Photo: Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Ryan Norman took his second Indy Lights career win in the opening Road America race, dominating after early drama for Rinus VeeKay.
Poleman VeeKay had on off-track moment on the opening lap, and despite being able to keep the lead was then immediately directed to the pits to serve a drive-through penalty for blocking as he re-entered the track.
His team boss Ricardo Juncos labelled the penalty as ‘unfair, with comparisons immediately being made to Sebastian Vettel’s controversial penalty for a similar offence in the Canadian Grand Prix.
Robert Megennis inherited the lead after passing Andretti Autosport team-mate Ryan Norman, but they were both passed at once by Belardi Auto Racing’s Aaron Telitz at Turn 5.
Norman took the lead at the first corner on the next lap, and from then on pulled away to take an impressive 4.6912 second victory.
After jumping from eighth to second over the first lap, the joint BN Racing/Team Pelfrey entry of Toby Sowery ended up being shuffled back down the order, but on the fourth lap he was already back up to third.
He retained that position until lap 16 of 20, when frequent on-track rival Megennis slipstreamed past. It didn’t take long for Megennis to then track down Telitz, and nibbled into Norman’s lead in the final laps.
They were clear ahead of championship leader Oliver Askew, who followed a free practice crash and poor qualifying performance with a grassy moment at the start of the race. He eventually recovered to an anonymous fifth.
BN Racing’s David Malukas finished sixth, a year on from his dominant Indy Pro 2000 performance at the circuit, while Juncos Racing driver VeeKay recovered to a distant seventh and limited the loss of points to title rival Askew.
The second Juncos car of Dalton Kellett and Belardi’s Lucas Kohl propped up the order, the latter going off track late in the race, despite being over 20 seconds ahead of VeeKay after the Dutchman served his penalty.
Race results (20 laps)
| Pos | Name | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ryan Norman | Andretti Autosport | 37m13.135s |
| 2 | Robert Megennis | Andretti Autosport | +4.6912s |
| 3 | Aaron Telitz | Belardi Auto Racing | +7.5953s |
| 4 | Toby Sowery | BN Racing/Team Pelfrey | +8.9909s |
| 5 | Oliver Askew | Andretti Autosport | +10.3455s |
| 6 | David Malukas | BN Racing | +13.6080s |
| 7 | Rinus VeeKay | Juncos Racing | +16.4894s |
| 8 | Dalton Kellett | Juncos Racing | +1m02.8849s |
| 9 | Lucas Kohl | Belardi Auto Racing | +2 laps |
| Fastest lap: VeeKay, 1m56.083s Championship standings 1?Askew 207? ?2?VeeKay 195? ?3?Megennis 171? ?4?Norman 161? ?5 Sowery 156? ?6?Malukas 131? ?7?Zachary Claman DeMelo 124? ?8?Kellett 114? ?9?Kohl 110? ?10?Julien Falchero 66 |
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