O’Ward Speeds to Convincing Maiden Indy Lights Win in St. Petersburg - Speedway Digest

Pato O’Ward was gifted an opportunity to start from the pole position for Saturday’s Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires season opener after fastest qualifier Aaron Telitz’s Belardi Auto Racing Dallara-Mazda was withdrawn following an incident during qualifying for Race Two this morning. The Mexican teenager took full advantage by storming into the lead at the start of the Mazda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Presented by Cooper Tires and was never seriously challenged on his way to a comfortable victory for the Andretti Autosport team.

Uruguay’s Santiago “Santi” Urrutia (Belardi Auto Racing), who has finished second in the championship in each of the last two seasons, and Colton Herta (Andretti Steinbrenner Racing), a winner last year on the unforgiving 1.8-mile street circuit adjacent to downtown St. Petersburg, completed the podium.

Telitz, from Birchwood, Wis., looked to have started the 2018 campaign in exactly the same manner in which he began his rookie season in 2017, by taking pole position yesterday afternoon with a new track record of 1:05.1279 (99.497 mph). Unfortunately, his hopes of claiming a repeat victory were scuppered when he crashed heavily toward the end of the second qualifying session this morning. His Dallara was grievously damaged, leaving a disappointed Telitz on the sidelines.

Promoted to the pole, O’Ward, who finished third in one of the 2017 St. Petersburg races – and previously won here in the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires – made an exemplary start and immediately began to stretch his legs and build an appreciable advantage over Urrutia, who had managed to sneak past Herta for second place in the usual first-corner scramble.

Urrutia chased as hard as he could but was no match this day for the young Mexican, whose lead grew steadily. O’Ward eventually took the checkered flag a full 6.6014 seconds clear.

Last year’s Pro Mazda champion, Brazilian Victor Franzoni, ran a close third in the early stages for Juncos Racing but began to experience increasing oversteer on his Indy Lights debut and gradually slipped away from the two leaders.

Herta, who had found himself shuffled from second to fifth on the opening lap, quickly displaced Shelby Blackstock (Team Pelfrey), then began to whittle away at the deficit to Franzoni. The young Californian appeared to have made the pass for third place on Lap 15 following a feint to the outside and then an impressive late dive to the inside under braking for Turn One, only to find himself carrying too much speed at the apex, which allowed Franzoni to regain the position. It was but a minor setback for Herta, who made the pass stick four laps later and then immediately pulled clear. Herta clearly had the best car in the closing stages – witness him posting the fastest race lap at a new record 1:05.4946 (98.939 mph) – but he remained more than three seconds shy of Urrutia at the finish.

Franzoni capped an impressive debut by holding onto fourth, well clear of Blackstock, who lost his previously constant shadow Dalton Kellett (Andretti Autosport) when the Canadian was inadvertently tipped into a spin at Turn One by Neil Alberico in a second Team Pelfrey Dallara.

Ryan Norman completed the top six for Andretti Autosport.

Author
Recent Posts

Adam Sinclair

NHRA, IHRA, Motocross and other forms of motorsports Staff writer
About Me: Adam has been a race fan since the first time he went through the tunnel under the Daytona International Speedway almost 30 years ago. He has had the privilege of travelling to races all across the state of Florida (as well as one race in Ohio), watching nearly everything with a motor compete for fame and glory, as well as participating in various racing schools to get the feel of what racecar drivers go through every week. Adam has spent the last three years covering motorsports for Examiner.com., where he had the opportunity to see the racing world from behind the scenes as well as the grandstands. He invites everyone to follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus, and looks forward to sharing his enthusiasm for all things racing with the readers of SpeedwayDigest.com.Be sure to tune in for his weekly sports talk program, Thursday Night Thunder, where he discusses the latest in motorsports news with drivers, crew members, and fans. The show takes place every Thursday at 8:00 pm EST on the Speedway Digest Radio Network.