Telitz rolls to win in Indy Lights series debut

Aaron Telitz's amazing ride up the open-wheel racing ladder continued Saturday with a flawless, flag-to-flag victory in the first of two Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires races.

And he did it in his series debut.

Starting from the pole position for Belardi Racing, Telitz avoided any first lap, Turn 1 carnage with a nifty move and motored away to a comfortable 11-second win over 16-year-old Colton Herta – also making his Lights debut.

"I expected to do well this year but I had no idea I'd win the pole and the race in my first start," said the 25-year-old native of Birchwood, Wisconsin. "This is a really deep field with lots of experience, so to win the first time out feels really good.

I got a good start but then I saw Kyle [Kaiser] dive inside so I just broke a little early and he slid past me. After that, my car was great and I think I had my fastest lap on lap 28 or 29."

Telitz got his start in go-karts and didn't drive his first racecar until he was 20, but once he did he won a Skip Barber Scholarship, Team USA Scholarship and Mazda Scholarship. Last year's Pro Mazda championship earned him $601,700 and he brought that to Brian Belardi's team.

""I think the Mazda ladder system is the best thing going in motorsport," said Telitz.

Herta, whose father Bryan was an IndyCar winner in CART and the IRL during his 13-year-career, had never seen the St. Petersburg track before Friday practice. He qualified fifth, dropped back to sixth and then fought his way back to second in what was also the debut for Stenbrenner/Andretti Racing.

"The push-to-pass really helped and it was a pretty good way to start," said Herta, who spent the past two years racing in Europe. "I got high fives from dad, Michael [Andretti] and Marco so that was cool too."

Neil Alberico rounded out the podium for Carlin Racing and Shelby Blackstock gave American drivers a sweep of the top four.

And Herta won the pole for Sunday's 35-lap race.