LEXINGTON , Ohio – Last year’s winner of the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship, Denmark’s Christian Rasmussen, took another big step toward winning a second Road to Indy title Saturday by winning the Indy Pro 2000 event at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
It’s his fourth win in the last five races for Jay Howard Driver Development.
Artem Petrov chased Rasmussen every inch of the way, finishing less than a second behind after a 25-lap race that comprised the opening half of the double-header Cooper Tires Indy Pro 2000 Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio. Jacob Abel overtook New Zealander Hunter McElrea with three laps remaining to cement the final podium position.
Rasmussen, who celebrated his 21st birthday earlier in the week, continued his rich vein of form in qualifying yesterday to secure his third Cooper Tires Pole Award of the season. He took off immediately into the lead at the start, chased by outside front row qualifier Petrov, while behind them Abel initially forged his way past McElrea for third.
Mexico’s Manuel Sulaiman tried to follow suit at turn four, only to slide wide at the exit and onto the grass. Worse, his car became high-centered on the berm, causing the first two laps to be completed under the constraints of a full-course caution.
At the restart Rasmussen and Petrov quickly distanced themselves from the field, aided by the fact that McElrea had been able to repass Abel in what was to become a race-long battle for third.
The two leaders appeared to be very closely matched, turning almost identical lap times during the opening stages until Rasmussen began to inch clear. His advantage grew as high as 1.9 seconds, only for Petrov to fight back and reduce the deficit as the race drew toward its conclusion. But Rasmussen had matters in hand, easing off on the final lap to secure his sixth victory of the season by a margin of 0.9675 of a second.
“I thought I got away pretty well at the start but the early turns weren’t perfect so that let the other guys get a chance,” said Rasmussen. “I held them off the best I could, but I did a better job on the restart. From there, it was a matter of hitting my marks and focusing forward. We know how hard it is to overtake here. It was a good race, well managed, and a great job by the team. They gave me a great car. We start P3 tomorrow so hopefully we can do something from there. This gives us a little bit of a cushion with some of our championship rivals finishing down in the order, so this was a good day.”
After already snagging an extra championship point by virtue of taking The Ticket Clinic Fastest Lap Award, Rasmussen also earned one more PFC Award for Jay Howard as the winning car owner.
McElrea and Abel continued to fight over third, with McElrea holding sway until Lap 23, when Abel managed to sneak alongside in Turn Four. McElrea resumed in fourth after a grassy moment, and still finished clear of local driver Braden Eves who now trails Rasmussen by 34 points in the championship with only seven races remaining.