MONTEREY, Calif. (Sunday, Sept. 11, 2022) – Christian Rasmussen finished his rookie season with a flag-to-flag victory in the Indy Lights Grand Prix of Monterey Race 2 on Sunday at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
Rasmussen, from Denmark, earned his second victory of the Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires season in the No. 28 Road to Indy/Stellrecht entry fielded by Andretti Autosport. He started from the pole and led all 35 laps after finishing second in the first race of the weekend doubleheader Saturday.
“It was awesome to end the season like this,” Rasmussen said. “It’s been a tough one for us. We started out at St. Pete running out of fuel from a win. It’s been a tough season. To end it like this on a high note, with second place in race one and first place in race two, is awesome.”
Rasmussen entered the 2022 Indy Lights season after winning the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship in 2020 and the Indy Pro 2000 Presented by Cooper Tires title in 2021. His other victory this season came in June at Road America.
“We’re looking to come back next year,” Rasmussen said. “Hopefully we can continue on what we ended on here and hopefully compete for a championship next year.”
Sting Ray Robb finished second today, .8893 of a second behind teammate Rasmussen, in the No. 2 Sekady car to complete a strong final weekend of the season. Robb earned his first career victory Saturday.
Matthew Brabham completed a podium sweep for Andretti Autosport in the team’s No. 83 car, passing 2022 season champion Linus Lundqvist for that spot with a brave, side-by-side move in the famous “Corkscrew” turn on Lap 4.
Lundqvist celebrated his first full day as an Indy Lights champion by finishing fourth in the No. 26 HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing car. Swedish driver Lundqvist clinched the title by finishing sixth Saturday and ended up with a 575-483 edge over runner-up Robb in the final standings.
Jacob Abel finished fifth in the No. 51 Abel Speedwagon car, backing up the fourth-place finish Saturday that tied his career best in the series.
Hunter McElrea finished seventh to clinch the series’ Rookie of the Year title despite problems with the push-to-pass system in his No. 27 Andretti Autosport entry. McElrea ended up fourth in the standings with 460 points, 20 ahead of rookie runner-up Rasmussen.
Rasmussen squirted ahead of the field at the start and controlled the gap to Robb, who started third, for the entire race. The margin between the two drivers varied from .6 of a second to about 1.2 seconds throughout the race, usually hovering around the one-second mark.
Robb tried to make a final charge on the last lap around the 11-turn, 2.238-mile road course, but Rasmussen kept his nerve and his speed for victory.
MONTEREY, Calif. – Results Sunday of the Indy Lights Grand Prix of Monterey Race 2 Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires event on the 2.238-mile WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, laps completed and reason out (if any):
- (1) Christian Rasmussen, 35, Running
- (3) Sting Ray Robb, 35, Running
- (5) Matthew Brabham, 35, Running
- (2) Linus Lundqvist, 35, Running
- (8) Jacob Abel, 35, Running
- (4) Benjamin Pedersen, 35, Running
- (6) Danial Frost, 35, Running
- (9) Hunter McElrea, 35, Running
- (11) Nolan Siegel, 35, Running
- (12) Christian Bogle, 35, Running
- (13) Flinn Lazier, 35, Running
- (10) Kyffin Simpson, 35, Running
- (7) Ernie Francis Jr., 35, Running
Race Statistics
Winner’s average speed: 101.566 mph
Time of Race: 46:16.3888
Margin of victory: 0.8893 of a second
Cautions: 0
Lead changes: 0
Lap Leaders:
Rasmussen, Christian 1 – 35
Indy Lights Point Standings: Lundqvist 575, Robb 483, Brabham 471, McElrea 460, Pedersen 443, Rasmussen 440, Frost 382, Abel 355, Simpson 312, Francis Jr. 299, Bogle 298, James Roe 219, Antonio Serravalle 204, Ryan Phinny 77, Lazier 54, Manuel Sulaiman 48, Siegel 42
About Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires
Celebrating 35 years, Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires develops drivers and teams to compete in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES and the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge. Past champions include INDYCAR SERIES champions Tony Kanaan, Scott Dixon, Josef Newgarden, Paul Tracy and Cristiano da Matta. In 2021, 20 drivers in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES were Indy Lights graduates, including rising stars and race winners Colton Herta, Pato O’Ward and Rinus VeeKay. The 2022 season consists of 14 races in the United States. The NTT INDYCAR SERIES, Indy Lights, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and IMS Productions are owned by Penske Corporation, a global transportation, automotive and motorsports leader. For more information on Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires, please visit www.indylights.com. For more information on INDYCAR and the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, please visit www.indycar.com.
About Cooper Tire
Cooper Tire, a subsidiary of The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company (NASDAQ: GT), specializes in the design, manufacture, marketing and sale of passenger car, light truck, medium truck, motorcycle and racing tires. Cooper is headquartered in Findlay, Ohio, with manufacturing, sales, distribution, technical and design operations located in more than one dozen countries around the world. For more information on Cooper, visit www.coopertire.com, www.facebook.com/coopertire or www.twitter.com/coopertire.
About Goodyear
Goodyear is one of the world’s largest tire companies. It employs about 72,000 people and manufactures its products in 55 facilities in 23 countries around the world. Its two Innovation Centers in Akron, Ohio, and Colmar-Berg, Luxembourg, strive to develop state-of-the-art products and services that set the technology and performance standard for the industry. For more information about Goodyear and its products, go to www.goodyear.com/corporate.
