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Sunday morning at Barber - The rains came!..
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And when they did they turned the Indy lights race into one of the best we’ve seen for a long time. The rain actually stopped before the race started but the track went from very wet to almost dry during the race and that was the challenge for everyone. In the end Linus Lundqvist for HMD Mortorsports was able to start on pole and keep the spot all the way - but BARELY! P2 start and finish was teammate Bejamin Pedersen. P3 start and finish was Sting Ray Robb for Andretti Autosport.
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The race started with drama as Christian Rasmussen for Andretti passed Sting Ray in Turn 5 for P3 while P5 starter Hunter McElrea for Andretti got passed in 5 by Kyffin Simpson for TJ Speed Motorsports and Manuel Sulaiman for HMD. Hunter then lost the P7 spot to first Danial Frost for HMD and then Matty Brabham for Andretti, as all slid around on the very wet track. On lap 5 Rasmussen went off and back on in Turn 9, but maintained P3. On lap 6 Christian Bogle for HMD spun at Turn 16, near Pit In and was beached, bringing out a full-course caution.
On the lap 10 restart Rasmussen went off in Turn 2 and dropped from P3 to P7. On lap 16 Matty got by Manuel in Turn 5 to take over P5. Rasmussen then hounded Manuel for the rest of the lap, trying to find away around him. On lap 17 he was too close to Sulaiman near Turn 5 and ended up punting Manuel from behind, shearing off his front wing, as Sulaiman dropped from P6 to P8. Rasmussen was able to limp into the pits for a new wing and slick tires to use on the ever-drying track.
On lap 21 Brabham went off and on in Turn 2 while trying to pass Sting Ray and dropped from P4 to P7. On lap 23 Antonio Serravalle for Abel Motorsports took P11 from James Roe for TJ Speed. On lap 25 Danial Frost took P4 from Kyffin while Matty took P6 from Hunter. One lap later Matty took P5 from Kyffin, then Hunter took P6 in the Turn 6/7 complex. On lap 29 in Turn 5 Hunter tried to take Brabham inside but hit him instead, breaking his front wheel off while spinning Brabham. Brabham recovered in P7 but McElrea retired deep off track, letting the race continue.
As the race wound down Benjamin closed on Linus until they were nose-to-tail on the final lap. As they turned in Turn 17 on the front straight to two touched and then drag-raced to the line. Linus took the WIN by 0.17 seconds. Sting ray came home P3 7 seconds back.
An incredible race, from start to finish!
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Notable:
- While all bets were off due to conditions, MxElrea committed the worst sin and almost took out his teammate. Brabham was likely to finish P4 but had to accept P7 instead. It might get very frosty tonight in the Andretti camp.
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Linus in victory
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Your happy podium - That’s Benjamin Pedersen in P2 on the left, Linus Lundqvist in P1 in the middle and Sting Ray Robb in P3 on the right:
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With this result here are the TOP FIVE in points leaving Barber:
1 - Linus Lundqvist, 88
2 - Benjamin Pedersen, 80
3 - Matthew Brabham, 78
4 - Sting Ray Robb, 67
5 - Danial Frost, 62
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The next outing for Indy Lights will be at IMS at the Road Course in support of the IndyCars, May 13th. Next, USF2000 holds Race 2. The grid for that is in post # 15…
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