Hunter McElrea inherited the win at the Iowa oval after Linus Lundqvist and Matthew Brabham touched in the closing laps, overtaking the New Zealander and with the Swede being punished after the race for the touch
The Indy Lights race at the Iowa oval on Saturday afternoon had excitement right to the end. Swede Linus Lundqvist was leading the race with four laps to go when Australian Matthew Brabham attempted an overtake on the outside. Lundqvist closed the door and the two touched, with Brabham taking the worst of it and breaking his front wing. Linus even took the flag at the front, but was punished with the loss of three positions after the race. So New Zealander Hunter McElrea, who overtook Matthew on the last lap, inherited the victory.
McElrea had started from pole position, his second in a row, and led the first 50 laps of the race, when the only yellow flag of the race came out. Irishman James Roe of TJ Sports lost control of his car and crashed himself into the wall. On the restart, the Andretti driver was overtaken by Lundvist and Brabham, who took the lead.
"I don't know what I did in that restart. I'll have to look again, watch the video. It really wasn't good to get the dirty part of the track like that," McElrea said after the race. "Obviously, I didn't win the way I would have liked. Honestly, I think Matt deserved that one. But I accept it, two wins in a row. You have to accept what you get in this game," the New Zealander concluded.
The touch between the two leaders generated discussion after the race. Lundqvist said that "it was a tight race. I lost a little traction in turn one and saw that he was behind me. But my spotter said it was all clear, so I changed lines and unfortunately my rear end touched his front. It's inches that decide on ovals and I trusted my spotter. I apologize to Matt for the incident.
Brabham, meanwhile, was not at all happy about the incident, and complained that the Swede didn't look in his rearview mirrors. "He said his spotter claimed it was clean. But at the end of the day, we still have mirrors. He knew I was there because he gave me that track first," complained the Australian.
Dane Christian Rasmussen inherited second place, with Matthew completing an all-Andretti podium that celebrated the team's 250th victory. Lundqvist, Sting Ray Robb, Jacob Abel, Danial Frost, Ernie Francis Jr., Benjamin Pedersen, and Christian Bogle rounded out the top ten in Iowa.
With the result, Lundqvist continues to lead the Indy Lights Series, with a comfortable 77-point lead over McElrea, who took over second place. The series returns on August 7, for the Nashville round.