There was no doubt about the winner of Saturday’s Indy Lights Grand Prix Race 1.
Oliver Askew, 22, from Jupiter, Fla., took off from his second pole position in just three Indy Lights starts and, unlike on his home state streets of St. Petersburg two weeks ago, this time he was completely untroubled on his way to an emphatic victory for Andretti Autosport.
In his wake, an exciting battle for second place ended with Dutchman Rinus VeeKay (Juncos Racing) edging fellow teenager Robert Megennis (Andretti Autosport), from New York, N.Y., to the checkered flag by just over two tenths of a second.
The first-ever Indy Lights encounter at Formula 1 venue Circuit of The Americas, just a few miles from downtown Austin, Texas, was a thriller…behind Askew that is. The talented young American has been an unstoppable force ever since posting the fastest time during a pre-season test in February. He was fastest in practice Friday, qualified on pole position for Saturday’s race and Saturday morning, took pole again for Sunday’s second race of the weekend during a separate 30-minute qualifying session.
Askew was helped in his quest to win the race when one of his Andretti Autosport teammates, Ryan Norman, from Aurora, Ohio, who had posted the second fastest lap in qualifying, spun off the road on the warmup lap and was forced to start from the back.
Askew took full advantage of the fact there was no one alongside him as the green flag flew and held a slender but unexpectedly comfortable advantage when he hit the brakes on the steeply uphill approach to the notoriously tight Turn One. Englishman Toby Sowery (BN Racing/Team Pelfrey), who had lined up fourth on the grid, slipped past third-place qualifier Megennis at Turn One, while VeeKay, from sixth, emerged ahead of Sowery’s BN Racing teammate, David Malukas, in fourth.
Sowery kept some pressure on Askew for the first couple of laps before Askew hit his stride and began to edge away. Instead of pressuring the leader, Sowery instead found his mirrors filled by Megennis. The pair then involved in a titanic battle for position, exchanging places on numerous occasions on different parts of the race track as Askew disappeared into the distance.
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