Rosenqvist’s No4 Belardi Auto Racing Dallara-Mazda IL-15 was never seriously threatened as the 2015 FIA European Formula 3 champion left everyone in his wake before cruising to a 7.2-second win.
The main interest instead centered on a thrilling battle for second place which eventually fell the way of Brazilian Andre Negrao (Schmidt Peterson Motorsports), who matched his career-best result while fending off the attentions of Kyle Kaiser (Juncos Racing) and Santi Urrutia (Schmidt Peterson).
Carlin’s championship leader Jones finished a lacklustre fifth, chased home by Zach Veach (Belardi Auto Racing) and local favourite Garett Grist (Team Pelfrey). Fellow Toronto native Dalton Kellett (Andretti Autosport) looked set for eighth until nosing into the tire barriers at Turn Eight with just a half-dozen laps remaining.
At least he fared better than teammate and championship aspirant Dean Stoneman, who, cruelly, was unable to even start the race after his car refused to fire up properly before the start.
Rosenqvist made a picture-perfect start to edge clear of the field by Turn One. There was much jockeying of position in his wake, including minor contact between Negrao and Serralles.
En @IndyLights hay 5 pilotos en menos de 40 puntos de separación; @Edjonesracing manda https://t.co/AFcnFfUNJf pic.twitter.com/cqCkEugtmk
— IndyCar al día (@indycaraldiaweb) July 18, 2016
As Rosenqvist continued to pad his lead, Negrao and Serralles continued their tussle for second until the Carlin car suffered a punctured left-rear tire and sailed into the escape road at Turn Three.
Negrao didn’t have much respite. Before long, his mirrors instead were being filled by Kaiser, who in turn was being chased by Urrutia.
This threesome provided plenty of excitement as they fought it out for second. For much of the race, Kaiser concentrated his efforts on trying to find a way past Negrao, but later on it was more a case of having to defend from Urrutia. He continued to hang onto third until the flag.
Stoneman’s failure dropped him to fifth place in the title chase, 38 points adrift of Jones who now leads by 268 with Urrutia on 244. Serralles lies third on 236, with Kaiser in fourth on 233.
The series heads next to Ohio for a double-header on July 30-31.
