Indianapolis, Ind. -- Nico Jamin came to Indianapolis with two main goals in mind and was able to achieve both of them. The first one was to add his name to the list of Indy French winners, and the second goal was to leave Indy with the championship lead.
Jamin had the perfect race weekend at Indy. He captured two pole positions, including the USF2000 Indy track record on Friday, won the two races at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Friday and Saturday in convincing fashion, and even captured the fastest lap in Race two. Jamin scored his fourth win of the season (NOLA 1, Barber 2, Indy 1 & 2), including three races in a row, and now leads the championship by 18 points after eight rounds.
A frantic, final five laps at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Grand Prix circuit on Friday set the stage for Jamin to take his first win of the weekend at the Brickyard. Jamin started on the pole position with his Cape Motorsports teammate Aaron Telitz alongside, but an incident on the first lap brought out a full-course yellow. Following the short yellow flag, Jamin did not have a great restart, which allowed not only Telitz to take the lead, but Eidson to move past into second.
"Starting - or restarting - from the front is actually the worst place to be here! I kept my lead at the start, even though it was very tight, but on the restart, I ended up third," Jamin said. "I battled very hard with Jake, but it was nice and clean, and I appreciate that. I got by him, but Aaron got a big gap on me. I was turning good lap times, but he was way too far out. The next caution helped me, because I had a good restart. Aaron and I went deep, but I think Jake went the deepest of all of us! He went straight, and we couldn't turn. Aaron went on the grass and Anthony Martin got by me, so I was third. I made a pass on him and got by Jake on the last lap."
Jamin fought really hard and finally passed Eidson and moved back into second. With under 10 minutes remaining, race leader Telitz tried to defend his position from another restart, but then went completely off track at the first corner and dropped all the way to fifth place. Eidson took the lead, ahead of Anthony Martin, who had briefly gotten past Jamin for second, only to be passed on the following lap.
On the final lap, Jamin had closed the gap to Eidson and made an impressive move that stunned many observers, and checked out to claim his third win of the season and his first ever at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. As announced earlier this week, Jamin's dream was to win at Indy to kiss the bricks, but also to add his name to the list of French winners. He did and became the fourth Frenchman to win at Indianapolis (after Jules Goux in 1913, Rene Thomas in 1914, both at the Indy 500, and Simon Pagenaud in 2014 in the inaugural Grand Prix of Indianapolis).
On Friday night after Race One, Jamin was still ranked second in the 2015 Cooper Tires USF2000 Powered by Mazda championship, only six points behind Jake Eidson.
Thanks to his fastest time in qualifying on Friday, Cape Motorsports' Jamin started on the pole position in Race Two. Jamin led from start to finish to win the second of two USF2000 National Championship races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Championship frontrunner Eidson lost his front wing shortly after the start, forcing him to pit for a replacement. Jamin, driving the No. 2 Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing /Synova Eco Plastics/BRM Chronographes/All Road Academy/ USF2000 Mazda, had a dominating race and completed the job with a margin of victory of 4.86 seconds over teammate Telitz, to pick up his series-leading fourth win of the season.
"I am so happy to have achieved my Indy dreams," Jamin said after race 2 on one of the most coveted podiums in all motorsports. "Thanks to a great race-car, prepared by my team Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing, I was able to win again today and take the championship lead. I was able to kiss the bricks twice this weekend, and I hope to come back again to kiss the bricks after the IndyCar race win this time."
Jamin and his Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing team are going to work hard between now and the next round at Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis in two weeks. The Lucas Oil Raceway, a short 0.686-mile oval track, located only five miles from Indianapolis will host Round Nine on Saturday, May 23, the only race on an oval of the 2015 season.
Follow Nico Jamin all season on his website: www.nicojamin.com, on Facebook at www.facebook/nicojamin.racing and on Twitter @Nico_Jamin.