Kirkwood and Rasmussen Win Titles; Rain Makes It Interesting

Kyle Kirkwood and Christian Rasmussen claimed their respective titles today at a wet Mid-Ohio race track, through three eventful races, as Josh Green, James Roe, and Linus Lundqvist took home the victories. The wet and tricky track proved to catch out several drivers, with the USF2000 drivers taking the worst of the weather, knocking eight drivers out of contention with contact and spins.

The USF2000 race kicked off the day on a soaked track, with cautions taking up most of the racing time, as Josh Green picked up the win. Prescott Campbell took advantage of the difficult conditions to manage P5 without a front wing. Multiple on-track incidents kept the race under yellow, as drivers had issues staying on track throughout the race. An early incident between Myles Rowe and Michael Myers put the field under caution, and then each successive restart brought more yellows out. Contact on the restart between Prescott Campbell and Michael D’Orlando resulted in Campbell losing the wing off his car, but the soaked track meant that he was able to stay in contention. Navarro later had an off as well, bringing out another yellow. The race unsurprisingly ended under yellow, as Green held his own to pick up the win. 

The Indy Lights race was slightly less chaotic, but the complications started during qualifying as the wet conditions proved treacherous for Kyle Kirkwood, when he went off track at the carousel, bringing out the red flag and ending his qualifying session. Malukas took full advantage of the mistake, taking pole and preventing Kirkwood from clinching before the race. But issues at the start with the gearbox sent Malukas off into the sand, bringing out the yellow. Malukas was in a Newgarden-esque situation, needing a perfect race for himself and a disaster for Kirkwood. Instead it was Malukas suffering the problem as he fell back to the end of the line. A later spin by Kirkwood dropped him back behind his Andretti teammates, as Malukas executed a brilliant recovery drive up to P2. It wasn’t enough to catch Linus Lundqvist however, as he drove the perfect race, making no mistakes and leading from start to finish after Malukas’ spin. Lundqvist and Malukas were joined by Pedersenm on the podium, making for an all HMD podium as they took the team championship. 

As the day went on, the track dried out to the point where the Indy Pro 2000 drivers were apprehensive about the wet tires on the rapidly drying track. The track was slippery, but without any rain for several hours, the concern about keeping the tires from overheating was heard throughout the paddock. With race control ruling it as a wet start, Christian Rasmussen took the series championship under the yellow flag, the field taking the first two laps behind the safety car. What looked to be one of the less interesting races of the day, immediately became a beginning to end thriller as Artem Petrov went off on the first lap. That began a series of lead cars making mistakes, as Braden Eves and Hunter McElrea were unable to hold the lead. But on lap 12 the Irishman James Roe took the lead, and held off Enaam Ahmed for the win. Several cars made the trip through the mud and grass, Jack Miller being by far the most decorated of all. In the end, Rasmussen ended up on the podium to celebrate his second title in a row, winning the Indy Pro 2000 title.