Race results

NEWTON, Iowa -- Weiron Tan and Andretti Autosport kept alive their perfect record on the ovals this season by leading from flag-to-flag in the Pro Mazda Iowa 100 at Iowa Speedway.

The victory in Round 12 of the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires season was Tan’s second on the ovals and fourth overall in his first season in the series. He moved from fourth to second place in the standings with four races remaining in the 16-race season.

“It was a tough race. One-hundred laps isn’t easy to begin with, but going around at such high speeds is especially difficult," said Tan, who also won at Lucas Oil Raceway in May. "Tire management is so important to keep the pace up. The Cooper tires did really well. We have really good guys around us to help us learn about the ovals. Especially for me, coming from Malaysia, oval track racing is not common. To be surrounded by experienced guys really helps us. We have four races to go and we’re never going to give up. We’re going to keep on pushing until the end and see what happens in the championship.” 

The 100-lap race was interrupted by a single full-course caution, which came after 16 laps when Alessandro Latif (World Speed Motorsports) spun and made contact with the SAFER Barrier between Turns 1 and 2. He was uninjured.

Tan by then had already established a 4-second lead over his nearest pursuer, championship leader Santi Urrutia (Team Pelfrey), and though that margin was slashed to nothing by the caution, Tan immediately pulled away again at the restart. No one was able to offer a challenge as he romped to a 9.7311-second victory.

Urrutia, from Uruguay, ran confidently in second place for most of the race before coming under pressure firstly from teenaged teammate Pato O’Ward. Dalton Kellett, in a second Andretti Autosport entry, also made up ground in the middle stages of the race, moving up rapidly. Kellett fell briefly from fifth to sixth after the restart, then overtook Timothé Buret (Juncos Racing), who had made early progress after starting 11th.

Kellett next worked his way past Florian Latorre (Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing), who had run third in the early laps, then overtook the Pelfrey pair, O’Ward and Urrutia, in rapid succession to move into second on Lap 69. The pass for third place on Lap 65 earned Kellett the RePlay XD Move of the Race Award. The Canadian could do nothing about his own teammate, Tan, who remained well out in front, but second place still represented Kellett's best-ever finish.

Urrutia battled handling difficulties in the closing stages and slipped to fifth at the finish behind O’Ward, who snared his third podium finish in succession, and Canadian Daniel Burkett (Cape Motorsports), who charged from ninth in the early going to fourth.