Indy Lights: Harvey takes Freedom 100 victory

Jack Harvey moved into the Indy Lights Championship points lead with his victory in the Freedom 100 on Carb Day at Indianapolis.

The Briton started from the outside of the front row alongside Ethan Ringel, and the pair spent the entire race trading places at the front. They'd just begun to navigate lapped traffic when Harvey moved into the lead for what would be the final time.

Just one lap later, Ed Jones – who had come into the weekend leading the championship – spun into the Turn 4 wall after suffering a puncture with three laps to go. The Carlin driver was unhurt, but he left a debris field that forced the race to finish under yellows, thereby protecting Harvey from any further attacks.

"I was happy Ethan was on the pole, but I wanted to win the race. We started to establish a gap but Ethan was trying to save his tires and it let RC and Scott back into it. It's a chess game: you don't really want to lead going into the last lap but when the caution comes out, all you want to do is lead.

"I'm sorry for the fans that we didn't have a four-wide finish, but for me, this is what I wanted to achieve. I think everyone knew last year that I had the pace on road and street courses but the ovals needed a little work. I worked really hard over the winter and the first one we come to, we get our first win – and it's in the Freedom 100 at Indianapolis. This is the one race I wanted to win, because I understand the importance of it, what it means. To achieve two out of three wins here, I'm incredibly proud of my team for giving me the car – and that I didn't hit any walls! I still haven't found the words to fully describe it but the first thing I said to (team owner) Sam (Schmidt) was, 'Can I drive your Indy car?'"

Scott Anderson came out on top in a spirited battle with RC Enerson for the final podium place to round out a Schmidt 1-2-3-4.

No other cars were ever in contention. Sean Rayhall had started on the second row, but he fell back to sixth early on and was dropped along with the rest of the pack when the lead four broke away.

Felix Serralles exited the race with a mechanical failure, while Carlin's Max Chilton was unable to take the start due to an unspecified problem with his car.