Indianapolis, Ind. – This week’s Indy Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires triple header on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s grand prix course was a challenging event for Turn 3 Motorsport that had its ups, but ultimately yielded imperfect results for the championship-chasing team.
For Race 1, drivers Danial Frost and Antoine Comeau qualified fourth and tenth, respectively. Frost knew he had to push for the lead as early as possible but struggled to match the pace of the leaders, resulting in a fifth place finish for the first race. Comeau showed speed early on in the race, charging forward and promoting himself up to sixth in the field at one point. On lap 16, competitor Braden Eves had a frightening crash that ended the race prematurely, placing Comeau seventh overall.
In Friday’s second qualifying session, Frost put together a quick lap that saw him starting third for Race 2. While Comeau was chasing a good qualifying lap, an issue with his transponder caused a delay in the pits, losing valuable track time for the Canadian and giving him a 13th place qualifying position.
In the opening lap of Race 2, the lead group once again clustered together to fight for the lead spot, but Frost’s #68 DENJET car fell back to fifth where he remained for the duration of the race. Comeau, however, was able to gain four positions by lap two before settling into a rhythm. After pitting for new tires midway through the race, the #3 ACR/Eastern driver finished 12th.
Starting positions for Race 3 were determined by the previous race’s fastest laps, putting Frost sixth and Comeau ninth for the final show. When the green flag fell, the front of the field once again battled for positions, at one point sending several cars off course – Frost included – shuffling the Singaporean driver back to ninth. Comeau, who was right behind Frost at this point, continued to push for results until a mechanical issued called him into the pits, retiring him early and giving him a 14th place finish.
“We really struggled this weekend to match the same pace as the leading pack,” said Frost. “It was very competitive, and a few mistakes on my side really cost us valuable positions. I’m confident we’ll be able to find our way back to the top step though. We will regroup and look for a better weekend at the next race. I’m also hoping for a speedy recovery for Braden (Eves). Thank you to the team for the great effort.”
“We had some sufficient results as well as some not so great results this weekend,” said Comeau. “I think we definitely showed we had some speed, but unfortunately, we had some issues that set us back as well, including a mechanical failure in the last race. That’s racing, though, and these things can happen. We are just looking forward to the next event now and will see what we can do there.”
“It certainly wasn’t our weekend,” said Team Owner Peter Dempsey. “We showed flashes of pace but ultimately couldn’t carry that into the races. We will regroup and come back stronger at the next race. Braden Eves had a scary crash in Race 1 this weekend, and it’s never nice to see things like this happen. We want to wish him all the best and a speedy recovery. Hopefully we can see him back on track soon.”
Frost leaves this weekend holding onto fourth in the championship with Comeau remaining in tenth. There are still seven races remaining in the 2020 Indy Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires, and if this weekend is any indication of what’s to come, anything could happen in the second half of the season.