Romancini's charge takes him to second in points

Mario Romancini Credit: Jim Haines/Indy Lights

It wasn't the charge to the podium finish he recorded at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway or the domination he displayed at the Milwaukee Mile, but RLR/Andersen Racing's Mario Romancini charge from 13th to fourth in the Miller Lite 100 on June 20 at Iowa Speedway was almost as impressive.

The 21-year-old Brazilian drove the final portion of the race with a broken weightjacker, which prevented him from making in-cockpit adjustments to his No. 5 car during the last 25 laps of the 115-lap race.

"It was a good race for the championship," Romancini said. "I had a problem with my weightjacker; it wasn't working for the last 25 laps or so, which made it very, very difficult. The car had a lot of push, and there wasn't anything I could do about it. I was up to third, but then I got blocked by (Daniel) Herrington, and then (James) Hinchcliffe and (Ana) Beatriz passed me. There wasn't anything I could do about it. Still, it was a very, very good result for us, especially with the problem with the weightjacker."

Despite missing the podium on an oval for the first time this season. Romancini once again won the $1,000 Force For Earth Hard Charger award.

"It is very difficult to pass here," he said. "I was just trying to take advantage of other people's mistakes. I was able to pass both on the inside of Turn 1 and to the outside of Turn 3, so that proves I had a good car and we did a good job."

Even more importantly, the strong finish moved Romancini to second place in the championship point standings. He trails J.R. Hildebrand, 227-211, heading into the Corning 100 on July 4 at Watkins Glen International.

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