ELKHART LAKE, Wis. - After dominating both USF2000 races at Road America last year, Rinus VeeKay had high hopes coming back to the picturesque circuit in the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires this weekend. While not able to repeat last year’s performance, the talented Dutchman was able to come away with two top-five finishes to move up to second place in the championship standings.
“I don’t feel too happy about this weekend,” said the 2017 USF2000 Championship Runner-Up. “After last year's sweep in USF2000, I expected to be successful this weekend in Pro Mazda as well. We were just struggling this whole weekend on race pace. We can move forward from here and see how Toronto goes.”
The 17-year-old started the weekend off strong, qualifying third for Race One, only 0.0877 seconds off pole position. In the second qualifying session, VeeKay finished fourth, placing him on the outside of the second row.
“I was really happy with both qualifying sessions,” commented VeeKay, who won the first two races of the 2018 Pro Mazda Championship. "I got a little bit unlucky with some traffic and without some red flags we could have gone for pole. That was one big plus of the whole weekend, just to be super quick in qualifying.”
In Race One, thanks to a clean start and opening lap, VeeKay was able to hang onto third place early on. However, a setup not suited to longer runs meant the teenager would fall into the clutches of Harrison Scott, relegating VeeKay to fourth. In the closing stages of the race, VeeKay battled championship leader Parker Thompson. The late-race battle would end with Thompson finishing fourth and VeeKay in fifth.
In Race Two, VeeKay made a lightning start and moved up to second place by the conclusion of the opening lap. Unfortunately for VeeKay, the set up on his Juncos Racing PM-18 race car was still lacking pace dropping him back as the race went on and the track temperature kept increasing. The 17-year-old had to settle for fifth across the line.
Despite not ending the Road America doubleheader the way he had hoped, VeeKay moves up to second place in the championship thanks to two consistent finishes. The chase for the Pro Mazda title and the Mazda Scholarship to advance to Indy Lights for 2019 continues with another doubleheader weekend in the streets of Toronto, July 13-15.
About Rinus VeeKay: Rinus was born and raised in the Netherlands and, at the age of 17, already has five race wins, including fifteen podiums on the Mazda Road to Indy. This season, the Dutch phenomenon will be competing in the Pro Mazda Championship on the Mazda Road to Indy with powerhouse team Juncos Racing. You can follow Rinus via his website FollowRVK.com as well as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.