Pedersen sets the pace in Indy lights post-season testing

Photo: Gavin Baker Photography/Road to Indy

HMD Motorsports with Global Racing Group’s Benjamin Pedersen was fastest across the two-day official post-season test for Indy Lights at Indianapolis Motor Speedway at the weekend.

Pedersen made the most of his knowledge of the team setup, having raced for them this year, to set the pace on Saturday as soon as the track dried out.

He didn’t even participate in the wet opening session, along with four others, as only four drivers made use of the teack time to complete considerable running. Jacob Abel was fastest for his family’s Abel Motorsports team which has its own Indy Lights chassis now.

The session two-topping performance by Pedersen was enough to keep him in first place through the rest of testing, and he actually headed the slightly slower third session of Saturday too.

Sunday’s running began with Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Rasmus Lindh edging TJ Speed’s Kyffin Simpson by 0.0412 seconds and HMD’s Danial Frost by 0.0581s. All there improved on their day one pace, as did four others in the 14-car entry list.

Nobody went faster in session two of the day, which Andretti Autosport’s Hunter McElrea set the fastest time in with a 1m26.2405s as his team looked particularly fast.

The top four were spread by less than a tenth of a second in the final session, and Simpson led the way with a lap that was just 0.0231s slower than the one Pedersen had set a day prior.

Formula 3 race-winner Matteo Nannini slotted into fourth overall behind McElrea by ending the test with a fast lap, and big gains made by reigning Indy Pro 2000 champion Christian Rasmussen on Sunday enabled him to make the top five for Andretti.

Test results