Matthew Brabham pulled off a dramatic late pass to capture victory in the Indy Lights round at World Wide Technology Raceway.
The 28-year-old American-born Aussie started third but spent the majority of the 75-lap contest in the runner-up spot, stalking pole-sitter and championship leader Linus Lundqvist around the 1.25-mile oval. Although Lundqvist appeared in control of the race, leading the opening 71 laps in the No. 26 HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing entry, it all came undone as Brabham began to make up ground from the second lane and closed to the rear wing of Lundqvist off of Turn 2 on Lap 72. From there, Brabham ran with the momentum as his No. 83 Andretti Autosport machine dove to the inside of Lundqvist and seized the lead en route route to winning by 0.6770s. The result marks Brabham’s second victory of the 2022 season.
With 4 to go, @MattyBrabs took the lead from @L_Lundqvist76 and secured his 2nd win of the season.#RoadtoIndy // @TeamCooperTire // @FollowAndretti pic.twitter.com/ZY4IBeIRN1
— INDY NXT (@INDYNXT) August 20, 2022
While Lundqvist collected the runner-up spot, it was Benjamin Pedersen a distant third at 11.6153s back in the No. 24 Global Racing Group with HMD Motorsports entry.
"I just wanted to win so badly."@MattyBrabs got it done at @WWTRaceway.#RoadtoIndy // @TeamCooperTire // @FollowAndretti pic.twitter.com/XtLAugzHEJ
— INDY NXT (@INDYNXT) August 20, 2022
Daniel Frost and Hunter McElrea finished fourth and fifth, respectively.
Sting Ray Robb was sixth in the No. 2 Andretti Autosport entry, ahead of Jacob Abel, the last car on the lead lap, in seventh.
James Roe ended up eighth. Ernie Francis, Jr. finished ninth, while Kyffin Simpson came away 10th.
Of note, it was a crushing finish of last (12th) for Christian Rasmussen, who was running third when he slid and made right-rear contact in Turn 2 on Lap 52. The contact was enough to bring a premature end to his day and halt a potential podium.
