INDY LIGHTS: Veach Wins Round 2; Jones gifted championship

Zach Veach produced another monster opening lap to leap from fourth to first and captured his second win in a span of a week while making a statement about his readiness to join the Verizon IndyCar Series.

"I think we really hit our stride halfway through the season," Veach (pictured, below) told RACER. "Taking a year off hurt my racecraft, so to come back this strong I feel like we've found our groove. With the win at Watkins Glen, being the fastest Lights driver at the Sonoma [IndyCar] test, and the win here, we're ending on top of our form."

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The big news of the day took place behind the Ohioan's Belardi Racing entry as Carlin Racing's Ed Jones and Schmidt Peterson Motorsports' Santiago Urrutia saw their fierce championship battle conclude in favor of the young Briton, who was set to lose the title until teammate Felix Serralles pulled over on the final lap to give Jones a fourth-place finish.

Without the gift provided by Serralles, Jones, who spent all but the final lap in fifth, was moments from losing the championship in a tie to Urrutia, who finished second. Crushed by Carlin's use of team orders, Urrutia was stone-faced on the podium as he fought back tears. Jones, seemingly nonplussed by winning the championship in such a contentious manner, ignored the boos from Urrutia's supporters as he celebrated receiving the $1 million advancement prize and an entry at the 2017 Indy 500 from Mazda and IndyCar.

Asked how he felt about Serralles pulling over, Jones (pictured, top) said, "I have no recognition of team orders; whatever happened on the last lap happened to Felix. I don't know what happened there. I was racing my own race, and I came out in fourth and got the championship."

Saturday's Round 1 race winner Kyle Kaiser completed the podium.

Jones started from pole and took a healthy lead into Turn 2 but it was waved off by race officials. With a second attempt on offer for Urrutia, the SPM driver nailed it and fought Jones for the lead into the first turn. What they didn't expect was for Veach to go around the outside and leave Turn 2 with the lead, and as Jones and Urrutia went two-wide through Turn 4, Jones backed off to avoid being pitched into the dirt.

Once clear, Urrutia moved ahead of Kaiser as Jones plummeted to fifth. Serralles sat in fourth between Kaiser and Jones, and with the slim points margin Jones brought into the finale, swapping positions with Serralles – who was mathematically eliminated from earning the championship on Saturday – would have been enough to ensure the title went to Jones.

Jones pressed Serralles especially hard during the closing laps but the Puerto Rican kept his teammate in fifth until he slowed entering Turn 3 on the final tour and orchestrated the result that swayed the championship from a 361-361 tie (that would have gone to Urrutia because he held a win advantage of 4-2 over Jones) to a two-point victory (363-361).

SPM co-owner Sam Schmidt was seen having a frank discussion with Trevor Carlin about the result after the race, but it didn't change the fact that Jones heads into the offseason with a sizeable check and entries in three IndyCar races to propel his career forward.