MADISON, Ill. – David Malukas, driving for his family’s Chicago, Ill.-based HMD Motorsports team, came from behind Saturday to sweep the doubleheader Cooper Tires Indy Lights Oval Challenge of St. Louis at World Wide Technology Raceway.
Still a month shy of his 20th birthday, Malukas spectacularly fought his way past polesitter Kyle Kirkwood to secure his sixth win of the season and reclaim the championship lead.
Kirkwood finished second for the second straight race, but with additional points being awarded in the only two oval races of the season, he now trails Malukas by just three points with six races remaining. At stake is a scholarship prize valued at almost $1.3 million to guarantee entry into a minimum of three NTT IndyCar Series races in 2022.
Benjamin Pedersen finished third for the second successive race for Global Racing Group with HMD Motorsports, vaulting him from seventh to fourth in the points table.
Kirkwood secured his fourth Cooper Tires Pole Award of the season by virtue of posting the fastest of each driver’s second and final lap of single-car qualifying on Friday, and took full advantage by taking the lead at the start. Malukas remained hot on his heels with Pedersen and teammate Linus Lundqvist, both squeezing past third-place qualifier Danial Frost for third and fourth on the opening lap.
The three leaders remained virtually tied together for the opening 30 laps, with Lundqvist hanging on as best he could – a remarkable effort given that he was driving the car used previously this season by Nikita Lastochkin after his regular Dallara IL-15 was damaged in a crash on Friday.
Concerns about excessive tire wear led officials to issue a directive for today’s race which required a mandatory change of both right-side tires halfway through the scheduled 70 laps. In addition, teams were required to run a lighter fuel load, which would be replenished at the halfway mark.
With the fuel and tire stops completed under red-flag conditions, the race was restarted in single file with Kirkwood still leading from Malukas, Pedersen, Lundqvist, Frost and Italian-Canadian Devlin DeFrancesco.
After a couple more green-flag laps, Malukas glimpsed his opportunity and took a high line into turn one to slip alongside Kirkwood. The top two title protagonists proceeded to race wheel-to-wheel for most of the next three laps before Malukas finally was able to inch ahead on Lap 41 as they sped into turn three. Job done. In magnificent style.
Kirkwood remained virtually glued to Malukas’ rear wing for the next 15 laps before Malukas finally was able to eke just a smidgen of breathing room. Shortly afterward, the yellow flags waved again following reports of a tire issue for Frost, who had headed for the pit lane soon after being overtaken by teammate DeFrancesco. It turned out to be the only occurrence, but once again race officials erred on the side of caution by displaying the checkered flag after 62 laps, eight laps short of the intended distance.
DeFrancesco recorded another top-five finish, followed by Australian Alex Peroni, who posted another fine drive for the Carlin team, while Andretti Autosport’s Robert Megennis secured the Tilton Hard Charger Award after working his way from 12th to seventh.