Exclusive Autosport Scores Podium Finish in St. Pete
 March 18, 2019| 
  • Team News
Exclusive-IP2K-StPete-Frost-1200x450

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Exclusive Autosport enjoyed a successful weekend at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on March 8-10 to begin the 2019 Road to Indy Presented by Cooper Tires schedule.  

The team traveled to Florida’s Gulf Coast to contest the opening two rounds of the Indy Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires season, and between Danial Frost and Nikita Lastochkin, the team earned three top-five finishes after a hot and exciting weekend racing on the 1.8-mile 14-turn temporary street circuit. Texan Parker Locke made his series debut and logged valuable track time that will pay off when the Indy Pro 2000 team reconvene at Indianapolis in May.

“I am really proud of the entire team,” enthused Michael Duncalfe, Team Principal. “Mirl Swan and the crew worked really hard in the off season preparing the cars. The drivers did a fantastic job all weekend. We are proud of our results but are hungry for more and are really looking forward to getting back on track at IMS.”

The weekend started off with one practice session followed by qualifying for Race 1. Both Frost and Lastochkin flirted with the top times in practice and the pole position in qualifying, showing that Exclusive Autosport is a team to be reckoned with in 2019. By the end of Qualifying 1, Frost put his Tatuus PM18 in the sixth position for his first Indy Pro 2000 race, while Lastochkin placed his car in the eighth position. Locke was learning quickly and picked up 1.5 seconds from his practice pace to sit 13th.

In the opening race of the weekend on Friday, all three drivers got through the opening lap skirmish and then dealt with a pair of restarts to post strong results, as Frost finished fourth and Lastochkin was fifth. Locke ran clean and maintained his newfound speed to finish 10th. In the second race of the doubleheader, which was held on Saturday, Frost continued his impressive performance.

Now more comfortable on the street circuit thanks to his clean run on Friday, Danial went to work and made a thrilling outside pass on Moises de la Vera, Sting Ray Robb and Rasmus Lindh in turn one to advance to third, scoring his first Road to Indy podium.  Lastochkin emerged at the front of a race-long battle for seventh, finishing in front of the three other drivers he battled for 30 laps. Locke finished 13th to complete the weekend.

In the championship standings, Frost accumulated 41 points to sit third, just four points out of second. Lastochkin is right there in sixth, just two points from the top-five. Locke sits 12th, just two points behind the a three-driver tie for ninth.

The next stop for the Road to Indy Presented by Cooper Tires will take the team to the road course at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the INDYCAR Grand Prix on May 9-11.

Exclusive Autosport is pleased to be able to partner with great companies, such as AERO™ Advanced Paint Technology (www.rethinkpaint.com), which is used on all their race cars.

EXCLUSIVE AUTOSPORT – DRIVER RESULTS AND QUOTES

INDY PRO 2000 – ROUNDS 1/2 – MARCH 9-11, 2018

GRAND PRIX OF ST. PETERSBURG – ST. PETERSBURG, FL

DANIAL FROST - #68

Qualifying 1: 6th – 1:09.112

Qualifying 2: 6th – 1:08.231

Race 1: Start – 6th / Finish – 4th   

Race 2: Start – 6th / Finish – 3rd  

Driver Quote: “The first weekend of the Road To Indy was an incredible start for the team and myself, achieving a fourth and a third with no experience on the track. We got the best possible result with what circumstances with had. I’m looking forward to Indianapolis and, of course, I’ll be aiming high for the best results. Thank you to Exclusive Autosport, my family, supporters and my sponsor Denjet for making this all possible!”

NIKITA LASTOCHKIN - #90

Qualifying 1: 8th – 1:09.299

Qualifying 2: 7th – 1:08.599

Race 1: Start – 8th / Finish – 5th   

Race 2: Start – 7th / Finish – 7th  

Driver Quote: “Overall, I’m quite happy with the weekend; you can be a lot worse off leaving St.Pete. Race 1 was good fun and I had some good battles. I made a mistake on the restart which cost me a spot, otherwise it was a decent run. In Race 2, I feel like we missed the setup a little. After making the start, I thought the car was going to come in a bit later. Unfortunately, it stayed constant throughout the race and a top-5 was out of reach. Big thanks to everyone on the team for all the hard work. I think it’s a good start and we’ll only get better as the season continues.”

PARKER LOCKE - #91

Qualifying 1: 13TH – 1:10.311

Qualifying 2: 13TH – 1:09.800

Race 1: Start – 13TH / Finish – 10TH    

Race 2: Start – 13TH / Finish – 12TH   

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