INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The Carb Night Classic at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park began with Michael d’Orlando claiming a narrow victory for Cape Motorsports in the all-green 75-lap Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship encounter.
D’Orlando, the defending race champion having scored his maiden USF2000 victory in the corresponding event in 2021, was determined to keep his streak alive. He was rarely more than a few tenths of a second clear of his pursuer throughout the demanding 75-lap race, but he never allowed himself to be flustered, even when lapping some slower cars midway through the race.
Biljoy Garg piled on the pressure, but d’Orlando was up to the task and duly took the checkered flag by just 0.2328 of a second.
Garg (DEForce Racing) finished second in the Cooper Tires Freedom 75 USF2000 event, with Myles Rowe completed the podium for Pabst Racing.
“What a fantastic race. I mean, obviously I have to give props here to Bijoy (Garg) and Myles (Rowe), they were on my butt the entire time, but I couldn’t have done it without the team and Rising Star Racing,” d’Orlando said. “They made this happen for me; I just happened to have the car that could go win it. The whole race was a bunch of strategy and tire management but I held it to the end and, honestly, I’m super thankful for everything the team and my sponsors have done for me this whole year, and to get my maiden win in 2022… and more to come! I’m super excited, let’s go to Road America.”
Less than an hour later, Englishman Louis Foster overcame polesitter Reece Gold to score a memorable Indy Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires triumph for Exclusive Autosport.
“I don’t know what to say, to be honest,” Foster said. “We came into the race just wanting to score points and do as well as I could. My first time ever on an oval, I just wanted in a way to get it over and done with and make sure I scored some points.”
Gold had to be content with second place, with Josh Green climbing from sixth on the grid to third for Turn 3 Motorsport.
The race wins were enough to catapult both drivers into the lead of their respective championships with eight of 18 races now in the books.