For a driver who had never competed on an oval before February, Dillon Battistini is adapting quite nicely, having claimed his third win of the 2008 Firestone Indy Lights campaign and, with it, the overall points lead.
There is a touch of irony to the Briton, who drives the #15 AlexP car for Panther Racing, having taken all three of his wins on oval courses, having come from a road-racing background, when he may have been expected to triumph on the street course at St Petersburg instead. That he has been a frontrunner at all in his rookie season, however, is testament, not only to his own ability, but also to the preparation of the Panther team.
"It helps when the car's great," Battistini admitted, "The Panther team has given me a fantastic car at each of the oval circuits that we've been to - we got a bit unlucky at Milwaukee, as I was flying in the test there but, unfortunately, it didn't work out in the race - but, aside from that, I've had a car capable of winning every time out.
"I'm just really pleased with how it's gone. There was a little bit of luck involved [in Iowa this weekend], but I can't thank my team enough for the cars they've given me this season. These guys are the best for a reason and we're proving it.”
Battistini's third win came after he played the waiting game to perfection in the Jeld-Wen 100 at Iowa Speedway, stalking poleman Arie Luyendyk Jr until the leader got caught up in traffic, and then fending him off at a late-race restart with one lap to go to win by 0.4948secs.
"I knew that I had to make the most of the situations when we were coming to pass the lapped cars," the Briton said, "I knew that it was my best chance to get past, so I tried staying right on his gearbox when we were catching traffic. Even if I could get a slight run, however, it was difficult to find space to get past, so then I tried just hanging back slightly. My hope was that he'd have to back off and I would be able to stay flat. That, luckily for me, is how it worked out."
![Dillon Battistini wins the Jeld-Wen 100 at Iowa Speedway for Panther Racing [pic credit: IRL/McQueeney]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/459241.jpg)
