ELKHART LAKE, Wis. – The battle for this year’s Indy Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires took another dramatic twist this morning as Braden Eves scored an emphatic victory for the Jay Howard Driver Development team.
Eves’ first win of the year vaulted him back into the title mix with eight races remaining.
“It is so tough here but the team just did a fantastic job this weekend,” Eves said. “I love coming here. This is one of the best places we race at and the fans are always amazing. Thanks to the series for putting on a great show. I am so happy to get the win. We really needed this for the points. I’m ecstatic. The car was absolutely amazing and as soon as the race started, I knew I had a really good shot at the win. I was able to get the lead and guys were just battling behind me. I developed a gap and just managed that. Hats off to the team.”
Jack William Miller finished a career-best second for Miller Vinatieri Motorsports w/ Exclusive Autosport, while Eves’ teammate, Salvador De Alba, held off a snarling pack of cars to finish third.
While Eves became the sixth different winner during a topsy-turvy season, yesterday’s victor and points leader Louis Foster (Exclusive Autosport), was brought down to earth when a mid-race error saw him fall to a 13th-place finish. Foster nevertheless continues to lead the championship by 19 points, over Reece Gold, who finished fifth for Juncos Hollinger Racing.
This morning’s race began with Josh Green at the head of the field after claiming his second Cooper Tires Pole Award of the season during qualifying on Saturday morning. It was his first pole since the opening round on the streets of St. Petersburg (Fla.) in February.
Gold led the first couple of laps but soon came under pressure from Eves, who had quickly worked his way from fourth on the grid. Next time around, Eves drafted past Green into the lead before turn one and immediately began to pull away.
Miller, too, was on the move. After starting seventh, he drove to third place by lap four before displacing Green next time around. The gap between Miller and Eves stretched to as much as 2.3 seconds after eight laps as the leaders gradually increased their pace, but then the margin started to come down as Miller got into his groove and, on lap 11, set what was to stand as the fastest lap of the race.
Miller closed to within a second of Eves with three laps remaining in the 15-lap contest, but Eves rose to the challenge, turning his two best laps of the race to keep Miller at bay and eventually take the checkered flag with a 1.2538-second margin of victory. Eves’ win secured a second PFC Award of the year for team owner Jay Howard.
The leading duo finished well clear of a titanic battle for third place which for much of the race saw as many as 10 cars jostling for position. De Alba, who started sixth, overtook Green for third place after six laps and continued to hold the position despite intense pressure from Juncos Hollinger Racing teammates Ahmed and Gold.
Ahmed’s performance was especially noteworthy as he fought his way from last on the grid after his qualifying times were annulled by a technical infraction. The former British F3 champion rose steadily through the field in what he later described as the best drive of his career, which included a memorable double-overtake when he dispatched Gold and Green on consecutive corners.