Podium finish for Frost at Road America
ELKHART LAKE, Wis. – The battle for the Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires championship – and a scholarship valued at almost $1.3 million to ensure entry into a minimum of three NTT INDYCAR SERIES races in 2022, including the Indianapolis 500 – took another twist today in the second leg of the Cooper Tires Grand Prix of Road America Powered by AER.
Frost started from pole for the second successive race after securing the Cooper Tires Pole Award during qualifying on Saturday morning, but the quest for his maiden victory was made a little harder when Malukas, who started second, used the draft and then slipped past on the inside line as they headed into Turn One for the first time.
As Malukas pulled away in the lead, Frost instead came under pressure from Megennis, who used his AER engine’s push-to-pass feature to draw alongside Frost as they accelerated up the start-finish straight to begin Lap 15. The pair battled side-by-side for the next two turns before Megennis managed to make the move stick in Turn Five.
Today was a much better day. It was nice to come out of that first lap clean. Malukas got me at the start and was able to maintain that for the entire race. It was a great battle with Robert. He did a great job and was able to get past me in the end. Seeing Robert fully send it on the outside was pretty interesting! We dueled it out but were very respectful in our side-by-side action. I think we still have some work to do on the car, but I’m hoping to get to the top next race weekend.
Danial Frost
Car #68
Frost came in with third – his first podium result in Indy Lights – after starting from pole position thanks to Qualifying on Friday. This was his first pole position for Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires pole position for Team Andretti Autosport
Danial Frost clearly enjoys driving at Road America. Two years after making his Road to Indy debut at the scenic Wisconsin road course in USF2000 in 2018, Frost claimed victory in the opening race of the 2020 Indy Pro 2000 season. This afternoon, Frost, 19, driving for Andretti Autosport, added his first career Indy Lights pole with a best lap of 1:55.5938, an average speed of 125.010 mph.
I’m really happy, I didn’t expect this. I pushed a bit harder and was able to get the lap in, but it’s surprising how large the gap is to the rest of the field. We only had two laps to get it in and the team did a great job on strategy. It means a lot; we’ve been working hard to get to the top step and we’re one step away from that first victory. We’ve had good results here in the past and it’s a track I really enjoy. I’ve had a lot of momentum and confidence here, especially with the win last year, so that plays a part – but we’ve worked hard to extract the most out of myself and the car and it paid off. I can’t thank the team enough. I’m just going to go hard at the start and focus on my own race tomorrow.
Danial Frost
Car #68
Frost was eighth fastest in practice and his previous best qualifying effort came on the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla., where he started fourth.
The second half of the 20-race Indy Lights season will kick off in two weeks’ time at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio, on the July Fourth weekend, once again in conjunction with the NTT INDYCAR SERIES.