But, at the same time, he increased his championship points lead.
Starting from pole, Jones trailed winner Stoneman by a mere 0.0024 of a second as they crossed the line, in a tense and thrilling race characterised by several changes for position at the front and followed by a sensational finish which will go down in Brickyard folklore.
By the time the dust had settled, Jones took comfort in the fact that he extended his championship lead from 21 points to 29 points as his main title rivals faltered on the day, while in the end he did exactly what was required for his title ambitions.
Speaking in the aftermath of the weekend, which marked the 100th running of the Indy 500, Jones said: “Looking at the bigger picture, we were consistently up at the front once again, and that will prove very important as we get towards the business end of the season. We’ve left every race meeting recently having increased our championship lead, which has to be the main objective – so in that respect, Indy was very much mission accomplished.”
Jones speaks to the media at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
As for the race itself, Jones reflected: “The race was really exciting, constantly back-and-forth, and very strategic. I spent a lot of time being patient and letting the laps tick down, and I was very careful to make sure I didn’t drop out of the top three, because that would have risked getting dragged into a dogfight further down the order.”
“I lost count of the number of times Dean and I passed each other, and I was more aggressive than usual, which seemed to pay off. When we re-started with one lap to go, I took the lead into Turn One and kept it flat the whole way round, but Dean benefitted from the slipstream to get a run on me through Turn Three and that gave him the extra momentum.
“It was a classic case of so near yet so far – it was such a tiny margin that it really could have gone either way. It was cool to be a part of the closest finish in IMS oval racing history, although massively frustrating to be on the wrong side of just 24 thousandths-of-a-second! The team gave me a great car and I was pleased with my performance – I couldn’t have done any more – but full credit to Dean. He drove a great race.”
Paddock sentiment, after the Freedom 100, was that perhaps Jones could have squeezed Stoneman as they exited the final banked turn side-by-side, but wisely Jones gave him space. A move which was applauded by pundits and rivals as it showed that the multiple UAE champion had the bigger picture of the title race on his mind and hence did the right thing.
Contact with Stoneman and a DNF at that point would have cost valuable points and instead of leaving Indianapolis with a greater advantage over fellow contenders, Jones would have been in the clutches of the chasing pack.
With points up for grabs in 11 more rounds to go, there is still a great deal of work to do for Jones whose first priority has been the 2016 Indy Lights championship title which he now leads with a good margin.
Team chief Trevor Carlin summed up: “Ed and the whole team should be very proud of our performance this weekend. Ed lost out by the smallest of margins, but he was right there at the flag and his consistency has put him in a very strong place in the championship standings.”
And the final word to Jones: “It was the biggest weekend of the year and obviously a very special event, but at the end of the day, it’s still worth the same points as any other race.”
“That said, there was admittedly a moment when I took a step back and soaked up the incredible atmosphere, which put into perspective how far we’ve come and what we’ve achieved – and how much closer we now are to the ultimate goal.”
Next on the Indylights schedule for Jones will be a day of testing at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on 7 June, followed by Rounds 9 and 10 at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.
Report by Paul Velasco
