Sean Rayhall scored an emotional and well-deserved victory for 8Star Motorsports in today’s Mazda Grand Prix of Indianapolis Presented by Cooper Tires on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s 2.439-mile Grand Prix road course. Rayhall, 20, from Winston, Ga., grasped the lead at the start of Round Seven of Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires and held on to win despite almost race-long pressure from yesterday’s winner and 2014 Indy Lights championship runner-up Jack Harvey.
“In my head, that was longer than the six hours I’ve driven in endurance races! Jack was probably faster than me, but I was trying to save my tires for the end in case he got close,” stated Rayhall. “The restart had me nervous but I used a little trick I picked up driving Late Model (stock) cars to keep him back. After that, the only thing that was going through my head was to keep hitting my marks. I never expected this. Racing against guys like Max, RC, Ed, these guys have been doing open-wheel racing for the last five or six years, while I’ve done endurance racing. I’m inexperienced compared to them; it was an honor yesterday just to be on the podium with them so to be able to win, I’m just blown away. In the end, it’s another race car. It’s a switch in your head; you go from one to another, you drive different styles and push in different ways but you get to a point where you can flip it on and flip it off. But it’s very emotional: Enzo’s almost like a dad to me. He looks out for me – you don’t have very many team owners like that.”
- NHRA announces eight-race schedule for 2024 NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Racing Series - January 17, 2024
- Forgeline and Pratt Miller Motorsports Announce New Multi-Year Partnership - January 17, 2024
- TAG Heuer Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein converts narrow pole to commanding win in the Season 10 opener of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship at the 2024 Hankook Mexico City E-Prix - January 16, 2024