Indy Notes: Pit Crew Contest; Leist Wins Freedom 100

Column By: JOHN DOUGLAS / RPW – INDIANAPOLIS, IN – In a dominant performance on Friday, Matheus Leist drove to victory from pole position in a vastly different looking freedom 100. That, however is far from the whole story. Colton Herta, the current points leader in the Indy Lights Series was out of the race after the first lap and a new crop of faces made their way to the front of the field. Some for the first time.

The race saw passing throughout, with mid pack runners making a move toward the front in the early going, as they tried to set themselves up for a run to the finish. Santiago Urrutia the race in, but moved to the 6th position within the first 15 laps. He rode waiting for the laps to click off. As the race neared the end, he made contact with the turn two wall, falling off the pace and out of contention.

Nowhere else do you see a support race garner over 100,000 people in attendance, yet here were the future stars of Indy Lights duking it out for top five positions all race long, giving fans yet another suspenseful final ten laps. Leist came under intense pressure from Aaron Telitz in the lone Mazda factory colored Indy Lights machine. Telitz positioned his car in every gap of air LEist left in his wake trying to get the run to propel him past and into the lead, but Leist was strong, and held off many a run from the competition. Telitz managed to get to Leist’s outside with just a handful of laps remaining.

The leaders battled through turns one and two but Leist again had just enough in hand to hold off Telitz’s advances. As Telitz pushed, he ran out of tire. The car had nothing left to give him and he began to fall into the clutches of third place runner Dalton Kellet. Kellet managed to get around Telitz for second, but on the final lap he experienced understeer in turn four, giving Telitz one last shot at second place.

Telitz lined his car up for a slipstream and made the move coming to the finish line. Telitz managed to grab second place by just under a car length. Not the photo finish we were used to in the Freedom 100 of recent years, but as fans we truly have been spoiled by this race for the last few years.

Also in competition of a different form on the day were the stars cars and teams of the Verizon IndyCar Series in the traditional Carb Day Pit Stop Competition. With a new kink in the starting procedure and a best two out of three final round, it was certainly a wide-open competition in 2017. With representatives from most teams in the field participating, a great cross section of the series’ teams were on display.

Helio Castroneves’ Penske team were heavy favorites as the two-time defending champions of the Carb Day Classic, but he and his team found themselves eliminated in round two after Castroneves overshot his marks coming to his team. Ironically, he won in the opposite lane in the first round, which had the combination of asphalt and concrete surfaces, throwing teams a real curve ball on the initial launch.

The biggest surprise by far was the team of James Hinchcliffe, who managed to come to the final against Will Power, Castroneves’ Penske teammate, in a back up car allocated for his teammate. Power managed to win the first battle in the final, but Hinchcliffe’s team took full advantage of Power making the same mistake his Penske compatriot did in round two. All evened up for the third and final run, it was anyone’s guess as to who would crack under the pressure.

It was clear off the final start that Hinchcliffe had an uphill battle on his hands as he got off to a slow tire smoking start. Power charged into his pit box stopping perfectly on his marks. Hinchcliffe wasn’t but a second behind and hit his marks perfectly, but the pressure of making up for lost time got to his crew as a hang up on the rear tires gave the easy win to Team Penske and Will Power. Penske’s win makes it 17 overall for the Captain’s crew in the history of the competition.

The 101st running of the Indianapolis 500 can be seen this Sunday at noon eastern time on ABC. Race Pro Weekly will have a full recap of Sunday’s events across the Motorsports world.