Pato O’Ward put on a dominating performance today en route to scoring his first win in Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires on the streets of St. Petersburg.
The 18-year-old Texas-based Mexican pilot started second and got a clean getaway from the drop of the green flag in the No. 27 Andretti Autosport Mazda/Dallara IL-15. He crossed the finish line 6.6014 seconds ahead of runner-up Santi Urrutia (No. 5 Belardi Auto Racing).
“I’m actually really excited,” said O’Ward, who also qualified on pole for Sunday’s second race of the weekend. “This is my first win in Indy Lights, so I’m actually excited to continue on the year and hopefully get some more of these!”
Aaron Telitz was slated to start Race 1 from the pole. However, a crash during this morning’s Race 2 qualifying session did enough damage to his No. 9 Belardi Auto Racing entry that it was withdrawn. Carlin is expected to bring a car from its shop in Delray Beach, Florida, to provide Telitz with a ride for Sunday’s race.
With Telitz’s crash, Colton Herta, piloting the No. 98 Andretti-Steinbrenner Racing entry, was moved up to the front row. The 17-year-old Californian endured a battle-tested afternoon, which saw him lose several spots in Turn 1 of the opening lap but claw back to finish third.
“I’m not super happy with it, but I’ll take it,” said Herta, who also scored the fastest lap of the race at 1 minute, 5.495 seconds (98.939 mph). “We had a quick car and I think we showed that, but there’s a few things we can work on. But yeah, I’ll take it. We had the quickest lap and showed our speed today.”
Race 2 is set to start at 10:45 a.m. ET Sunday. It will be streamed live at RaceControl.IndyCar.com.
VeeKay wins wild season-opening Pro Mazda race
Rinus VeeKay put together a remarkable drive to capture victory in Race 1 of the Pro Mazda Championship presented by Cooper Tires doubleheader in St. Petersburg.
The 17-year-old Dutchman dodged chaos that had the leaders going four wide at the start of Lap 1. He methodically worked his No. 2 Mazda/Tatuus PM-18 for Juncos Racing to second place behind Parker Thompson.
A late caution set up an intense restart on Lap 19 of 25, which saw VeeKay move past the No. 90 Exclusive Autosport pilot to take the lead and hold on for his fifth victory in the Mazda Road to Indy.
“It was unexpected restart,” said VeeKay, who also qualified on pole for Pro Mazda’s second race.
“There was already one restart and I did not know there was another one coming. I knew Parker was a little bit quicker in the long run. He was pushing harder, I was playing it safe and going for points and I saw this as my last opportunity to go for the win. Coming from eighth, I did not expect I would make that choice, but I did it with a little risk, but it all worked out.”
Robert Megennis finished 2.3305 seconds behind VeeKay to join his Juncos Racing teammate on the podium. Carlos Cunha gave Juncos Racing three cars in the top four by finishing fourth, while pole sitter and reigning USF2000 champion Oliver Askew (Cape Motorsports) placed fifth.
The green flag for Race 2 is set to drop at 4:30 p.m. ET Sunday and will stream live at RaceControl.IndyCar.com.
Kirkwood takes maiden USF2000 victory in series debut
Kyle Kirkwood grabbed the lead at the drop of the green flag and pulled away to take an impressive victory in his Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship powered by Mazda debut on the streets of St. Petersburg.
The 19-year-old from Jupiter, Florida, piloting the No. 8 Mazda/Tatuus USF-17 for Cape Motorsports, crossed the finish line 5.4945 seconds ahead of second-place finisher and pole sitter Jose Sierra in the No. 12 DEForce Racing entry. Darren Keane came across third in the No. 36 Newman Wachs Racing entry to complete the podium.
“It was good,” said Kirkwood, the 2017 U.S. Formula 4 champion. “The start was incredible. It was a lot of fun. I fell into a gap in between first and third, got the draft, came back to the outside and just out-braked Jose going in (to Turn 1). Kaylen (Frederick) came down to the inside doing a Mach 5, almost got the pass, but went a little bit too wide and I got the run across him up.”
The frantic start featured incidents behind the leaders involving Exclusive Autosport teammates Igor Fraga and Manuel Cabrera and Newman Wachs Racing’s Oscar DeLuzuriaga, which brought out the yellow flag followed by a restart on Lap 4.
“We had that restart and I went early, which I think caught Jose off guard a little bit and from there I just kept pacing myself, kept pulling away a few tenths (of a second) a lap,” said Kirkwood.
“That fortunately gave us some time to just focus on the car, focus on my driving, so I was down to really consistent lap times. I’m really happy with the way that race went.”
Alex Baron, piloting the No. 19 Mazda/Tatuus USF-17 for Swan-RJB Motorsports, will start on pole for Race 2, which begins at 5:25 p.m. ET Sunday and streams live on RaceControl.IndyCar.com.