Matos clinches Indy Lights title
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| Matos raises his arm in victory |
| Rick Schenk/AR1.com |
Richard Antinucci crashed out of today's Firestone Indy Lights race at Chicagoland Speedway and at that point last year's Champ Car Atlantic champion Rafael Matos locked up the 2008 Indy Lights crown, his second straight 'development series' title. Matos led all but the last lap today but with one lap to go his AGR teammate Arie Luyendyk Jr. and Ana Beatriz used the slingshot to pass Matos putting Matos third at the flag, but Matos was happy to have won the title.
Matos said he missed a shift on the final restart which cost him the race win, but was very happy to win the title and complimentary of his team afterward and says he owes the championship to his whole team.
The Firestone Indy Lights website says that the Chicagoland race will be rebroadcast tonight on ESPN2 at 10:30 p.m. ET. We will keep you informed if there is any change to this schedule.
Results
|
Pos |
Driver | Start Pos | Diff | Gap | Status |
| 1 | Arie Luyendyk Jr (26) | 3 | –.—- | –.—- | Running |
| 2 | Ana Beatriz (20) | 2 | 0.0817 | 0.0817 | Running |
| 3 | Raphael Matos (27) | 1 | 0.1700 | 0.0883 | Running |
| 4 | Bobby Wilson (15) | 12 | 0.2726 | 0.1026 | Running |
| 5 | James Davison (11) | 6 | 0.4281 | 0.1555 | Running |
| 6 | Jonathan Klein (2) | 8 | 0.4877 | 0.0596 | Running |
| 7 | Robbie Pecorari (44) | 14 | 0.8985 | 0.4108 | Running |
| 8 | Logan Gomez (23) | 10 | 1.1747 | 0.2762 | Running |
| 9 | Mike Potekhen (43) | 4 | 1.8484 | 0.6737 | Running |
| 10 | Daniel Herrington (5) | 5 | 2.0408 | 0.1924 | Running |
| 11 | Jonny Reid (77) | 15 | 2.1528 | 0.1120 | Running |
| 12 | Micky Gilbert (54) | 17 | 3.0125 | 0.8597 | Running |
| 13 | Pablo Donoso (3) | 16 | 3.3031 | 0.2906 | Running |
| 14 | Cyndie Allemann (18) | 23 | 3.9360 | 0.6329 | Running |
| 15 | Brandon Wagner (29) | 20 | 1 lap | 1 lap | Running |
| 16 | Christina Orr (24) | 21 | 28.4885 | 28.4885 | Running |
| 17 | Sean Guthrie (4) | 22 | 29.3737 | 0.8852 | Running |
| 18 | Brent Sherman (16) | 11 | 2 laps | 1 lap | Running |
| 19 | Tom Wieringa (55) | 24 | 41.6313 | 41.6313 | Running |
| 20 | Tom Dyer (6) | 18 | 5 laps | 3 laps | Running |
| 21 | Richard Antinucci (7) | 9 | 42 laps | 37 laps | Contact |
| 22 | JR Hildebrand (25) | 19 | 60 laps | 18 laps | Contact |
| 23 | Dillon Battistini (22) | 7 | 67 laps | 7 laps | Contact |
| 24 | Wade Cunningham (9) | 13 | 0.7621 | 0.7621 | Contact |
Race Statistics
Winner's average speed: 130.622 mph
Time of race: 46:46.7364
Margin of victory: 0.0817 of a second
Cautions: 4 caution flags for 19 laps
Lead changes: 1 among 2 drivers
Lap leaders: Matos 1-66, Luyendyk 67.
Point standings: Matos 510, Antinucci 478, Beatriz 449,
Luyendyk 428, Hildebrand 409, Battistini 385, Donoso 360,
Gomez 358, Davison 333, Guthrie 322.