Photo: Gavin Baker Photography / Road to Indy
Artem Petrov absolutely dominated in wet conditions in the second Indy Pro 2000 race of the weekend at New Jersey Motorsports Park.
In conditions that had worsened since the earlier qualifying session, Petrov got the jump at the start on pole-sitter Hunter McElrea to lead into Turn 1.
There was some chaos behind, with championship leader Christian Rasmussen losing his front wing in contact, while James Roe was sent spinning off track.
In contrast to their close duel in qualifying, Petrov rapidly pulled away from McElrea and won by at the end of the 25-lap race.
Petrov’s Exclusive Autosport team-mate Braden Eves took the opportunity to chip away at Rasmussen’s standings lead with a third-place finish, keeping Reece Gold at bay.
Jacob Abel was fifth and the last driver on the lead lap, with Wyatt Brichacek, Jack William Miller and Kyffin Simpson all going a lap down, as did Rasmussen once he pitted.
Rasmussen was in contention for the fastest lap point, but Abel claimed that on the final tour.
Race results (25 laps)
| Pos | Name | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Artem Petrov | Exclusive Autosport | 39m09.3851s |
| 2 | Hunter McElrea | Pabst Racing | +15.4326s |
| 3 | Braden Eves | Exclusive Autosport | +24.3124s |
| 4 | Reece Gold | Juncos Racing | +26.5552s |
| 5 | Jacob Abel | Abel Motorsports | +52.1510s |
| 6 | Wyatt Brichacek | Jay Howard Driver Development | +1 lap |
| 7 | Jack William Miller | Miller Vinatieri Motorsports | +1 lap |
| 8 | Kyffin Simpson | Juncos Racing | +1 lap |
| 9 | Christian Rasmussen | Jay Howard Driver Development | +1 lap |
| 10 | James Roe | Turn 3 Motorsport | +4 laps |
| Fastest lap: Abel, 1m27.7455s
Championship standings |
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