Mid-Ohio – MRTI update – three races and other info

Indy Lights Race #1

At the start of the race, RC Enerson took the lead while Spencer Pigot made a strong challenge to pass Enerson.

Jack Harvey started second and was close to reclaiming the position from Pigot when the two collided at Turn 8 as they tried to go through the corner two-wide.

The contact sent Harvey off track with left rear suspension damage and flattened Pigot’s right front tire.

Both Harvey and Pigot headed to pit lane. Pigot was able to resume three-quarters of a lap down, but Harvey was on pit lane for six laps affecting repairs on his car.

That left Enerson in the lead pulling away from Felix Serralles, Shelby Blackstock, Max Chilton, and Kyle Kaiser.

The full course that Spencer Pigot needed came on Lap 9 when the car of Ethan Ringel came to a stop at Turn 12 after an off.

That left Pigot right on the tail of Ed Jones, who came into the race two points behind Pigot for second and third in the points.

The restart came on Lap 11.

Max Chilton got past Shelby Blackstock for third at Turn 2, and Spencer Pigot got past Ed Jones at Turn 2. Jones, though, blew past Pigot on the run to Turn 4 and helf the position.

Scott Anderson lost spots to both Jones and Sean Rayhall on Lap 12. That left Pigot out of touch with Jones, but Anderson locked up his brakes on entry to Turn 2 and Pigot got past.

Felix Serralles was running second when his car slowed at Turn 5 and he pulled off onto the grass. That led to a very quick full course caustion, as Serrales got the car refired and he came back around to the pits on his own. While Serrales did resume, he came back onto pit lane and retired from the race shortly after the green was thrown.

The green came out again on Lap 15 with Max Chilton all over the back of RC Enerson. In the back, Ed Jones got past Sean Rayhall.

Meanwhile, Spencer Pigot was stuck behind Scott Anderson in ninth.

The race took an interesting strategy call when Ed Jones pitted for new tires on Lap 18. Jones didn’t have any issues; his crew told Rob Howden on IMS Radio that they made the stop so Jones would have a better starting position for Race #2 tomorrow.

Remember – the grid for tomorrow’s race is set by a driver’s second-fastest lap in qualifying or their fastest lap in today’s race.

Jones resumed one lap down.

Meanwhile, Sean Rayhall was past Juan Piedrahita for 5th on Lap 19.

Up front, it was RC Enerson who pulled away to his first win in Indy Lights.

RC Enerson scored his first Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tire in the first race of the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course weekend.  (Photo courtesy of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, LLC Photography)
RC Enerson scored his first Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tire in the first race of the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course weekend. (Photo courtesy of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, LLC Photography)

It was Enerson’s second win at Mid-Ohio and sixth career MRTI win.

Enerson is the seventh different Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tire winner this season.

All twelve drivers that took part in today’s race have been on the podium at one point in 2015.

The race wasn’t a total loss for Jack Harvey – he managed to set the fastest lap of the race and will start from pole in tomorrows race. We’ll have the grid for tomorrow’s race once we get it from the officials.

Pos Car Driver Result
1 7 RC Enerson 30 Laps
2 14 Max Chilton 2.401
3 51 Shelby Blackstock 9.9138
4 18 Kyle Kaiser 10.7591
5 8 Sean Rayhall 11.2983
6 5 Juan Piedrahita 14.9631
7 77 Scott Anderson 15.2125
8 12 Spencer Pigot 15.7723
9 11 Ed Jones 28 Laps – Running
10 4 Felix Serralles 26 Laps – Running
11 42 Jack Harvey 25 Laps – Running
12 71 Ethan Ringel 19 Laps – Running

Un-official Indy Lights points:

  1.  Jack Harvey 289
  2. Spencer Pigot 273
  3. Ed Jones 270
  4. RC Enerson 246
  5. Max Chilton 198
  6. Kyle Kaiser 191
  7. Felix Serralles 187
  8. Juan Piedrahita  186
  9. Scott Anderson 185
  10. Shelby Blackstock 173
  11. Ethan Ringel 163
  12.  Sean Rayhall 113

Pro Mazda Race #1

After four straight finishes off the podium, Pro Mazda presented by Cooper Tire points leader Santiago Urrutia took advantage of a jumped start by Neil Alberico to capture his third win and seventh podium of 2015.  He said he didn’t expect the victory and the he was really happy with the points he gained on his

Garett Grist was supposed to lead the field to the green flag on the back straight, but it was Alberico who was starting outside of him that reached the start finish line a half of a car length ahead of the pole sitter.  Despite this, the green flag flew and Alberico was able to get to Turn 4 first.

Championship points leader Santiago Urrutia who was starting on the outside of the second row directly behind Alberico followed the Los Gatos, California based driver by Grist and into second.

Alberico had built almost a two second lead by the second lap when race control announced that the restart was under review.  One lap later it was announced that Alberico would be penalized and told to move behind the No. 81 of Urrutia who was running in second.

A close battle in the Pro Mazda presented by Cooper Tire race that saw Santiago Urrutia expand his championship lead (Photo courtesy of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, LLC Photography)
A close battle in the Pro Mazda presented by Cooper Tire race that saw Santiago Urrutia expand his championship lead (Photo courtesy of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, LLC Photography)

Alberico did not agree with penalty, but said that’s not his decision and that he needed to focus on his own program.  His team told him that he had to adhere to penalty but didn’t want to give up the position on a straight away.  He finally gave up the position in the essess.

Grist, the Juncos Racing sophomore was already pressuring Urrutia and dropped a wheel in the grass in an attempt to get by both the No. 3 and No. 81.  He was not able to get by and when Alberico let Urrutia by in the essess, Grist got bogged down and lost the last spot on the podium to his teammate Buret.

Alberico spent the next 14 laps pressuring Urrutia.   The lead was consistently around 0.6-0.8 seconds until three laps to go when Urrutia, the 18 year-old from Uruguay made a slight mistake by sliding his car in Turn 9.  The Rising Star Racing supported Alberico was able to close the gap to 0.3 seconds but couldn’t make the pass.

Florian Latorre, Weiron Tan, Pato O’Ward, and Will Owen made up the remainder of the top eight and spent most of the race in touch with the leaders.  In fact, the top eight spent the entire race within eight seconds of one another.

The only driver who had issues was Kyle Connery who retired with mechanical issues after a number of pit stops.

Bobby Eberle and Bob Kaminsky waged a close battle for the Expert class win and it was the No. 13 World Speed Motorsports machine of Eberle who took a close 0.2 second victory.

Pro Mazda Race #1 Results

1 Santiago Urrutia 23

2 Neil Alberico 23

3 Timothe Buret 23

4 Garett Grist 23

5 Florian Latorre 23

6 Weiron Tan 23

7 Pato O’Ward 23

8 Will Owen 23

9 Dalton Kellett 23

10 Victor Franzoni 23

11 Daniel Burkett 23

12 Jose Gutierrez 23

13 Raoul Owens 23

14 Alessandro Latif 23

15 Michael Johnson 23

16 Bobby Eberle(E) 23

17 Bob Kaminsky(E) 23

18 Kyle Connery 15

The next time the Pro Mazda drivers are on track will be tomorrow (Sunday, August 2) for Race #2 at 8:50am.

USF2000 Race #3

Cape Motorsports with /WTR sophomore Nico Jamin scored trio perfect races on the 2.258-mile, 13-turn Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.  The 19 year-old scored took all three pole positions, led every lap, and turned the quickest lap in each race.  That equates to a perfect 99 point weekend.  The Rouen France native traveled to central Ohio with 16 point lead over Jake Eidson and will depart with a comfortable 50 point lead.

For the third straight race Cooper Tires USF2000 powered by Mazda sophomore drivers Nico Jamin, Jake Eidson and Aaron Telitz started in the first three positions for the third of three race for the series.  It was also the tenth straight start from pole for championship leader Jamin.

The field took the green on the back straight and it was pole-sitter Jamin that got a great start and made it Turn 4 first.  Telitz was able to follow his Cape Motorsports with /WTR teammate Jamin and get by Edison for second.

The biggest movers on the first lap were: Parker Thompson who moved up to fifth from his eighth place starting spot, Jack Mitchell who moved into the top 10 from his 13th place starting spot and Sennan Fielding who started 10th and ended the first lap in 8th.

As the field started to string out, Jamin took off and started to turn laps that were consistently four tenths of a second quicker than Telitz.  The lead on Lap 10 was an impressive 4.0 seconds.  Telitz held a 1.7 second lead over Eidson.

Further back in the field the battle for 5th-6th-7th was a good one with just over one second covering Thompson, Garth Rickards and Luke Gabin.

With ten minutes left in the race the gap from leader Jamin back to Telitz had grown to 5.5 seconds.

On Lap 16 the No. 5 of Keyvan Andres Soori stopped between Turn 1 and The Keyhole with mechanical issues bringing out a full course caution.  Something that Jamin certainly didn’t want to see as he had built a 6.5 second lead.

The track went back to green with just over two minutes left and Jamin was able to get the jump on Telitz and pulled out a significant gap.  He had a … lead when the white flag flew.

Garth Rickards was the big loser in the late race restart as fell from sixth to eighth as his teammate Gabin and Sennan Fielding were able to get by him.

After a rough race #2, Anthony Martin was able to rebound to his familiar fourth place position behind the trio of super sophomores and solidify his position on top of the Rookie of The Year standings.

The biggest mover of the race was Afterburner Autosport newcomer Jack Mitchell who gained four spots and finished his debut Mazda Road To Indy weekend with a ninth place result.

The final results of the race are as follows:

RANK — DRIVER — LAPS COMPLETED

1 Nico Jamin 21

2 Aaron Telitz 21

3 Jake Eidson 21

4 Anthony Martin 21

5 Parker Thompson 21

6 Luke Gabin 21

7 Sennan Fielding 21

8 Garth Rickards 21

9 Jack Mitchell 21

10 Nikita Lastochkin 21

11 Ayla Agren 21

12 Yufeng Luo 21

13 Max Hanratty 21

14 Alex Mayer 21

15 Andrew List 21

16 James Dayson 21

17 Clint McMahan 20

18 Keyvan Andres Soori 15

With Florian Latorre’s win this morning, Cape Motorsports with /WTR clinched their fourth straight Cooper Tires USF2000 powered by Mazda championship.

The championship now heads to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca on September 10-13 for the final two races of the year.

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Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tire starting line-up for race #2 (quickest 2nd lap in qualifying or quickest lap in Race 1)

All laps were set in Race 1.

Jack Harvey and Ed Jones coming in and putting on new tires ended up being great decisions.  The two championship contenders would very likely have started deeper in the field without the strategic decisions made by their engineers.

1. Jack Harvey

2. Ed Jones

3. Felix Serralles

4.  Sean Rayhall

5. Max Chilton

6. RC Enerson

7. Spencer Pigot

8. Scott Anderson

9. Kyle Kaiser

10. Shelby Blackstock

11. Juan Piedrahita

12. Ethan Ringel

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Pro Mazda presented by Cooper Tire starting line-up for race #2 (quickest 2nd lap in qualifying or quickest lap in Race 1)

1. Garett Grist (qual)

2. Neil Alberico (qual)

3. Santiago Urrutia (qual)

4. Timothe Buret (qual)

5. Weiron Tan (qual)

6. Florian Latorre (qual)

7. Will Owen (race 1)

8. Jose Gutierrez (qual)

9. Victor Franzoni (qual)

10. Pato O’Ward (qual)

11. Dalton Kellett (qual)

12. Kyle Connery (race 1)

13. Raoul Owens (race 1)

14. Daniel Burkett (race 1)

15. Alessandro Latif (qual)

16. Michael Johnson (qual)

17. Bob Kaminsky (race 1)

18. Bobby Eberle (race 1)