Brit Alex Lloyd was foiled in his quest to extend his record-breaking streak of consecutive Indy Pro Series wins this weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as the series ran two races in support of the United States Grand Prix.

In Saturday's first race, run under hot late afternoon conditions, polesitter Hideki Mutoh was able to easily pull away from fellow front-row starter Lloyd to win by 6.723 seconds. A spirited battle behind them for third place between Richard Antinucci, Bobby Wilson, and Jamie Camara went to Camara after Wilson went off-course just a lap after passing Antinucci.

Lloyd seemed resigned to his second-place finish, saying after the race that “We had a second-place car. After a couple of laps in the race, we realized that we didn't have anything else. I was hoping my car came on and his came off, but my car went off even more. We were struggling more at the end.”

The race featured plenty of F1 connections as Aguri Suzuki, who co-owns the Super Aguri-Panther Racing effort driven by Mutoh, was there to celebrate his driver's maiden win. Not to be outdone were the parents of Alex Lloyd, who were joined on pit road by Anthony Hamilton. Lloyd and Lewis Hamilton had raced together since both were in karts and had last competed head-to-head in the 2003 Formula Renault Series, when Hamilton won the championship and Lloyd finished second.

In the second race of the weekend run early on Sunday morning, the top eight finishers from Saturday were inverted, meaning that Mutoh started 8th and Ryan Justice started from the pole. Bobby Wilson took the lead from Justice on the start, but an accident between Micky Gilbert and Marc Williams brought out the safety car by the end of the first lap.

Lloyd was able to quickly move through the field to third place after the restart on Lap 4, but a local yellow in the crucial Turn 1 passing zone for an accident between Andrew Prendeville, Doug Boyer, and Robbie Pecorari meant that Lloyd was unable outbrake Justice until late in the race. By that time, Wilson's lead was over eight seconds with just a few laps remaining, leaving Lloyd no other option than to consolidate second place. Behind them, Hideki Mutoh was able to slipstream past Justice at the finish line on the final to take third place by a meter.

Wilson, whose debut win was last season at Watkins Glen, was awed by his accomplishments at the former and current home of the United States Grand Prix. “Those are two of the oldest tracks in the country and there is a lot of history,” he said. “I'm proud to win here and it's going to be a day of celebration.”

Of his second consecutive second place, Lloyd was upbeat: “I think we did about as well as we could do today. Really, with Bobby (Wilson) starting second, it was always going to be difficult to get through in time before he checked out. By the time we eventually got past him (Ryan Justice), Bobby was gone.”

There's no rest for the Indy Pro Series as they move on to Iowa for a 115-lap race at the new 7/8 mile Iowa Speedway, at which both the IndyCar Series and Indy Pro Series make their debut appearance.

Liberty Challenge Race #1 Results
1. (1) Hideki Mutoh, 18, Running
2. (2) Alex Lloyd, 18, Running
3. (5) Jaime Camara, 18, Running
4. (8) Wade Cunningham, 18, Running
5. (6) Stephen Simpson, 18, Running
6. (3) Richard Antinucci, 18, Running
7. (4) Bobby Wilson, 18, Running
8. (9) Ryan Justice, 18, Running
9. (11) Logan Gomez, 18, Running
10. (14) Mike Potekhen, 18, Running
11. (15) Chris Festa, 18, Running
12. (12) Phil Giebler, 18, Running
13. (18) Sean Guthrie, 18, Running
14. (25) Doug Boyer, 18, Running
15. (19) Micky Gilbert, 18, Running
16. (17) Brad Jaeger, 18, Running
17. (20) Ken Losch, 18, Running
18. (21) Joey Scarallo, 18, Running
19. (7) Jonathan Klein, 18, Running
20. (22) Marc Williams, 18, Running
21. (16) Andrew Prendeville, 17, Spin
22. (10) Daniel Herrington, 13, Mechanical
23. (24) Jon Brownson, 2, Mechanical 24. (13) Robbie Pecorari, 1, Mechanical
25. (23) Tom Wieringa, 0, Spin

Liberty Challenge Race #2 Results
1. (2) Bobby Wilson, 18, Running
2. (7) Alex Lloyd, 18, Running
3. (8) Hideki Mutoh, 18, Running
4. (1) Ryan Justice, 18, Running
5. (6) Jaime Camara, 18, Running
6. (9) Logan Gomez, 18, Running
7. (19) Jonathan Klein, 18, Running
8. (10) Mike Potekhen, 18, Running
9. (3) Richard Antinucci, 18, Running
10. (22) Daniel Herrington, 13, Mechanical
11. (4) Stephen Simpson, 18, Running
12. (13) Sean Guthrie, 18, Running
13. (18) Joey Scarallo, 18, Running
14. (11) Chris Festa, 18, Running
15. (12) Phil Giebler, 18, Running
16. (17) Ken Losch, 18, Running
17. (23) Jon Brownson, 18, Running
18. (25) Tom Wieringa, 17, Running
19. (24) Robbie Pecorari, 16, Running
20. (21) Andrew Prendeville, 15, Running
21. (5) Wade Cunningham, 9, Spin
22. (16) Brad Jaeger, 5, Mechanical
23. (14) Doug Boyer, 4, Contact
24. (15) Micky Gilbert, 0, Contact
25. (20) Marc Williams, 0, Contact

ORS / CAPSIS International