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Vernay Triumphant In First Indy Lights Start
March 30th, 2010
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — If the Firestone Indy Lights Series is about showcasing young talent, then a trio of rookies finishing 1-2-3 in Sunday’s season-opener in the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg solidified that concept.
J.K. Vernay passed Sebastian Saavedra on the fifth lap and stayed in front for the final 31 circuits to score his first victory for Sam Schmidt Motorsports. He defeated Jan Heylen by 11.233 seconds in a race that was red flagged on the sixth lap because of rain. That allowed the teams to put rain tires on the cars in order to resume the race.
Stefan Wilson was the third rookie in this trio as he finished third for Bryan Herta Autosport.
“I didn’t know this track, so I had to learn a lot,” Vernay said. “It helped with the work I did with my team. We had a great setup on the car. Practice after practice I was pushing more and more and we were there, so it was good. It was hard not to have the pole, but I was very careful on the first lap. I didn’t want to crash at the start of the race.
“It was great to win in my first weekend in Indy Lights.”
Vernay started second and avoided a crash in the first lap when pole-winner James Hinchcliffe was tagged by rookie Philip Major, who tried to make a “major” move, jumping from ninth into the lead heading into the first lap. But his speed was too fast and he slammed into Hinchcliffe’s car, sending both off the track.
“I made a mistake,” Major said. “I outbraked myself going into (turn) one, and I’m sorry it turned out the way it did.”
Saavedra took over the lead and stayed there until Vernay drove to the inside in the first turn on a restart on lap five. Saavedra later collided with Charlie Kimball in the third turn. Kimball would continue and eventually finish fourth in front of fifth-place Gustavo Yacaman.
Farther up the field, there was little Heylen could do to catch Vernay for the race victory.
“The conditions were difficult, especially in turn one,” Heylen said. “I think we made a bad setup on the car. It was too bad I couldn’t give my good friend Stefan a run for his money during the race. It was nice being back in the car. I have not been racing for almost three years. So it’s good to be back, and I really hope that I can race in some more this year. I very much enjoyed it.”
Third-place finisher Wilson made seven road- and street-course starts in Firestone Indy Lights in 2009, but still is classified as a series rookie in 2010.
The finish:
J.K. Vernay, Jan Heylen, Stefan Wilson, Charlie Kimball, Gustavo Yacaman, Martin Plowman, James Winslow, Jonathan Summerton, Rodrigo Barbosa, Junior Strous, Carmen Jorda, Sebastian Saavedra, Pippa Mann, Philip Major, James Hinchcliffe, Adrian Campos, Jr.




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