Christian Bogle took to the flowing turns of Barber Motorsports Park this past weekend for the second round of the 2022 Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires Championship alongside his HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing team.
Leading up the weekend, Bogle and the entire HMD operation tested at Barber Motorsports Park one week prior in preparation for the three-day weekend event. During this time, Bogle was quick in testing and was nearly matching the speeds of his HMD teammates. After a strong test, Bogle was excited coming into the weekend with a newfound confidence.
The weekend began with two additional practice sessions over the course of two days leading up to qualifying on Saturday afternoon, where Bogle finished just outside the top-ten in eleventh in both sessions. In qualifying, Bogle ended up thirteenth and was not pleased with the results.
“We had a great test here and the speed was there, but I don’t have much confidence in the car at the moment,” explained Bogle. “We will keep working at it and move our way forward but disappointed in the results so far this weekend.”
On Sunday morning, teams were greeted to the track with a downpouring of rain and the scheduled start of the race was delayed by about ten minutes. While the rain had stopped, the track was still wet and slick. Bogle started off strong, but six laps into the 45-minute timed race, had a spin that brought out the first caution of the race. After being quickly removed by the AMR Safety Team, Bogle was able to continue on in the race. Now one lap down, Bogle’s main focus was continuing to gain valuable track experience and practice driving on rain tires on an ever-changing course. With six laps remaining in the race, Bogle was forced to retire the #7 Pelican Consultant entry due to some minor damage from the earlier spin.
Bogle continued, “Not the weekend we wanted but we are off to Mid-Ohio on Thursday for another test day.”
While it was not the weekend that Bogle had been planning on, he still walks away with valuable wet-weather experience and will shift his focus to the remainder of the season.
The next event on the Indy Lights calendar takes place in two weeks on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course where drivers will experience their first double-header weekend of the 2022 season. Before the next event, Bogle and HMD Motorsports will head to Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course for an in-season test date later this week.
Photos: INDYCAR Media