It’s An Indy Lights Toronto Sweep For Kaiser
TORONTO – Kyle Kaiser drove another exemplary race Sunday on the streets around Exhibition Place to claim the second leg of this weekend’s Cooper Tires Indy Lights Grand Prix of Toronto Presented by Allied Building Products.
The Californian took advantage of some misfortune for polesitter Colton Herta, then posted a series of fastest race laps to claim his second victory in as many days and his third of the season to take a commanding lead of 52 points into the final four races of the Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires season.
Aaron Telitz, the winner of last year’s Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires, finished second for Belardi Auto Racing, while Carlin’s Zachary Claman DeMelo rounded out the podium.
Herta took advantage of perfect track conditions this morning to post a new lap record of 1:05.0049 (98.849 mph) in qualifying for Sunday’s 12th round of the season. Then, after a first-corner incident eliminated the cars of Frenchman Nico Jamin, Tennessean Shelby Blackstock and Californian Neil Alberico, Herta quickly began to pull away from Kaiser, who started third but had made a bold move to displace front row starter Santi Urrutia at turn one.
Herta stretched his advantage after the restart to almost four seconds over the course of the next five laps, only for that margin to be erased by another full-course caution after Urrutia ground to halt with a mechanical problem.
Herta continued to lead at the restart, only this time Indy Lights veteran Kaiser was able to stay with him and keep the youngster within his sights. The pair set a fast pace as they stretched clear of Telitz, who had overtaken DeMelo at turn three shortly after the restart. Herta, though, had lightly glanced one of the omni-present and unforgiving concrete walls with his car’s left-rear wheel. That minimal impact proved to be the difference between success and disappointment as, on lap 26, the rear suspension abruptly broke at turn six. The unfortunate Herta did well to maintain control but his race was over.
Kaiser was gifted a clear advantage over Telitz, which he extended to almost nine seconds before easing off to ensure victory by a comfortable margin of 5.8649 seconds.
“I knew this would be a good weekend for us because the team has always had a good setup here – Spencer (Pigot) won both races two years ago. But it’s really been a dream weekend – I’ve never had a double win weekend before,” said Kaiser. “Actually, I can’t believe it. My goal in the race, with two really good, really aggressive drivers ahead of us, was just to keep it clean and finish the race. Going into Turn One I made a good start and when I realized we were three-wide, I hugged the inside as tight as I could. I know it sounds weird, but I was OK with the points for second. But I saw Colton getting close to the wall a couple times and I thought if he made a mistake, I would be ready.
“I’m usually on the bad end of luck but this year I was rewarded. I am definitely more confident and more relaxed heading into Mid-Ohio, having a little bit of a cushion in the championship. It’s unrealistic to say that the pressure won’t affect me, but it is a little bit less now.”
Telitz soaked up the pressure from Montreal’s DeMelo to secure the third podium finish of his rookie campaign, while Colombian Juan Piedrahita snagged his best result of the season, fifth, for Team Pelfrey.
The finish:
Kyle Kaiser, Aaron Telitz, Zachary Claman Demelo, Juan Piedrahita, Matheus Leist, Ryan Norman, Nicolas Dapero, Garth Rickards, Dalton Kellett, Colton Herta, Santi Urrutia, Nico Jamin, Shelby Blackstock, Neil Alberico.
Source :speedsport.com
Comments
