TORONTO — Teams and drivers from two of the three feeder categories, the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda and Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires, will switch gears this weekend to the temporary road course in Toronto.
On the Indy Lights side, the battle for a Mazda Scholarship valued at $1 million, which will guarantee the Indy Lights champion an opportunity to contest at least three Verizon IndyCar Series events, including the 102nd Indianapolis 500, in 2018 is intensifying.
Only a few short weeks ago, series veteran Kyle Kaiser seemed to be extending his championship lead with each passing weekend, but now, following an impressive string of results, including three wins in his last four starts, Brazilian rookie Matheus Leist has whittled the Californian’s advantage to 13 points.
Now into his third year of Indy Lights with Juncos Racing, Kaiser, has used his prior experience to good effect, finishing all but one of the 10 races so far this season among the top six. His tally includes one race win, on the Indianapolis Grand Prix circuit, and five additional podium results.
Leist has claimed his first podium finish, third, in the same event at Indianapolis, then two weeks later secured his first victory in the Freedom 100 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Since then, he has added a win and a fourth-place finish at Road America.
In pursuit of the two primary contenders, Colton Herta holds third place in the point standings for Andretti-Steinbrenner Racing, 22 points shy of Leist, while Andretti Autosport teammate and fellow rookie Nico Jamin, is 12 points behind Herta in fourth.
Santi Urrutia, who finished a close second in the 2016 Indy Lights title chase, moved to within eight points of Jamin following a strong second-place finish last weekend in Iowa, despite starting 11th. Aaron Telitz, Zachary Claman DeMelo and Neil Alberico also remain in contention with the quartet separated by just a handful of points.
Each race win is worth 30 points, with additional single markers on offer for pole position, fastest race lap and leading most laps.
Rookies Oliver Askew and Rinus VeeKay have proven to be a dominant force in this year’s USF2000 championship chase. Between them, they have won eight of the nine races and on six occasions have stood together on the victory podium.
Askew, driving for the defending champion team Cape Motorsports, holds a significant edge with six race wins to the two for VeeKay and currently holds a healthy 32-point lead in the quest for a Mazda Scholarship worth almost $400,000 which will assist the eventual champion in graduating onto the next step of the MRTI ladder, Pro Mazda, in 2018. Both youngsters are currently taking part in their very first season of car racing after achieving in the karting ranks.
Two more rookies, Kaylen Frederick, representing Team Pelfrey, and Pabst Racing’s Calvin Ming, hold down third and fifth in the points chase, sandwiching series veteran Parker Thompson.
Thompson, from Canada, who spearheads a popular program aimed at educating high school students about the dangers of distracted driving, scored an emotional victory last year on the Toronto streets and has high hopes of repeating that success with the series’ only Canadian-based team, Exclusive Autosport, which will also field entries for Jayson Clunie and Dev Gore.
Source :speedsport.com
Comments
