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Lloyd Races into IMS Record Book |
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Alex Lloyd decided today that nobody was going to catch him, and they didn’t. Starting second on the grid he led every lap in today’s Freedom 100. Not only did he keep his undefeated string going for the 2007 Indy Pro Series [four wins], but he became this first driver in the history of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to win a race there on BOTH the 2.5 mile oval track and the 2.605 mile road course.
While the Pro Series started running on the IMS oval in 2003, their opportunity to race on the road circuit is more recent. The IMS road course was created and opened for the F1 U.S. Grand Prix in 2000. It was not made available for another venue until 2005 when the IPS held their first race on the F1 circuit, on the F1 race weekend. Given that the Indy cars have not yet raced on the IMS road course you can see that only a limited number of drivers have had the opportunity to even have a chance to race on both circuits – basically just Pro drivers so far.
Still, the list of those who have had a chance has been growing. Going into today’s race there were seven names [unless we missed a driver]. Ed Carpenter won the inaugural Pro race on the IMS oval in 2003, and drove in the inaugural 2005 Pro road race, even though he was driving in the IndyCar Series at that time.
Marco Andretti drove in the 2005 Liberty Challenge on the road course and won. Marco also drove in the 2005 Freedom 100, but did not fare too well. He did, however, finish second in the Indy 500 last year. Thus he was close. Wade Cunningham was also in a similar situation going into today’s race. Wade finished second in the 2005 road race and won the Freedom 100 last year.
Three others with one win are Jaime Camara, who nailed the 2005 Freedom 100, and ran in the 2005 and 2006 Liberty Challenge, Juan Pablo Montoya, who won the 2000 Indy 500, and Jacques Villeneuve, who won the 1995 Indy 500, and then both ran in F1 races at the IMS.
Today, however, it was the 22 year old from Manchester, England, Alex Lloyd, who had won the Liberty Challenge last year on the IMS F1 circuit, who made history. Our congratulations to Alex. His team is Sam Schmidt Motorsports.
And then a congratulations to two team owners, Michael Andretti and Kim Green, who have both pulled off the double. They were the first, when Dan Whelden won the Indy 500 in 2005 to go with Marco’s feat that year.
Who will be the second driver to add their name to the list behind Alex Lloyd? Marco Andretti has a chance on Sunday. And Camara and Cunningham get two shots in June, when the Liberty Challenge will have a IPS double header on the 16th and 17th. You just never know!
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