SONOMA, Calif. — Alex Lloyd of England scored his eighth Indy Pro Series victory of the season Saturday and clinched the 2007 Indy Pro Series title.
It was the third title for team owner Sam Schmidt since 2003.
Lloyd started second but passed pole winner Richard Antinucci on the opening lap and led the rest of the 30-lap race.
“It’s been an amazing day,” Lloyd said. “We really wanted to win the championship by winning the race. That was the way we wanted to do it. We had a big lead, but we didn’t want to fall behind and win it through the fact that we just had a big lead from the beginning of the season. We wanted to show that we were dominant from the beginning and finish that way as well.”
Lloyd admitted his car’s handling began to fade midway through the race but on a track where it’s difficult to pass, he was able to stay in front.
“Today was a tough day,” Lloyd said. “The car changed a lot during the race. We started off really strong and then it kind of fell apart a little bit in the middle of the race. I was struggling a little bit and Richard was catching back up.
“After the yellow, the car cooled down, the tires cooled down and the car was great again.”
With the championship clinched, Lloyd did not start the second race when his car failed to roll off the grid because of a fuel pressure issue. When the car was restarted, it stalled in the first turn and dropped out of the race.

DAY TWO: Richard Antinucci took Sunday's Indy Pro Series event at Infineon Raceway. (Dennis Mattish Photo)

As the race winner, he pulled an “eight” which meant the top eight finishers in Saturday’s race started in inverse order. Antinucci started seventh and was able to move his way up to third in the first nine laps.
Antinucci passed Andrew Prendeville for second place on lap 14 and set his sights on the lead. He took it on lap 19 when he passed Ryan Justice and led the final 12 laps for his second victory of the season.
“Two out of the last three road course races, we’ve got to be proud of that,” said Antinucci, who also won at Mid-Ohio on July 22. “I have to thank my Uncle Eddie (Cheever) for giving me this chance. We had the best car out there today.
“In such a short span, five race weekends, we have the best road course car out there.”
The finishes:
Saturday: Alex Lloyd, Richard Antinucci, Mike Potekhen, Stephen Simpson, Jaime Camara, Logan Gomez, Andrew Prendeville, Ryan Justice, Jonathan Klein, Brad Jaeger, Matt Jaskol, Sean Guthrie, Chris Festa, Phil Giebler, Ken Losch, Wade Cunningham, Bobby Wilson, Robbie Pecorari, Hideki Mutoh, Steve Ablondi, Micky Gilbert, J.R. Hildebrand.
Sunday: Richard Antinucci, Ryan Justice, Andrew Prendeville, Logan Gomez, Stephen Simpson, Jonathan Klein, Matt Jaskol, Mike Potekhen, Brad Jaeger, Hideki Mutoh, Wade Cunningham, Phil Giebler, Sean Guthrie, Bobby Wilson, Ken Losch, Micky Gilbert, Jaime Camara, Steve Ablondi, Chris Festa, J.R. Hildebrand, Alex Lloyd, Robbie Pecorari.