Team owner Carl Russo, who harbours ambitions of taking RuSPORT into the Champ Car arena next season - possibly with Allmendinger - was equally effusive.

“It was a great weekend and a bittersweet weekend," he admitted, "The team performed well, AJ and Aaron performed very well, and it looked like we were going to win the championship and finish 1-2. Instead, we ended up winning the championship and in the tyre wall. It was a great race and we did not need that last restart, but a small mistake and we were done.

"On the other hand, for a small team in its first year, with two rookie drivers, to sit on the pole in eight out of eleven races and take seven wins is an outstanding job.”