Podium for Hunter McElrea in final oval race of season

Hunter McElrea reignited his Indy Pro 2000 championship fight with a podium in the latest race at Gateway.

The Kiwi driver finished third in the 55-lap affair, though was left to rue what could have been.

McElrea had the fastest car in practice and the warm-up, but a mistake in qualifying meant he started fifth.

Overtaking is a tough challenge at Gateway. Yet McElrea was able to make up a couple of positions to score a spot on the rostrum.

“That first green lap was madness, guys going three wide,” McElrea said.

“We really had to claw through – I probably underestimated how big the tow was on that first lap.”

A significant portion of the race was run under caution due to a crash between Artem Petrov and Jack William Miller.

“I got into third on the restart from the yellow and I was one of the fastest cars out there – I just wasn’t as close as I needed to be at the end.”

McElrea moves up one spot in the driver’s standings and is now fourth.

He is 81 points behind series leader Christian Rasmussen.

“Overall, I’m happy with the weekend,” he said.

“It’s another podium, good points, and we know we have good pace.

“Considering all the bad luck we had in the middle of the year, we’ll take that and keep going.”

The next round of the championship is in New Jersey next weekend.