Add another to the confirmed list of drivers in the Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires series for 2016, as Felix Serralles will switch from Belardi Auto Racing to Carlin. He’s Carlin’s second confirmed driver, alongside Ed Jones, and replaces Max Chilton.
The team’s full release is below:
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Felix Serralles will race with Carlin’s Indy Lights team for the 2016 season, joining already announced driver Ed Jones for the British squad’s second year in the U.S.A. Serralles is already a race winner in the Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires Series, taking a total of two podiums including a race win in his rookie season.
Carlin’s first season in the series was an exciting one, with the team taking victory in the first three races of 2015, challenging for the championship title with Ed Jones right up to the season finale.
Puerto Rican-born Serralles competed in his first season of Indy Lights in 2015, but had previously long been on the British team’s radar, having competed alongside Carlin drivers in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship and the British F3 Championship.
Speaking about the year ahead, Serralles commented, “I have wanted to be a part of this great team for a number of years while I was racing in Europe. I am really pleased this opportunity has now presented itself for me and I look forward to bringing home trophies with Carlin this year.”
Trevor Carlin added, “We’ve raced against Felix for many years now, both in Europe and last season in Indy Lights. He’s a driver we’ve long admired and I know from watching his career the potential he has. It’s fantastic that instead of racing against him we now have the opportunity to work with Felix and see what we can achieve together. With Felix and Ed we have a very strong team. Race wins should be the aim from the outset.”
Official testing in the Indy Lights series will get underway at the end of January.
Media and fan attention focused on a controversial run-in between Haiden Deegan and his Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing teammate Jordon Smith during Round 10 of the Monster Energy Supercross race at Detroit, after which the 250 East points’ Hunter Lawrence defends the young rider in the postrace news conference.
Deegan took the early lead in Heat 1 of the round, but the mood swiftly changed when he became embroiled in a spirited battle with teammate Smith.
On Lap 3, Smith caught Deegan with a fast pass through the whoops. Smith briefly held the lead heading into a bowl turn but Deegan had the inside line and threw a block pass. In the next few turns, the action heated up until Smith eventually ran into the back of Deegan’s Yamaha and crashed.
One of the highlights of the battle seemed to include a moment when Deegan waited on Smith in order to throw a second block pass, adding fuel to the controversy.
After his initial crash, Smith fell to seventh on the next lap. He would crash twice more during the event, ultimately finishing four laps off the pace in 20th.
The topic was inevitably part of the postrace news conference.
Smith had more trouble in the Last Chance Qualifier. He stalled his bike in heavy traffic, worked his way into a battle for fourth with the checkers in sight, but crashed a few yards shy of the finish line and was credited with seventh. Smith earned zero points and fell to sixth in the standings.
Jordon Smith failed to make the Detroit Supercross Main and fell to sixth in the points. – Feld Motor Sports
“I think he’s like fifth in points,” Deegan said. “He’s a little out of it. Beside that it was good, I don’t know. I wasn’t really paying attention.”
Deegan jokingly deflected an earlier question with the response that he wasn’t paying attention during the incident.
“He’s my teammate, but he’s a veteran, he’s been in this sport for a while,” Deegan said. “I was up there just battling. I want to win as much as everybody else. It doesn’t matter if it’s a heat race or a main; I just want to win. I was just trying to push that.”
As Deegan and Smith battled, Jeremy Martin took the lead. Deegan finished second in the heat and backed up his performance with a solid third-place showing in the main, which was his second podium finish in a short six-race career. Deegan’s first podium was earned at Daytona, just two rounds ago.
But as Deegan struggled to find something meaningful to say, unsurprisingly for a 17-year-old rider who was not scheduled to run the full 250 schedule this year, it was the championship leader Lawrence who came to his defense.
A block pass by Haiden Deegan led to a series of events that eventually led to Jordon Smith failing to make the Main. – Feld Motor Sports
“I just want to point something out, which kind of amazes me,” Lawrence said during the conference. “So many of the people on social media, where everyone puts their expertise in, are saying the racing back in the ’80s, the early 90s, when me were men. They’re always talking about how gnarly it was and then anytime a block pass or something happens now, everyone cries about it.
“That’s just a little bit interesting. Pick one. You want the gnarly block passes from 10 years ago and then you get it, everyone makes a big song and dance about it.”
Pressed further, Lawrence defended not only the pass but the decision-making process that gets employed lap after lap in a Supercross race.
“It’s easy to point the finger,” Lawrence said. “We’re out there making decisions in a split millisecond. People have all month to pay their phone bill and they still can’t do that on time.
“We’re making decisions at such a fast reaction [time with] adrenaline. … I’m not just saying it for me or Haiden. I speak for all the guys. No one is perfect and we’re under a microscope out there. The media is really quick to point a finger when someone makes a mistake.”
The media is required to hold athletes accountable for their actions. They are also required to tell the complete story.
