Photo: Gavin Baker Photography
Exclusive Autosport’s Louis Foster clinched the 2022 Indy Pro 2000 championship with victory in the first race at Portland.
The Briton led the way from the lights to the flag and only his title rival, Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Reece Gold, was able to keep up his pace in the first half of the race. Gold’s teammate Enaam Ahmed completed the podium in third place.
It was chaos at turn one with lots of tire lockups, multiple drivers cutting the corner and the DEForce Racing duo of Nolan Siegel and Kiko Porto spinning around due to contact. Jack William Miller hit the back of Siegel under braking, who then hit his teammate as he spun.
Both Siegel and Porto were forced to retire from the race, while Miller was able to continue despite being two laps behind when he left the pit lane after fitting a new front wing. He would take the checkered flag nine laps after visiting the pit lane twice more.
Up front, polesitter Foster held the race lead ahead of Gold, who had attempted a move for first place by committing to the outside line.
By lap five, they had already built up a three-second gap to Ahmed, who would not be able to match the pace of the first two drivers.
As the race progressed, Foster began to open a gap to Gold, which was over three seconds, on his way to a championship-sealing victory.
Jay Howard Development Driver’s Marcos Flack avoided trouble at the first corner to move up to fourth from last on the grid. Despite not having enough pace to challenge for the podium, he was able to hold on to the early position, holding off what was a seven-car train for most of the race.
Race result (30 laps)
| Pos. | Driver | Equipment | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | louis foster | exclusive motoring | 34m54.4064s |
| two | reece gold | Hollinger Racing Junks | +2.1474s |
| 3 | Enam Ahmed | Hollinger Racing Junks | +11.6947s |
| 4 | flack frames | Jay Howard Pilot Development | +28.1933s |
| 5 | jonathan browne | Turn 3 Motoring | +29.1087s |
| 6 | jordan missig | pabst racing | +30.4428s |
| 7 | braden eve | Jay Howard Pilot Development | +30.9413s |
| 8 | dawn savior | Jay Howard Pilot Development | +32.8622s |
| 9 | joseph green | Turn 3 Motoring | +33.1841s |
| 10 | bijoy garg | DEForce Racing | +33.7361s |
| eleven | Yuven Sundaramoorthy | pabst racing | +36.4132s |
| 12 | lindsay brewer | exclusive motoring | +47.7191s |
| 13 | jack william miller | Miller Vinatieri Motorsports with exclusive Autosport | +9 laps |
| Retired | nolan siegel | DEForce Racing | |
| Retired | kiko porto | DEForce Racing | |
| Fastest lap: Miller, 1m09.9349s
championship standings |
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