Photo: Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Rinus VeeKay dominated the first Indy Lights race at Laguna Seca, as rival Oliver Askew secured the title and a seat in the 2020 Indianapolis 500.
From pole, VeeKay put in a mistake-free performance up front to take victory by 9.8874 seconds for Juncos Racing.
HMD Motorsports’ Toby Sowery finished the race as runner-up, pulling away from an all-Andretti Autosport battle for third between Robert Megennis and Oliver Askew.
Megennis passed Askew for position around the outside of Turn 1 on the opening lap, then pulled away from the championship leader for the first two thirds of the race.
Askew looked to have better tyres in the final third, but only once looked likely to make a move. Fourth place was enough to seal the title for Askew, who will receive the $1.1 million scholarship prize that guarantees him three raced in IndyCar next year, including the Indy 500.
David Malukas in the end finished just behind Askew for HMD, with Dalton Kellett (Juncos), Ryan Norman (Andretti) and Lucas Kohl (Belardi Auto Racing) completing the order.
Race results (30 laps)
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rinus VeeKay | Juncos Racing | 39m01.114s |
| 2 | Toby Sowery | BN Racing/Team Pelfrey | +9.8874s |
| 3 | Robert Megennis | Andretti Autosport | +23.1222s |
| 4 | Oliver Askew | Andretti Autosport | +23.9875s |
| 5 | David Malukas | HMD Motorsports | +24.3501s |
| 6 | Dalton Kellett | Juncos Racing | +47.3334s |
| 7 | Ryan Norman | Andretti Autosport | +47.9062s |
| 8 | Lucas Kohl | Belardi Auto Racing | +1 lap |
| Fastest lap: VeeKay, 1m17.286s Championship standings 1 Askew 461? ?2 VeeKay 433? ?3 Sowery 345? ?4 Norman 342? ?5 Megennis 336? ?6 Malukas 287? ?7?Kellett 260? ?8 Kohl 240? ?9 Aaron Telitz 133? ?10 Zachary Claman DeMelo 124 |
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