Chaves claims first Lights victory

Gabby Chaves led every lap on the way to taking his first Indy Lights win at Mid-Ohio, although the Schmidt Peterson driver was made to work for the victory.

Chaves led fellow front-row starter Peter Dempsey off the line and spent the opening half of the race building a lead that stretched to as much as three seconds before Dempsey regained some ground through lapped traffic.

But the real twist came late in the race when debutant Giancarlo Serenelli spun and brought out the safety car, forcing Chaves to defend his lead on a restart with four laps remaining.

Despite pressure from Dempsey, the Colombian held on to cross the line 0.3s ahead.

Jack Hawksworth survived a tight battle for third with points leader Carlos Munoz, who did well to be fighting for a podium in the first place after a huge early spin dropped him back to last.

While he managed a decent job of damage limitation it was a different story for Sage Karam, who had come into the weekend sitting second in the points but was unable to make much progress from his starting spot near the back and finished eighth.

Results – 40 laps:
 
Pos  Driver               Team            Time/Gap
  1.  Gabby Chaves         Schmidt      52m22.5112s
  2.  Peter Dempsey        Belardi         +0.3508s
  3.  Jack Hawksworth      Schmidt         +1.6782s
  4.  Carlos Muoz          Andretti        +2.3369s
  5.  Zach Veach           Andretti        +2.5952s
  6.  Juan Pablo Garcia    Moore           +3.5719s
  7.  Axcil Jefferies      Herta           +4.2458s
  8.  Sage Karam           Schmidt         +4.9242s
  9.  Jorge Goncalvez      Belardi         +5.4682s
 10.  Matthew Di Leo       MDL/Dragffy     +7.2483s
 11.  Giancarlo Serenelli  Belardi          +2 laps
 

Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/real-world-racing/3rdparty/chaves-claims-first-lights-victory

Kurt Thomas Busch Kyle Thomas Busch Jeffrey Tyler Burton Richard Allen Craven