Firestone Indy Lights Final Round Will Crown Champion
by Allan Brewer
allan@indyproracer.com
It all comes down to one last race on the 1.5 mile oval as the SunRich Gourmet 100 at Chicagoland Speedway hosts the deciding round of racing in the 2008 Firestone Indy Lights season.
Only Raphael Matos of AFS Andretti Green Racing and Sam Schmidt Motorsports' Richard Antinucci can reap the rewards of a long season's battle for the Firestone Firehawk Cup, a year that's featured some of the best competition ever in the eight year old series that switched its name a week ahead of the first event and went on to prove itself exceedingly worthy of the 'Indy Lights' mantle.
There's some business yet to settle further down the field as well, with SSM's Ana Beatriz and RLR Andersen racer J R Hildebrand separated by only eight points for third. The race for fifth place is even tighter as Dillon Battistini (newly appointed at Team Moore) tries to hold off AFS AGR's Arie Luyendyk Jr for the spot. The pair are tied at 378 points apiece.
Driver Changes Continue Ahead of Round Sixteen
Panther Racing found idle Bobby Wilson eager to return to the cockpit for the SunRich Gourmet 100 and will put the veteran driver into the No. 15 Dallara whose seat was vacated when Dillon Battistini took the reins of the No. 22 car at Team Moore, while Pablo Donoso moves back to the Mo's Gold No. 3 car for the weekend.
Kiwi's Christina Orr and Jonny Reid are back in place at Alliance Motorsports and Sam Schmidt Motorsports respectively, as veteran oval-racer and 2005 Indy Lights champion Wade Cunningham rejoins for this race at Integra Motorsports.
Brandon Wagner of Lafayette, Indiana takes a spot in an Alliance/Wagner Motorsports entry for Chicago, and Tom Wieringa returns at Guthrie Racing to take the seat once held by IndyCar-bound Franck Perera.
Jonathan Klein closes out the season with a home stand (he's from historic and beautiful Chicago suburb of Long Grove, Illinois) in the No. 2 Team Moore car alongside Battistini.
Race Will Be Broadcast Live on ESPN 2
The final race of the 2008 Indy Lights season will bring the series' first live event coverage of the year as ESPN2 broadcasts the SunRich Gourmet 100 from Chicagoland Speedway at 11:30 PM CDT (12:30 PM EDT) on Sunday.
The original live broadcast of the season had been the Freedom 100 on Carb Day (May 23rd) which was delayed by rain until Saturday, and was tape-delayed for national viewing several days later.
- SunRich Gourmet 100 Race: ESPN2 (Live Coverage) at 12:30 PM EDT, September 7th
- Talent: Bob Jenkins, Robbie Buhl (announcers); Mike King (pit reporter)
- Live streaming video coverage of the SunRich Gourmet 100 SWE Pole Qualifying (3:00 PM EDT September 6th) and the SunRich Gourmet 100 (12:30 PM EDT September 7th) is available at www.indycar.com
(all times local; schedule subject to change):
Saturday, September 6th
- 8:00-9:00 AM – Firestone Indy Lights practice
- 11:15 AM-12:15 PM – Firestone Indy Lights practice
- 2:00 p.m. – Firestone Indy Lights SWE Pole Qualifying
Sunday, September 7th
- 11 AM – Firestone Indy Lights SunRich Gourmet 100 pre-race
- 11:30 AM – Firestone Indy Lights SunRich Gourmet 100 (100 laps/100 miles)
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