THOMPSON SCORES DEBUT INDY PRO 2000 VICTORY FOR ABEL MOTORSPORTS

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Two weeks ago, Road to Indy Presented by Cooper Tires veteran Parker Thompson wasn’t even sure he would be on the grid this season. How quickly things can change. After concluding a late deal to join debutant team Abel Motorsports, Thompson, from Red Deer, Alb., Canada, came from behind to take the checkered flag comfortably clear of impressive rookie Rasmus Lindh (Juncos Racing).

Lindh’s teammate, Sting Ray Robb, from Payette, Idaho, matched his career-best finish in third.

Unlike the earlier Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship curtain-raiser, the start for this afternoon’s opening round of the newly rebranded Indy Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires was relatively clean. Thompson, mindful of the notoriously problematic Turn One, elected to take a conservative approach which allowed an opportunist Lindh, who qualified second, to drive around the outside and assume the lead at Turn Two. Robb, who started fourth, also snuck past last year’s USF2000 champion, Kyle Kirkwood (RP Motorsport USA) in the opening sequence of turns, whereupon Kirkwood’s attempt to regain third place in Turn Five resulted in contact between the pair and a broken front wing for Kirkwood.

Lindh, who finished second in last year’s USF2000 Championship, also as a rookie, put his head down on the opening lap to open up over two seconds on the field, but it didn’t take Thompson long to reduce that deficit to just a few car lengths. Robb, too, followed in Thompson’s wheel tracks such that the three leaders were back in nose-to-tail formation as they completed the fifth of 25 laps.

Their battle was then interrupted by the first of two full-course cautions. Kirkwood’s troubled Indy Pro 2000 debut had ended prematurely in Turn Three after he had slid almost to the back of the field and then made additional contact with Locke (Exclusive Autosport), who was fortunately able to continue unscathed.

Lindh picked up from where he left off at the restart. So, too, did Thompson, who, on Lap 15, used his superior traction out of the final corner to gain a run on race leader Lindh, then take the lead in style under braking for Turn One.

“This is huge for us, especially since we’re under the pressure of a one-race deal. It’s great to finally stand on the top step of the podium, since a win in St. Pete has always eluded me. It’s one of my favorite races and I’m always fast here but somehow I haven’t won it, so my mission is complete. I knew how good the car was; the Abel Motorsports guys gave me a rocket ship. I knew I was faster than Rasmus, though he did a better job at the start, but I worked him over, used my experience and the raw pace of the car to come through with the victory.”