Colton Herta rebounded from a difficult Race 1 at Barber Motorsports Park to dominate Race 2 of the Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires, the 400th event in the history of Indy Lights. Herta started on pole after qualifying was rained out and immediately shot off into the lead when the green flag waved. He claimed victory over second-place Kyle Kaiser by more than nine seconds to complete a dominant performance.
“I’m so happy to have won the 400th race, and to go into the history books of the series. But the first thing that crossed my mind at the checkered flag was relief – it’s such a physical track so when you’re out in front with a sizable gap, it’s a long race,” the young Herta said of his triumph.
Herta was thankful to have pole and the inside line entering turn one, which helped him take the lead off the start, and emphasized he is already think championship. “Having the inside going into Turn One on the first lap was huge, because it’s so hard to pass here,” he explained. “Kyle was close to me on the first lap, but after that I was on my own. I do think that the more experience you have out in front, the better you are at staying calm. I think I’m better at that now because I have been up there in championships in Europe and it hasn’t worked out – and the championship is the focus now.”
Kaiser’s second place mirrors his second-place finish from Saturday, while Nico Jamin backed up his win on Saturday with a third on Sunday.
Race 2 again saw an opening lap caution, this one for contact between Zachary Claman De Melo and Pato O’Ward. Both went off course between turns two and three, with O’Ward spinning and briefly stalling in the gravel trap. Each made it back around to the pits, but both retired after suffering too much damage to continue.
Santi Urrutia also went for a quick spin after the race restarted, even damaging the front wing in the process. However, his incident did not bring out a caution and the race ran green to the end.
Herta now leads Kaiser by 17 points, with Jamin 27 out of the lead in third.
Results are below. The race will air Wednesday 4/26 at midnight on NBCSN.
Here are the results of today's @IndyLights race. Rookies have won each race this year! #MRTI #TeamCooperTire pic.twitter.com/v0gsmNkjjR
— Mazda Motorsports (@MazdaRacing) April 23, 2017