T3M Wraps Up Tripleheader at Indy GP with Season-High Finishes

Turn 3 Motorsport wrapped up this weekend’s three-race event at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course with season-high finishes in both the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship and Indy Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires.
 
Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship // #33 Josh Green // #34 Dylan Christie
 
USF2000 drivers Josh Green and Dylan Christie displayed quick pace in Thursday’s qualifying session. Christie placed his #34 DCR car up to the eighth fastest time at one point before settling into a P10 starting position for Race 1. On the last lap of the 20-min session, Green was projected for a top-two qualifying time but was held up by another car, placing the #33 JHG Investments/Mark Green car in a fifth place starting position.
 
As the packed 26-car field came across the start/finish line in USF2000 Race 1, Green and Christie pushed for an advantage early on in the 15-lap contest. By the halfway point, Green was up to P3 and chasing down the leaders. On lap 9, the leaders went three-wide going into Turn 1 with the #22 car of Yuven Sundaramoorthy going off course. Green saw an opening for the lead but got caught up and fell back to P6; however, the #33 car was quick, and the 18-year-old got back up to P5 before the checkers, matching his best result of the season so far.
 
Christie’s #34 car was just as quick as his teammate’s, and the 17-year-old rookie made the most of his equipment as he raced his way up to an eighth place finish in the green-to-green race at the iconic venue, marking his top result of the year.
 
In Race 2, the Turn 3 Motorsport cars were fast yet again, with Green and Christie battling the competitive field for sixth and 11^th place results, respectively. The third and final race of the week was less fortunate for Christie who was involved in an opening lap incident that ended his race prematurely. Green started Race 3 in P5 and defended that spot as long as he could before he began to lose speed partway through the race. The sophomore driver pushed on and was ultimately scored eighth overall for the last race.
 
“It was a positive weekend for us at the Indy GP,” said Green. “The potential was there for podiums, but there were unfortunate circumstances that prevented our ability to take them. We’ve made a big step in the right direction, and I’m confident our big break will come soon. Thank you to everyone at Turn 3 Motorsport who have given 110% effort at every event thus far. It’ll all pay off soon!”
 
“This weekend was a big step up for us as we planned it would be,” said Christie. “It feels nice to steadily chip away speed, this time consistently making my way into the Top 10. My overall pace is improving each weekend, and my race craft was spot on. The team and I are able to work and communicate in sync which makes the results that much better. If we can continue to improve at this rate, I expect really good results by the end of the year. Massive thanks to the team for all the help in getting me up to speed.”

Indy Pro 2000 Championship // #3 James Roe
 
Rookie Indy Pro 2000 driver James Roe qualified the #3 Topcon/Trintech car in 12^th place for Race 1 but knew he had a car quick enough to challenge for position with on the 2.439-mile, 14-turn road course. When the green flag fell in Race 1, Roe charged his way up to P10 and focused on continuing to gain ground during the 25-lap race. An incident mid-pack then opened the door for the Irishman to improve up to P6, closing the gap to the front of the field. Roe kept putting out fast lap times, and by Lap 18, he was up to P5.
 
When a yellow flag came out on Lap 19, the field tightened up again, and Roe saw the opportunity for an advantageous restart. The 22-year-old had an excellent restart, poking his nose into Turn 1 for P4 but backed down to avoid contact. Unfortunately, Roe had unavoidable contact with the #22 car of Manuel Sulaiman which caused him to fall back to P8, but fortunately, he was able to carry on and bring the car home in eighth, his best finish of the season thus far.
 
Race 2 started off with a kerfuffle among the leaders, once again inviting Roe to sail by and improve six positions up to P6 by the end of Lap 1. Roe unluckily then had contact with the #27 car of Colin Kaminsky, damaging his rear suspension and calling him into the pits for repairs. The T3M crew swiftly fixed the #3 car and got him back on track just a couple of laps down. With just a few laps to go, Roe came back in for a few more adjustments and was ready to return to the race, but officials made the call to stop him from rejoining with only two laps remaining, resulting in a 10^th place score.
 
Race 3 saw Roe starting in P12 once again with the driver ready to fight for a good result in his final race. After a few on track battles and efforts for gain, Roe brought the #3 Topcon/Trintech car home in 11^th place for Race 3, rounding out a packed and exciting weekend of racing.
 
“Overall, I think it was our strongest race weekend of the year,” said Roe. “In Race 1, we passed over half of the field to get ourselves up to P5 only to be taken out by another ambitious move with two laps to go, resulting in a loss of three places. Race 2 was pretty much the same thing, except we got taken out by another ambitious move from P6 on Lap 3. We tried to make the best of the situation by repairing the car and getting it back out with the goal of getting a good qualifying lap in to improve our starting position for Race 3, but we were stopped from joining back in with just two laps to go. Our pace was very strong in Race 1 and 2 though, so I’m happy with the gains we made. In Race 3, we certainly lost some speed which we will have to analyze now, but overall we had a good weekend. Our next stop is Lucas Oil Raceway in a couple of weeks for my first ever oval race; I can’t wait!”

“Overall, we had a decent weekend,” said Team Owner Peter Dempsey. “I think our pace as a team was a lot stronger than the results showed. With Josh, I feel like we missed the opportunity for our first podium in USF2000 Race 1. He certainly showed he had the speed to compete up front. We need to keep working on our race craft to put ourselves in a better position to challenge for the top spots. Dylan came on a lot this weekend and delivered on our expectations for the Indy GP. To be fighting with the other top rookies in the championship is where we need to be this year. The next step is to be consistently the first rookie in every race.”
 
“James missed out on his first top five finish in Indy Pro 2000 Race 1, but overall, this weekend was definitely an improvement on where we’ve been in previous events,” continued Dempsey. “He has a new challenge ahead heading into Lucas Oil Raceway, so we have to help him settle in on the oval as best as we can. To be challenging for podiums is where we need to be, and we have to trust our program that these results are going to come if we all keep pushing as hard as we are. The gains we are making are promising, and I hope that we can continue to improve every time we are on track and the results that we deserve will come soon.”
 
The Road to Indy Presented by Cooper Tires will return to Indianapolis in just a couple of weeks for the first oval event of the season at Lucas Oil Raceway’s .686-mile track.