AUSTIN, Texas — There was no doubt about the winner of Saturday’s Cooper Tires Indy Lights Grand Prix Presented by Allied Building Products.
Oliver Askew took off from his second pole position in just three Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tire starts and, unlike on his home state streets of St. Petersburg two weeks ago, the 22-year-old was completely untroubled on his way to an emphatic victory for Andretti Autosport.
Askew stretched his advantage to a whopping 24.6800 seconds at the checkered flag, one of the largest margins of victory in Indy Lights history.
In his wake, an exciting battle for second place ended with Dutchman Rinus VeeKay (Juncos Racing) edging fellow teenager Robert Megennis (Andretti Autosport to the checkered flag by just over two tenths of a second.
Askew was fastest in practice yesterday, qualified on pole and then, this morning, took pole again for tomorrow’s second race of the weekend during a separate 30-minute qualifying session.
Askew was helped in his quest to win the race when one of his Andretti Autosport teammates, Ryan Norman, who had posted the second fastest lap in qualifying, spun off the road on the warmup lap and was required to start from the back.
Askew took full advantage of the fact there was no one alongside him as the green flag waved and held a slender but unexpectedly comfortable advantage when he hit the brakes on the steeply uphill approach to the notoriously tight turn one.
Englishman Toby Sowery (BN Racing/Team Pelfrey), who had lined up fourth on the grid, slipped past third-place qualifier Megennis at Turn One, while VeeKay, from sixth, emerged ahead of Sowery’s BN Racing teammate, David Malukas, in fourth.
Sowery kept some pressure on Askew for the first couple of laps before Askew hit his stride and began to edge away. Instead of pressuring the leader, Sowery instead found his mirrors filled by Megennis. The pair then involved in a titanic battle for position, exchanging places on numerous occasions on different parts of the race track as Askew disappeared into the distance.
In doing so he joined St. Petersburg winner VeeKay in becoming only the ninth driver to win on all three levels of the Road to Indy Presented by Cooper Tires open-wheel ladder.
VeeKay made the final pass for position on the back straight with just one lap to go, earning himself the Tilton Hard Charger Award as well as second place by the slenderest of margins.
Sowery looked set to cling onto fourth, behind Megennis, until contact under braking for turn 12 on the final lap with Norman delayed them both and allowed Frenchman Julien Falchero through into fourth for Belardi Auto Racing.
The championship chases for both teams and drivers have tightened considerably. Despite a disappointing seventh-place finish for Zachary Claman after an early drive-through penalty, Belardi Auto Racing now leads the Team standings by four points over Andretti Autosport and five over BN Racing.
VeeKay now leads by two points, 73-71, over Claman, with Askew just five points further back in third
“It was a pretty good race for us,” Askew said. “I had a clean start which is really important and just kept my head down and built a gap to where we could start conserving tires just in case there was a caution. The car was unbelievable. The No. 28 Index Invest car was really good so a big thanks to everyone at Andretti Autosport for all of their help. I don’t think we are satisfied at the moment, but we will keep pushing until we are. This track requires really smooth inputs on both the steering wheel and the pedals, as well as a good car. That’s the most important thing.”