IPS: Lloyd sets new mark with Iowa win.

Alex Lloyd passed polesitter Wade Cunningham with ten laps to go to win the Iowa 100 Indy Pro Series event, setting a new all-time victory record for the class in the process

It was the Englishman's sixth win in eight starts this season, and the eighth of his Pro Series career, pushing him ahead of Thiago Medeiros, Jeff Simmons and Mark Taylor, who each took seven wins in their spells in the IPS.

Unusually, Lloyd didn't lead from the front in Iowa, seemingly content to follow Cunningham until the closing stages, pouncing on the Kiwi with ten laps to run in 115-lap event. He made the move stick and wasn't seriously challenged before taking the chequer.

"This is great," the Briton admitted, "With ten laps to go, I was so pumped up. I knew this was the time if we were going to win the race, this was the time to get it done. Up until then, I had been patient. I thought there might be a gap going into turn one, but I didn't want to show that too soon, knowing that he could defend. I left it until the very last minute and saw it as my chance, got it down there and he gave me just enough room. We had a very good race."

Still finding it hard to believe his success this season, Lloyd was quick to pay tribute to the Sam Schmidt Motorsport team.

"It was an unbelievable race and, once we got in the lead, the car was just great," he said, "Great thanks to the entire team and Lucas Oil. Everyone did a stunning job all weekend. We were second on the grid and second throughout practices, but that didn't matter. We got it done."

Cunningham held on to second, matching his season-best, but was naturally disappointed to miss out on victory after leading the most laps by any driver in a single Pro Series race.

"I was very happy to have a second, but we were good in traffic and I built a lot of gaps that way - it was just the cautions that caused us to lose that advantage," he reflected.

Hideki Mutoh, who broke Lloyd's winning streak a week ago at Indianapolis, finished third, his seventh top-five finish in eight Pro Series starts.

"We are very proud of our race today," the Japanese driver said, "The car was very good and I was passing cars on the track, so that was good news for us. After the restart though, I slowed down a bit, so I was a little disappointed at the end. If it had stayed green, I thought I could pass more."

Lloyd's team-mate, Ryan Justice, was fourth, moving up eight places in tandem with Team KMA's Robbie Pecorari, who took fifth to tie his best finish of the season.

"It was a difficult day for us," Justice admitted, "We had to start twelfth after we didn't qualify where we wanted to, but we made the car the best we could for the race and hoped to do better. It was tough to pass out there because everyone was just running flat out and the only difference is what help you got in the draft. We got a little help when a couple of the front cars went out, and it was great to give Sam Schmidt Motorsports a good finish."

"We struggled a little with our speed earlier during practice and qualifying, but we made some changes that helped - and we gained some from some of the incidents that happened ahead of us," Pecorari echoed, "I didn't like to see that, but we came out fifth, so it was a great weekend for us."

Jonathan Klein, Stephen Simpson and Jon Brownson all crashed out of the race without serious injury, but Sean Guthrie, who had qualified a career-high third, suffered a displaced left foot fracture when his car made contact with the turn four barrier, skidded back across the track and made contact with the pit-wall.

"The car was so good all weekend, and we were running with the leaders the entire race before the accident, so it's just a shame for our whole team," Guthrie sighed, "We were coming up to lapped traffic and I had to back out a bit, but then the car stepped out on me and I ended up hitting the inside wall pretty hard.

"For some reason, I didn't have the straightline speed the other guys in front of me had, so I don't know if we would have stayed in the top three, but we had a top-five car for sure."