Iowa IndyLights: Ex-F1 racer Max Chilton takes first victory
Ex-F1 racer Max Chilton converted pole position into his first career Indy Lights win after leading a Carlin 1-2 at Iowa Speedway on Saturday evening
The Briton led away from the start, and aside from a short position change with team-mate Ed Jones while working through traffic at mid-distance, he remained at the front all the way to the end.
"It was a simply perfect," said Chilton. "Credit to the team; they gave me the car to do it.
"We had a hairy 10 laps in the middle where I got held up by traffic and got a bit frustrated as I'm not used to being slowed down by backmarkers, but later on I got back into clear air and was able to get away.
RC Enerson jumped from sixth to third early on, and briefly managed to close to within attack range of the two Carlins.
His surge faded over the closing laps, which allowed Jones to get away, but he still had enough in hand to keep Kyle Kaiser at bay.
Championship leader Jack Harvey dropped two places from his starting position of third to fifth, although he still managed to add some extra padding to his points advantage by virtue of main rival Spencer Pigot being stuck down in eighth.
The race was interrupted by one caution period just after the halfway mark when Ethan Ringel's car lost power and needed to be towed out of Turn 1.
RACE RESULTS:
| Pos | Driver | Team | Laps | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Max Chilton | Carlin | 100 | 36m50.1191s |
| 2 | Ed Jones | Carlin | 100 | 6.1172s |
| 3 | R.C. Enerson | Schmidt Peterson Motorsports | 100 | 11.0474s |
| 4 | Kyle Kaiser | Juncos Racing | 100 | 13.3329s |
| 5 | Jack Harvey | Schmidt Peterson Motorsports | 100 | 13.8678s |
| 6 | Scott Anderson | Schmidt Peterson Motorsports | 100 | 19.4760s |
| 7 | Juan Piedrahita | Belardi Auto Racing | 99 | 1 Lap |
| 8 | Spencer Pigot | Juncos Racing | 99 | 1 Lap |
| 9 | Shelby Blackstock | Andretti Autosport | 99 | 1 Lap |
| 10 | Felix Serralles | Belardi Auto Racing | 94 | 6 Laps |
| 11 | Ethan Ringel | Schmidt Peterson Motorsports | 63 | Mechanical |
DRIVERS' CHAMPIONSHIP:
| Pos | Driver | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jack Harvey | 278 |
| 2 | Spencer Pigot | 260 |
| 3 | Ed Jones | 258 |
| 4 | R.C. Enerson | 214 |
| 5 | Felix Serralles | 176 |
| 6 | Max Chilton | 173 |
| 7 | Kyle Kaiser | 172 |
| 8 | Juan Piedrahita | 171 |
| 9 | Scott Anderson | 171 |
| 10 | Ethan Ringel | 154 |
| 11 | Shelby Blackstock | 151 |
| 12 | Sean Rayhall | 96 |
| 13 | Matthew Brabham | 35 |
| 14 | Scott Hargrove | 34 |
| 15 | Nelson Piquet Jr. | 28 |
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