Antonio Serravalle matched his best finish of the season in race one after coming home in fourth place. Artem Petrov finished race two in fifth position for his highest finish in the three IP2000 races he has completed this season.

Matt Round-Garrido took part in his first IP2000 weekend. However the British driver retired with a mechanical issue after five laps in race one before taking the chequered flag in 12th in race two.

Results round-up
Race 1 (30 laps)
1 Kyle Kirkwood RP Motorsport 34m05.8393s
2 Danial Frost Exclusive Autosport +12.3497s
3 Parker Thompson Abel Motorsports +18.8424s
4 Antonio Serravalle Pserra Racing/RP Motorsport +28.8289s
5 Rasmus Lindh Juncos Racing +35.2033s
6 Nikita Lastochkin Exclusive Autosport +39.7415s
7 Jacob Abel Abel Motorsports +40.5314s
8 Sting Ray Robb Juncos Racing +1m04.9424s
9 Moises de la Vara DEForce Racing +1 lap
10 Artem Petrov RP Motorsport +1 lap
Pole: Robb, 1m06.4749s
Fastest lap: Kirkwood, 1m07.3242s

Race 2 (30 laps)
1 Kirkwood 34m14.0161s
2 Robb +7.5856s
3 Lindh +13.9365s
4 Thompson +14.3556s
5 Petrov +15.3555s
6 Frost +17.0412s
7 Serravalle +24.8983s
8 Abel +35.3750s
9 Lastochkin +35.9538s
10 Kory Enders DEForce Racing +36.0720s
P: Kirkwood, 1m06.2491s
FL: Kirkwood, 1m07.8965s

Championship standings
1 Kirkwood 382? ?2 Lindh 362? ?3 Thompson 300? ?4 Frost 294? ?5 Robb 280? ?6 Lastochkin 217? ?7?Enders 179? ?8 de la Vara 170 ? 9 Abel 167? ?10 Serravalle 164