INDIANAPOLIS – Sting Ray Robb and Juncos Racing enjoyed a perfect week on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
Robb swept all three races that comprised the Cooper Tires Indy Pro 2000 Indy Grand Prix and now leads the Indy Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires with 10 of 17 races in the books. He could barely have chosen a better way to celebrate his 19th birthday.
Robb was chased home Friday morning by Italian-Canadian Devlin DeFrancesco, winning by just less than two seconds, and was even more convincing later this afternoon as he again led from start to finish before taking the checkered flag almost three seconds clear of New Zealander Hunter McElrea.
Robb’s Russian teammate, Artem Petrov, claimed a pair of third-place finishes Friday.
Juncos Racing’s excellent weekend continued this morning with a separate qualifying session to set the grid for race two. Robb this time turned the tables on Petrov, Thursday’s polesitter, by snagging the Cooper Tires Pole Award, and immediately asserted his authority at the rolling start.
Robb defended the inside line assertively on the drag race to turn one to ensure there was no way anyone could even think about making a move to the inside under braking. Job done. Behind him, as Petrov was immediately swallowed up by the pack, championship leader DeFrancesco emerged from turn one squarely in second place despite having started on the outside of the second row of the grid.
In stark contrast to the day before, the remainder of the 20-lap race was surprisingly uneventful. Robb made good his escape, lapping with pace and consistency at the front of the field to gradually inch clear of DeFrancesco. The margin grew only incrementally but Robb had achieved his goal perfectly. His third win of the season seemed almost effortless. And for good measure, Robb snagged the pole position for the final race of the week by posting the fastest race lap.
The final margin of victory was a fraction less than two seconds, allowing Robb to close within four points of DeFrancesco in the chase for a scholarship valued at over $600,000 to graduate next year into Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires.
Petrov chased gamely in third place, with Canadian Parker Thompson also remaining close behind in fourth place.
Singapore’s Danial Frost couldn’t quite match the leaders’ pace but just did enough to hold off Hunter McElrea for fifth.
Robb barely survived a three-wide moment under braking for turn one on the opening lap of the final race Friday afternoon but, once he had emerged in the lead, there was no catching him as he romped to his third victory of the weekend – and fourth in his last six starts. He duly romped clear to ensure yet another PFC Award for Ricardo Juncos as the winning car owner.
Behind, though, there was mayhem as erstwhile points leader DeFrancesco’s attempt to pass McElrea into turn seven, at the end of Tony Hulman Boulevard, went awry and he slid wide onto the grass at the exit, losing several positions.
McElrea couldn’t match Robb’s pace but he had just enough speed to keep Petrov behind him for the entire 20 laps. In fact, he even edged clear in the closing stages to secure his fourth second-place finish in his last six starts.
An enterprising de le Vara emerged from the opening-lap fracas to vault all the way from 11th on the grid to fourth, and while he was unable to match the leaders, he contrived to lose only two positions – to DEForce Racing teammates Parker Thompson and Manuel Sulaiman.