It was easy to find Panther Racing's Martin Plowman after the Mid-Ohio 100. He was the driver on pit-lane with the big smile on his face even though he missed the podium.

The young Englishman matched his career-best finish with a fifth place, securing his team's first top-five on a road course since 2007 after starting seventh. Plowman picked up a spot on the first lap, and fought his way up to fifth, holding off the pressure of Daniel Herrington for the last ten laps of the 40-lap race. The Briton was quick to praise his team's effort in securing the strong finish after a rough test session at the track in June.

"This feels like a small victory," Plowman admitted, "We were at the back of the grid and by a long way [after the test], but my engineer, Al Bodey, and all the guys got together and analysed what was wrong with the car and what we needed - and, for the couple of past races, we've improved a lot.

"I was blown away with how the car felt after the first lap of practice, as it was totally different from what we had here in the beginning of June, and it was just what we needed. They gave me a great race car, and I owe the guys for this one."