Indianapolis, Ind. – It was a good start to the big Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis road course event at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for Rising Star Racing as Neil Alberico kicked off the weekend with a podium performance in the first of three Pro Mazda races at the Indianapolis circuit.

The Indianapolis race was held as a make-up event for the NOLA Motorsports Park round that was postponed due to torrential rain. Looking to recover from the first NOLA round in which he finished sixth, Alberico and his Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing team set their sights on a positive finish at Indianapolis Thursday evening.

In the 30-minute race that saw several full course cautions and just 11 minutes of green flag running time, Alberico made the most of the minimal green flag laps and moved all the way up from his eighth place starting position to third at the checkered flag. His biggest move of the race came in the very first turn when he leapfrogged four positions forward all the way up to fourth.

The result sees Alberico extend his championship lead in the Pro Mazda presented by Cooper Tires standings with six of 16 races now complete.

“It’s a good result to be on the podium. I would have loved to win it and we had a good shot at Weiron (Tan, race leader) after the first restart but just couldn’t make it happen and had to settle for third,” said Alberico, who finished third and second in last year’s inaugural Indianapolis double-header event. “The Indianapolis road course is pretty good for racing, with the long straightaways and a lot of drafting. The restarts are kind of where you’re trying to make up positions and we were able to do that. It is a fun racetrack and I can’t wait to be back tomorrow. We’ll make some improvements tomorrow and go out for qualifying. Hopefully we’ll put it farther up front so I won’t have to work so hard (after starting eighth today)."

Rising Star Racing will be back in action at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Friday and Saturday with two more rounds of Pro Mazda for Alberico, two Indy Lights races for Spencer Pigot as well as the Verizon IndyCar Series’ Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis for Josef Newgarden.

Follow all of the action on the Mazda Road to Indy TV app and INDYCAR15 app or at racecontrol.indycar.com.