USF2000: more valuable points for Tomaselli
Despite starting deep in the field, Bruna Tomaselli scored a P10 and a P11 at the Indy GP.
After a very wet practice session and coming from a positive inaugural weekend at St.Petersburg, Brazilian Bruna Tomaselli had challenging qualifying sessions at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, as the Cooper Tires US F.2000 supported the Indycar Indy Grand Prix event.
Starting on 17th, Tomaselli took advantage of a couple of drivers running wide and spinning at the first corner, safely completing the first lap around the 2.439 miles (3.92 km) road course in eleventh position. Just one lap later, she moved up to P10 and kept running close to Dakota Dickerson. She did manage to get past Dickerson on lap 5, when the American hit trouble, potentially after an on-track contact as he had to retire with a front suspension damage.
From ninth, Tomaselli was then protagonist of an exciting battle with Zach Holden, but the Brazilian lady defended well on the inside of turn one. The action in front benefitted Crawford and Kean (who was among the drivers spinning on the first lap), and with three laps to go, Bruna was demoted to P12.
At the front of the pack Braden Eves went into the lead in a thrilling finale; but also in the middle of the pack the action was far from over: Crawford and Keane made contact at the first corner of the last lap, opening a gap for Tomaselli who crossed the line in the top ten.
"P10 in the race today! After some difficulties in qualy and starting from P17, I came back in the race and added some points to the championship" - commented Tomaselli via her socials.
Starting from 19th on the grid, it meant that Tomaselli had to rebuild the impressive comeback of the day before. When the green flag fell, she immediately moved up the field by a couple of places at turn one and by the time the first yellow came out, she was already up to 13th.
The second race was again closely fought throughout the field, and Tomaselli kept lapping competitively. A second caution was called as Jack Miller spun at the challenging turn 1, and a third yellow came out when Sulaiman crashed into the back of Shields right in front of Tomaselli. With two laps to go after the restart, the Brazilian managed to stay out of troubles and pushed hard to get past her Pabst teammate Kaminsky, also taking advantage from more battles closely in front, but she ultimately had to back off and take a solid P11 at the checkered flag.
With a 10th and a 11th finishes, Tomaselli gained some more valuable points and kept her eyes on the big picture: she now sits 7th in the standings with 50 points, just 2 behind Kaminsky and 4 behind Holden.
In her words:
“Two races starting on the back of the grid this weekend prevented to fight for better positions, always learning! Great job @pabstracing and let's go stronger for the oval race!”