Home News Kyle Kirkwood storms from the back to IP2000 victory at Gateway

Kyle Kirkwood storms from the back to IP2000 victory at Gateway

by Tim Lumb

Photo: Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Kyle Kirkwood stormed from last on the grid to take his sixth Indy Pro 2000 win of the season at Gateway Motorsport Park.

The RP Motorsport driver managed to move through the field from 12th, having failed to set a time in qualifying, to take the lead just seven laps into the 55-lap race, and held position until a caution period with 15 laps to go.

However, when the race was restarted eight laps before the finish, Kirkwood was able to stay out in front to take his fourth win in a row, and closing the gap to championship leader Rasmus Lindh with four races to go.

Juncos Racing’s Lindh started from pole but lost out at the beginning of the race, then ran mostly in fourth thereon. After the caution he was able to take third, then pipped DEForce Racing’s Kory Enders to second place at the chequered flag.

Danial Frost – who won the first oval race of the 2019 season in May for Exclusive Autosport – came home fourth from seventh on the grid, while Sting Ray Robb (Juncos) and Parker Thompson (Abel Motorsports) were both not too far behind in fifth and sixth places.

Artem Petrov ended his IP2000 debut with RP Motorsport in seventh, having also raced in FIA Formula 3 Championship and Euroformula Open this year.

Nikita Lastochkin (Exclusive) and Antoine Comeau (Turn 3 Motorsports) were the last of the drivers to finish on the lead lap in eighth and ninth.

 

Race results (55 laps)
Pos Driver Team Time
1 Kyle Kirkwood RP Motorsport 35m00.5802s
2 Rasmus Lindh Juncos Racing +0.8679s
3 Kory Enders DEForce Racing +0.9601s
4 Danial Frost Exclusive Autosport +3.4598s
5 Sting Ray Robb Juncos Racing +4.0903s
6 Parker Thompson Abel Motorsports +4.5870s
7 Artem Petrov RP Motorsport +6.6119s
8 Nikita Lastochkin Exclusive Autosport +7.8187s
9 Antoine Comeau Turn 3 Motorsport +8.7151s
10 Charles Finelli FatBoy Racing +1 lap
Ret Moises de la Vara DEForce Racing
Ret Jacob Abel Abel Motorsports
Pole: Lindh, 142.857mph? ? ? Fastest lap: Enders, 143.092mph

Championship standings
1?Lindh 323? ?2 Kirkwood 317? ?3 Thompson 259? ?4 Frost 254? ?5 Robb 241? ?6 Lastochkin 190? ?7?Enders 158? ?8?de la Vara 148? ?9?Phillippe Denes 146? ?10?Abel 140