Kaiser Sweeps Chaotic Toronto Indy Lights Weekend

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer

Kyle Kaiser had to deal with Colton Herta in front and Santiago Urrutia behind. By Lap 25, neither were a concern for the California native as he went on to win the second Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires race on the streets of Toronto, completing a weekend sweep for Juncos Racing.

The 45 lap race started with Herta on pole ahead of Urrutia and Kaiser but Kaiser got second at the start. While the leaders were going through Turn 2, Nico Jamin was on Urrutia’s left and was squeezed into the wall, causing an incident that also ended the races of Shelby Blackstock and Neil Alberico.

The race went back to green with Zachary Claman De Melo moving around Urrutia for third and then Telitz moving past his Belardi Auto Racing teammate for fourth. Urrutia stayed fifth before his engine quit on him on Lap 11, necessitating a full course yellow as the Uruguayan’s car stopped in the middle of the front straight.

The race went back to green with Herta still leading over Kaiser but that lead would not last the rest of the race. On Lap 25, Herta’s left rear suspension failed in the last half of the course, allowing Kaiser to pick up the lead.

Kaiser would lead the rest of the way and would win his third race of the year ahead of Telitz, Claman De Melo, Juan Piedrahita and Matheus Leist rounding out the top five.

For Kaiser, this weekend couldn’t have been better timed. After Leist won three of four races before Toronto and climbed to second in points, Kaiser padded his points lead after Leist finished 13th on Saturday. Behind Leist in points, Herta finished tenth in Sunday’s race right in front of Urrutia who was fourth in points heading into the second race of the weekend.

“This is exactly what we needed. We came into this weekend saying we’ve got to win both. I know we didn’t have to but we made that the priority and we came out of the box really strong,” Kaiser said.

“This morning qualifying didn’t go exactly how we wanted but we stayed positive, we knew we had a good race car so we kept at it and a little luck came our way. That happens in racing, I’ve been on the bad side of luck before, too. I mean that’s what happens when you spend so many years in this series, you’re going to have your bad days, you’re going to have your good days. This day I was rewarded, luckily but I can’t be any happier,” added Kaiser.

Points

Kaiser 280
Leist 228
Herta 213
Claman De Melo 207
Telitz 203
Urrutia 197