Sunday, 7th September 2008

Raphael Matos clinches Indy Lights crown with untroubled run at Chicagoland, but loses out on race win as team-mate Arie Luyendyk Jr breaks through.

Raphael Matos duly wrapped up the Firestone Indy Lights crown in the season finale at Chicagoland Speedway, but could not do so with a first oval race win, as Arie Luyendyk Jr finally broke his duck in the IndyCar feeder category.

Matos appeared on course to claim the race win too, but was stymied by a caution with just four laps to run.

The Brazilian led 65 of 67 laps after starting from the pole, but AFS/AGR team-mate Luyendyk Jr - a winless series stalwart through the Indy Pro days - surged past him on a lap 66 restart to lead the identical red-and-yellow machine in a two-lap dash to the flag.

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“It was perfect," Luyendyk admitted, "This is a dream scenario – me winning the race and Rafa winning the championship. It's more than words can describe.

"Green, white, chequered is always nerve-wracking, but we got a good restart, thank God, and Rafa and I worked beautifully today. My Firestone tyres held up beautifully, it was amazing. The car was so consistent from lap one to the end. It was just a beautiful weekend.”

Matos did not offer much resistance to either Luyendyk or the following Ana Beatriz, having already confirmed a second successive title - following last year's Atlantic success - when sole remaining rival Richard Antinucci crashed out on lap 26.

“It was the best third-place finish of my life," he admitted, "We had a plan today for me to win the championship and Arie to win the race, as he really deserved to win a race this year, and it worked perfectly for us. I'm very happy for him, and I'm really happy for the AFS Racing/Andretti Green Racing team.

"They told me that Antinucci had trouble - and I told them not to drink the champagne before we finished the race!”

Antinucci saw his dreams of hauling a four-point pre-race deficit disappear after tangling with Sean Guthrie while attempting to make up ground from ninth on the grid.

“I need to see the video, but the #4 car did not hold a consistent line throughout the corner," Antinucci claimed, "We were actually banging wheels up the straight.

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