Megennis Scores a Stylish First Indy Lights Win at Indianapolis - Speedway Digest

Robert Megennis picked perhaps the perfect place to claim an emphatic first Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires victory: the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He did so in style too. Megennis, from New York, N.Y., began his day by securing the pole position for the Indy Lights Grand Prix of Indianapolis this morning, and even though he was briefly headed in the 30-lap race by Andretti Autosport teammate – and championship leader – Oliver Askew, Megennis fought back with a decisive maneuver in Turn One, then edged clear of Askew to secure a hard-earned and thoroughly well-deserved victory.

Askew found some extra pace in the closing stages to set the fastest race lap at 1:15.6953, an average speed of 115.997 mph, narrowly beating the old track record set by current NTT IndyCar Series driver Felix Rosenqvist in 2016. Askew, from Jupiter, Fla., thereby cemented second place ahead of his closest championship rival, Rinus VeeKay (Juncos Racing), from Hoofddorp, Netherlands.

Cool, crisp conditions ensured the 2.439-mile, 14-turn road course was in good shape for this afternoon’s fifth race of the season, and Megennis made good use of his pole position to make a jump on the field. By contrast, outside front row qualifier VeeKay encountered heavy wheelspin and instantly slipped back into the pack.

Askew put the pressure on Megennis through the first couple of laps before using the extra horsepower offered by the push-to-pass feature on his AER turbo engine to accentuate the draft heading down the long front straight and then slip through into the lead at Turn One. But Megennis wasn’t about to throw in the towel. Not by any means. Two laps later, he pulled off a very similar maneuver at Turn Four to regain the lead.

Megennis then inched away from his rival, setting a string of fastest race laps to extend his margin to as much as 2.7 seconds. Askew discovered a little more speed in the closing stages but it was too little, too late as Megennis crossed the finishing stripe just over two seconds to the good. Askew instead had to settle for second, a new lap record, a slightly increased championship lead and the Tilton Hard Charger Award.

VeeKay, after slipping from second to fourth at the first corner, fought his way back past Ryan Norman (Andretti Autosport), from Aurora, Ohio, to reclaim third on lap 6. David Malukas (BN Racing), from Chicago, Ill., also snuck past Norman but began to struggle for speed in the late stages and fell behind Zachary Claman (Belardi Auto Racing), from Montreal, Que., Canada, to finish sixth.

A second qualifying session will take place tomorrow at 8:30 a.m. EDT, with the green flag for Round Six slated for 1:25 p.m., immediately before the INDYCAR Grand Prix headline event.
Provisional championship points after 5 of 18 races:

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Adam Sinclair

NHRA, IHRA, Motocross and other forms of motorsports Staff writer
About Me: Adam has been a race fan since the first time he went through the tunnel under the Daytona International Speedway almost 30 years ago. He has had the privilege of travelling to races all across the state of Florida (as well as one race in Ohio), watching nearly everything with a motor compete for fame and glory, as well as participating in various racing schools to get the feel of what racecar drivers go through every week. Adam has spent the last three years covering motorsports for Examiner.com., where he had the opportunity to see the racing world from behind the scenes as well as the grandstands. He invites everyone to follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus, and looks forward to sharing his enthusiasm for all things racing with the readers of SpeedwayDigest.com.Be sure to tune in for his weekly sports talk program, Thursday Night Thunder, where he discusses the latest in motorsports news with drivers, crew members, and fans. The show takes place every Thursday at 8:00 pm EST on the Speedway Digest Radio Network.