Martin dominates again at Mid-Ohio

From pole position, the Australian nailed the start and restart with ease, to beat Thompson of Canada and deliver Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing another 1-2 finish. Martin’s winning margin of 3.86sec was by no means representative, however, since Thompson backed off on the last lap.

In fact, the Canadian’s race was one of damage limitation. Following a restart caused by Ayla Agren’s John Cummiskey Racing coming to a halt, Thompson had ArmsUp Motorsports’ Victor Franzoni pass him into Turn 1. However, a brave pass around the outside of Turn 4 which gave him the inside of Turn 5 produced the desired result and Thompson moved back into second, albeit 2.5sec behind his teammate.

Over the remaining laps, Thompson whittled that lead form 2.5 to 0.8sec but could get no closer.

Franzoni hung on to claim the final step on the podium, his eighth top-three finish of the season. However, after being passed by Thompson, Franzoni had to work hard to keep Robert Megennis behind him, the Team Pelfrey driver excelling on raceday as usual, and eventually claiming fourth.

Dakota Dickerson, who started third, ran wide in his Afterburner Autosport car on lap 8, and relinquished two places, but didn’t compound his error with any more mistakes, and came home fifth, 1.3sec ahead of Garth Rickards of Pabst Racing.

Other notable movers included Michai Stephens who climbed from 19^th on the grid for RJB Motorsports to claim 14^th.