Sundaramoorthy, LaRue and Portante Victorious at Indy
Speedway, IN – Saturday afternoon race victories at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway went down to the wire as Yuven Sundaramoorthy won by .039 seconds in F1600, John LaRue took the victory by .010 seconds in F2000 and Peter Portante won in the Atlantic Championship Series. All three Championships saw tight and exciting races as drivers battled to cross the yard of bricks first.
F1600
The F1600 Championship Series race again came down to the last lap after a race-long battle at the front of the field as Yuven Sundaramoorthy crossed the line first for K-Hill Motorsports, taking his first ever F1600 victory in an iconic setting at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Sundaramoorthy won by a mere .039 seconds ahead of Team Pelfrey’s Jonathan Kotyk, while Matthew Cowley was third and Joe Colasacco won the Masters Class.
Podium Finishers Recap:
Yuven Sundaramoorthy:
“At the start of the race, I thought I had no chance. I was in sixth place and I got really lucky. There was a tangle at the front and I caught up. I went to the outside and did a bit of deep braking to get the lead.”
Jonathan Kotyk:
“The last lap was pretty crazy. I was sitting back waiting and once Holden was off I knew I had a chance to move to the front. I got pinched at the line, and am happy to bring home second place. The slip stream is pretty big here, especially down the back straight due to the head wind.”
Matthew Cowley:
“It’s a great feeling to be on the podium but it’s a shame it’s not the top step. Things were out of my hands in that race and I can’t control what other people were doing.”
F2000
The F2000 Championship Series Saturday race at Indianapolis came down to the last lap. After a race long duel, John LaRue got a run on the front stretch and beat Matt McDonough to the checkered flag, crossing the bricks first by just .010 seconds in one of the best F2000 races to date. LaRue becomes the first multiple winner in the 2017 season, with McDonough second and Brandon Dixon in third. Steve Jenks was fourth and Tim Paul finished fifth.
Top Five Recap:
John LaRue:
“I didn’t know if we’d have a shot or not, I thought we were handling better than Matt,” said LaRue. “Out of turn one, I was able to close but didn’t have a shot on the back stretch. We had a nice series of corners in seven, eight and nine. I had a nice run coming onto the short chute. I was able to tuck in behind him and pull the underneath pass. Matt was very professional. We went through two corners side-by-side, it was pretty fun.”
Matt McDonough:
“It was a good race,” added McDonough. “I spent my tires early on and was fighting that. The full course caution certainly didn’t help. I am a little disappointed as our organization has been through difficulty in the last few weeks. We lost the founder and designer, Nathan Ulrich. All the guys are feeling it and I wanted to do it for them. Tomorrow is another day and we’ll give it another try.”
Brandon Dixon:
“I got a good jump at the start, and some other people didn’t,” noted Dixon. “Rob Allaer got a little crossed up in turn one and I had to avoid him. I touched him and when I got going again I was back in the pack. I passed a few people but that is about all I had.”
Steve Jenks:
“I spent time beside Dixon, I spent a lot of time beside Tim Paul, it was a fun race,” Jenks said. “That start won’t go down as one of my best ever.”
Tim Paul:
“That was a draft fest. It was getting a good run on the straights and then playing with the car,” Paul commented. “The car was understeering quite a bit so I was concentrating on getting really good exits for top speed, and that brought us through the field. We need to get the car to turn better tomorrow.”
Atlantic
Peter Portante took the checkered flag first in the Atlantic Championship Series race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Saturday evening, completing a flag-to-flag drive from pole position for K-Hill Motorsports. It’s Portante’s fourth win in a row, and he finished ahead of Keith Grant and David Grant from Polestar, who completed the podium at Indy. Dudley Fleck won the Masters Class for K-Hill.
Podium Finishers Recap:
Peter Portante:
“It’s not a bad feeling to win here. It’s quite a good result. I was praying for a boring race and David challenged me on the start. I was in the right place at the right time on the restart. I was only there because I was in a good car, and that’s because of the K-Hill boys. Hopefully, we can do it again tomorrow.”
David Grant:
“We had an Atlantic car that was slow between Peter and I on the restart. Peter did what he should have and he took off. Unfortunately, the rest of the crowd got screwed. We were all stuck behind him.”
Dudley Fleck:
“Anytime you can come to Indy it’s a special day. To win something here for me is a milestone and a bucket list item. We overcame a bad shock yesterday and the car is really starting to handle well now.”
Full results are available on www.F1600Series.com, www.F2000Series.com, and www.
The weekend from Indianapolis Motor Speedway continues on Sunday with afternoon races for the F1600 Series, F2000 Series, and Atlantic Series.
Photos:
1. F2000 Race Start
2. Yuven Sundaramoorthy Leads
3. John LaRue
4. Peter Portante Leads (No. 24)
Photo Credit: Jeff Loewe
On the Web:
F2000: www.F2000Series.com | Facebook | Twitter
Atlantic: www.
About Formula Race Promotions:
Formula Race Promotions (FRP) operates the F1600, F2000 and Atlantic Championship Series. Starting with F2000 in 2006, FRP added F1600 in 2011 and Atlantic in 2012. The Series’ philosophy is to offer a vertical integration between club and professional racing, while offering some of the best race tracks and significant amounts of track time in single-class running. The 2017 schedule is composed of seven-points paying weekends. FRP is privately owned and sanctioned by USAC.
Sources: Monty Mathisen/MathisenMedia PR