Wheldon clinches Lights win at the death.

The Dayton Indy Lights Series provided another thrilling finish in its final year of competition as Briton Dan Wheldon snatched the Road Atlanta spoils from points leader Townsend Bell on the very last corner as once again the soon-to-be extinct Championship provided more quality but sadly little quantity.

Rookie Dan Wheldon passed points leader Townsend Bell going into the final turn of the last lap to win Thursday's Dayton Indy Lights Championship race at Road Atlanta. The win was the second straight for Wheldon in the Dayton Indy Lights series after taking his first victory at Gateway International Raceway, August 26th. Bell's Dorricott Racing teammate Damien Faulkner finished third.

After struggling with mechanical problems in practice, Wheldon started a distant sixth on the grid as Bell, who set the pace all weekend, won a series-leading sixth pole of the season with a Thursday qualifying lap at an average speed of 122.392 mph (74.711 seconds). Bell took control from the start and led by as much as 16 seconds before a rain shower changed the complexion of the race. With more than half of the course soaked, drivers carefully stayed on course on slick tires until Cory Witherill went into the tire barrier at Turn 3. Witherill was uninjured, but the four-lap caution period to clean up the accident site made for a two-lap dash to the finish.

When the green flag flew on lap 27, Wheldon, who had moved up steadily despite coming together with teammate Mario Dominguez at the start, closed in on the leader. They were followed by an on-form Luis Diaz, Derek Higgins, Matt Halliday (Mi-Jack Lola) and Faulkner, who had spun in the rain and fell to sixth after running as high as second. As Wheldon hounded Bell, Higgins came together with both Diaz and Halliday in separate incidents, with all but Higgins going off course. Faulkner passed all three to salvage third while Higgins crossed the line in fourth only to be penalized two positions for his incidents with Diaz and Halliday. Dominguez finished fourth while Dorricott's returning driver Jon Fogarty recovered from an early spin to finish fifth.

Wheldon's winning move came as he shot to the inside of Bell under Road Atlanta's Michelin Bridge just before the fast downhill run to the finish line straight. With the chequered flag in sight, Wheldon completed the move and led Bell through the final right-hand turn to the finish line for a .256 second margin of victory. He led only the final quarter mile of the race, but it was enough for a strong win.

Wheldon is now tied with Faulkner for the Rookie of the Year award and second in the championship with 123 points. The duo trail Bell by 26 points heading into next weekend's event at Laguna Seca where the points leader can clinch if he leaves 23 points ahead of the competition.

Driver Quotes

#1 Dan Wheldon (Gemstar Communications/PacWest Lights Lola) "I knew I'd have to make it stick (the pass to win the race). I had a pretty good idea that he (Townsend Bell) was going to push me to the outside in Turn 10 so I knew my only good shot would be out of Turn 11 and it worked. On any conditions like that, it's twitchy (how the car and tires handled with the wet track conditions) and you have to keep the car down. It's a tough car to drive and I think when people make the transition to Champ cars they do very well."

#30 Townsend Bell (DIRECWAY Lola) "We expected the race to run dry so we committed to a set-up that would work in the dry and only in the dry. We built a comfortable, 16-second lead similar to Gateway but we had a fuel pump failure there. Here, the rain forced everyone to pack up because of the caution flag. Dan still deserves credit because he picked me off on the last corner. I drove inside and guessed where the most traction would come out of the last right-hander. I guessed wrong.

#31 Damien Faulkner (Dorricott Racing Lola) "After I spun, the rain turned out to be a curse. The rain didn't help anybody except for those who were way down. Once I passed Jon, (Fogarty) I felt I could keep with (Dan) Wheldon. Then I came under pressure from Luis Diaz. He indeed passed me and there nothing I could do to stop him. It only allowed Townsend to extend his lead. When Diaz slowed, I was able to pass him. The rain followed and that's when I made a stupid error (spun in turn 10) that cost me second place at the least.

Round 11 of the Dayton Indy Lights Championship will take place at the Laguna Seca Raceway, Monterey, California on Sunday, October 14, 2001 as the series takes its final bow after 16 years of close, action packed racing.