Dubai-based Briton Ed Jones and his Carlin team kept their Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires winning streak alive with a fine performance in the Grand Prix of Long Beach Presented by Allied Building Products. Jones, however, was forced to work hard for his third win in a row by fellow rookie Spencer Pigot (Juncos Racing), who pulled off three impressive passes during an exciting 42-lap race on the unforgiving street circuit. Felix Serralles rounded out the podium for defending champion team Belardi Auto Racing.
“What happened on the start was unfortunate, but you can’t dwell on it,” Pigot added. “There’s a quick “aw, dang” but after a couple of corners under yellow, it’s back to focusing on who’s in front of you and where you’re quicker than they are, and trying to get past. We had a lot of pace today. We were the quickest car on track for the bulk of the race. I gave it my all to try and pass Ed but I didn’t have quite enough to get by him. I was able to get good runs through Turns Eight and Nine, so that’s where I made all my passes. The push-to-pass is a new tool for us and when you get all 500 horsepower from the Mazda engine, you really feel it in the back. I tried to use it on Ed, but it wasn’t quite enough. But there are so many positives to take away from here. The Juncos team did a great job from St. Pete to here. We’re happy with second today but we’re ready for a win.”
“Coming from F3, there’s always something at the start, so I’ve always been aware of being careful and active in where I need to go,” added Serralles. “I made the right choice at the start and stayed on the left. I saw that Jack and Kyle were really close and I knew something was going to happen because I saw the 400 (foot) board coming pretty fast. I was pretty lucky. I was leading at that point but lost the lead to Ed on the restart. I wasn’t as quick as Spencer and Ed at the start but by the end of the race, I had changed a few things driving-wise and in shifting, and I was quickest. We struggled with pace at St. Pete, which was disappointing. But we’ve worked hard since then and we are much quicker here. It was actually disappointing in qualifying – I was P1, P2 for most of the session, then four guys beat me on the last lap! So I’m happy to be closer to the pace but really, you’re never happy unless you’re first. And even when you’re first, you’re not happy!”
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