NEWTON, Iowa — Arie Luyendyk, Jr. thought it was finally his day to win a Firestone Indy Lights Series race. He started on the pole and had the fastest car in Saturday’s Jeld-Wen 100 at Iowa Speedway, leading the first 101 laps.
But Dillon Battistini, of Ewell, England, proved that it’s never over until he’s in front. He stalked Luyendyk until he trapped him in lapped traffic and made his move to take the lead for the final 14 laps and his third victory of the season.
Battistini also won at Homestead-Miami Speedway and Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and he now has a 242-215 point lead over Richard Antinucci in the battle for the title.
“It feels utterly fantastic,” Battistini said. “Arie drove a great race and it was a great battle. I’m just amazed. What a race. I really enjoyed that. Our cars were very close to matching pace. We lapped a few of the cars several times and we both got held up, so I realized if I dropped back a little bit and when he got held up, I might be able to carry a run on him and it worked perfectly. There was a little bit of luck involved.
“I had to make the most of my situation when I saw the lapped cars involved. I knew it was my best chance to get by him. My hope was that he would have to back off and I would be able to stay flat.”
Luyendyk lamented what might have been as he continues to chase the checkered flag. He tied his career-best finish. He also finished second at St. Petersburg in 2005.
“My car was amazing to drive and I thought we were the class of the field,” Luyendyk said. “We had the pole and led most of the race, but traffic didn’t fall my way. The breaks just didn’t come my way. I have a lot of second-place finishes and a lot of third-place finishes, and I thought it would be my day today.
“James Davison wouldn’t let me by for about two laps, and here I sit.”
Davison was the car that Luyendyk tried to lap several times throughout the race only to have the yellow flag wave before making the move.
“I was looking at the pylon counting the laps down, I cleared some lapped traffic and we came up on Davison a few times already and I knew he would be an issue,” Luyendyk said. “I showed him my nose going into turn one and he decided to take me all the way to the apex, flat out. I had to back out. That was unsportsmanlike driving.
“Hopefully, we can bounce back with a win.”
Luyendyk was hounded for much of the race by Battistini.
“I looked more behind me than I did in front of me, to be honest,” Luyendyk said of the race winner. “I knew if I could hold it on the bottom, my car was good there. I was waiting for the time when he was going to make his move. I thought we had him covered, but sometimes you hit traffic and you have to slow up and that is what happened.”
Ana Beatriz of Brazil finished third, equaling the best Indy Lights finish of her career. Brent Sherman was fourth, followed by Pablo Donoso.
The finish:
Showing driver, laps completed, money won: 1. Dillon Battistini, 115, $32,500; 2. Arie Luyendyk, Jr., 115, $25,000; 3. Ana Beatriz, 115, $20,000; 4. Brent Sherman, 115, $17,000; 5. Pablo Donoso, 115, $16,000; 6. Jeff Simmons, 115, $15,500; 7. Raphael Matos, 115, $15,000; 8. J.R. Hildebrand, 115, $14,500; 9. Richard Antinucci, 115, $14,000; 10. Marc Williams, 115, $13,500; 11. Franch Perera, 115, $12,500; 12. Andrew Prendeville, 115, $11,500; 13. Micky Gilbert, 115, $10,500; 14. Logan Gomez, 115, $10,000; 15. James Davison, 115, $9,500; 16. Bobby Wilson, 115, $9,000; 17. Robbie Pecorari, 114, $8,500; 18. Cyndie Allemann, 112, $9,000; 19. Jonny Reid, 105, $6,000; 20. Sean Guthrie, 78, $7,000; 21. Travis Gregg, 67, $5,000; 22. Mark Olson, 59, $4,000.