TORONTO – Spencer Pigot survived a race under challenging conditions to make a clean sweep of the doubleheader weekend on the streets of Toronto. The victory helps the Juncos Racing driver re-enter the championship discussion after a difficult “Month of May” at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The fourth career Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires win for the 21-year-old was also his twenty-second career trip to the top step of a Mazda Road To Indy podium.
An eventful Cooper Tires Grand Prix of Toronto Powered by Mazda race, which saw only three cars finish on the lead lap, began with intensifying rain.
Polesitter Pigot led the field to the green flag but the first start attempt to go racing on the 1.755-mile, 11-turn Exhibition Place circuit was waved off when fellow front row starter Ed Jones spun coming to the green flag. The 20-year-old pilot was able to keep going but sustained minor damage to his front wing after making light contact with the wall. The native of the UAE also had contact with the No. 5 of Juan Piedrahita in Turn 8 later in the race, but the Carlin Racing crew was able to quickly replace damaged front wings in both instances and Jones was able to stay on the lead lap to come home third for his fifth podium of the season.
Championship leader Jack Harvey drove a smart race to earn his eighteenth career Indy Lights podium. The Schmidt Peterson driver started fifth and made one of the nicer passes of the race on Lap 2 when he went under former Formula 1 driver Nelson Piquet Jr of Carlin in Turn 3. However, the Lincoln, England native had nothing for Pigot as he could get no closer than 1.7 seconds in the closing ten laps.
The final turn of the circuit proved to be tricky in wet conditions. Scott Anderson (SPM with Curb-Agajanian), RC Enerson (Schmidt Peterson Motorsports with Curb-Agajanian), Shelby Blackstock (Andretti Autosport) and Felix Serralles (Belardi Auto Racing) all sustained damage after having single car incidents in the quick left-hander.
Piquet Jr, the current FIA Formula E Championship leader who started fourth for Carlin, had his race end early when he was hit from behind in Turn 3 for the second day in a row.
Despite losing two laps after contact with Jones, Belardi Auto Racing’s Piedrahita was able to fight back to a fourth-place finish and score a career-best result.
After a horrific crash in Saturday’s race, Enerson’s Schmidt Peterson crew were hard at work until 3:00 a.m. rebuilding the Lucas Oil sponsored No. 7 entry. The 18-year-old started third and moved to second when Jones spun on the first lap. The New Port Richey, Florida driver was impressively hounding Pigot until he spun coming to the green flag on the first restart on Lap 8. His team was able to make repairs and Enerson crossed the line in fifth.
The race was originally scheduled for 45-laps or 60-minutes but was shortened to 30 laps when the weather began to worsen.
Felix Serralles of Belardi Auto Racing earned the RePlay XD Move of the Race Award for his pass of Piquet Jr on Lap 4.
Spencer Pigot (No. 12 Mazda/Doug Mockett & Company/Rising Star Racing/The Stutz/BAD/OMP – Juncos Racing): “It was very tricky out there. It was fun driving in the rain, in all the different conditions with all the pavement changes. We started on new Cooper tires which gave us as much grip as they could, but that’s a big ask with all the patches on the track. I think everyone either went around or almost went around. A few times, I was pointed toward the wall and had to back out of the throttle. If you take your eyes off the road or your mind off what you’re doing, you’re going to have issues. Any little bit of over-aggression and you’ll be sliding in places you didn’t think possible. To get two wins – and to get some points back – is great for the Juncos team.”
Indy Lights
