Hunter McElrea second at Indy as Brabham rues collision
Hunter McElrea has survived a chaotic Indy Lights outing in Indianapolis to finish second as Matthew Brabham managed tenth after a penalty.
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Singaporean Danial Frost made a decisive pass for the lead on lap nine of the thirty-five lap race that saw a couple of high-profile collisions at the front of the field.
Linus Lundqvist started on pole alongside McElrea, with Lundqvist holding the lead as the field steamed into the wide first corner.
Frost made a remarkable start around the inside into third while Kiwi McElrea briefly fell to fourth before retaking third past the HMD Motorsports car.
Christian Rasmussen emerged from the opening lap fray in second, chasing down polesitter Lundqvist for the lead.
The pair squabbled until the inevitable on lap five, when they made contact, with Rasmussen facing the wrong-way on the 2.439 mile circuit.
Hunter McElrea on Friday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. (Penske Entertainment)
McElrea inherited the lead ahead of Frost and Benjamin Pedersen, with the order unchanged at the restart.
The Singaporean made the decisive pass on lap nine and sailed away to the chequered flag ahead of McElrea.
"I finally finished a race! So, that's nice," said McElrea.
"Crazy race there."
"A little disappointed that the safety car came out, but its inevitable and I understand why."
McElrea says he survived contact on lap one and made it to the end of the race without a working team radio.
McElrea's teammate Sting Ray Robb completed the podium.
Matt Brabham makes contact with Benjamin Pedersen. (Penske Entertainment)
Meanwhile, Matthew Brabham was fourth and chasing Pedersen for the final podium position when he locked up on the main straight, hitting Pedersen from the inside.
Pedersen spun and fell to thirteenth, with Brabham penalised and forced to drop to fourteenth behind the Global Racing Group with HMD Motorsports driver.
"A pretty tough day," said the Australian.
Brabham was able to recover to tenth, including an overtake on Pedersen.
"Being put back that far back was a killer."
"Obviously my mistake, but we'll get them tomorrow."
The Indy Lights field returns for the second leg of the Indy double-header at 3.15am Sunday morning (AEST) / 5.15am Sunday (NZST).
