BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – Pato O’Ward made the most of his front-row start to take victory today in the opening race of the Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires doubleheader at Barber Motorsports Park.
The 18-year-old Andretti Autosport driver began the 30-lap race alongside pole sitter and fellow 18-year-old Colton Herta (Andretti-Steinbrenner Racing). O’Ward made a pass on his teammate for lead heading into Turn 5 on the first lap, shortly before a full-course caution for an incident involving Dalton Kellett (Andretti Autosport), Alfonso Celis Jr. (Juncos Racing) and Aaron Telitz (Belardi Auto Racing).
Herta kept the pressure on O’Ward after the Lap 4 restart, but was never able to attempt a pass. O’Ward locked up his brakes several times and had smoke pouring off the rear tires, yet held on to capture his second win in the last three races.
“I just wanted to control the pace, but Colton was behind me – very, very fast,” O’Ward said. “I went really aggressive on my side of the setup and the car was definitely a handful. I had a lot of trouble to keep the rear tires under me.
“I think if I didn’t make that pass in the beginning, I wouldn’t have been able to pass Colton, there’s no way. I was struggling a lot on the exit of the corners, but I’m really happy we got the win.”
The second race of the Indy Lights doubleheader begins at 1 p.m. ET Sunday, preceded by qualifying at 9 a.m. The race will stream live on RaceControl.IndyCar.com.
Thompson dominates Pro Mazda first weekend race
Parker Thompson (Exclusive Autosport) went flag-to-flag to win the opening race of the Pro Mazda Championship presented by Cooper Tires doubleheader at Barber Motorsports Park in dominating fashion.
The 20-year-old Canadian started on pole and broke away at the start. A full-course caution came on Lap 2 for debris, but it made no difference, as Thompson again surged away on the restart.
He crossed the finish line an astonishing 5.2269 seconds ahead of second-place Harrison Scott (RP Motorsport).
“By far the best car I’ve ever had at Barber Motorsports Park,” said Thompson, already looking ahead to Race 2 on Sunday. “I’m focused on tomorrow. I don’t want to sound overconfident, but, man, the car was good.”
While the result helped Thompson close within three points of Rinus VeeKay (Juncos Racing) for the points lead, he said he isn’t concerned with the championship yet.
“I made a grave mistake of trying to manage a championship early on (in 2016 in USF2000),” Thompson said. “Right now, I’ll let everyone know that I’m coming with my elbows up. I don’t care about the championship until we get to the last race.”
Thompson broke his own track record in qualifying for Race 2, hitting a lap of 1 minute, 16.2968 seconds (108.524 mph) to claim his second pole of the weekend. Sunday’s race begins at 10:45 a.m. ET and streams live on RaceControl.IndyCar.com.