Unfortunatley for Zack Meyer promising early practice times did not yield the expected result. (Photo-IMS Photo)
Sonoma, California – The end of the 2014 Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires season is drawing to a close, and Canadian Zack Meyer went into California wine country hoping to end this challenging season on a high note. The challenging 12-turn, 2.385-mile Sonoma Raceway is the backdrop for the season finale, a scenic conclusion to a daunting rookie campaign. Meyer's weekend started with great promise, consistently placing in the top five during testing and practice. Qualifying, though, was a different story, and Meyer was disappointed to put his #2 TMR/DAMIS PARTNERS III/Innisfil Indy Karting/Xtreme Coil Drilling car tenth on the grid for the first race of the Indy Lights Grand Prix of Sonoma.
The 22-year-old from Innisfil, Ont., may have started the race from the last row, but he was determined to go out and atone for Friday's qualifying performance. "We really thought we were headed the right direction with the setup and truly thought we would qualify well," the Canadian lamented after an unexpected drop in performance on Friday afternoon. "When we went out to qualify, though, we never really had the pace to contend. However, like always, I will go into the race and keep pushing myself to get the most out of the car and make the best out of the race."
When the green flag flew for the 40-minute sprint race, Meyer battled hard with those in front of him, and was able to capitalize on a mistake from Ryan Phinny to claim ninth place. Phinny quickly began to reel Meyer in, though, and the duo became part of a four-car pack running closely together. After several laps of tight racing between Phinny and Meyer, the two had a coming together in Turn 7. Meyer lost time, but was able to continue behind Phinny in tenth. Phinny would come out worse for wear, however, and was soon forced to pit for repairs. That promoted Meyer back to ninth, where he ran a steady yet lonely race on the way to the penultimate checkered flag of the season.
"Obviously not the result we wanted, and it was a difficult race," Meyer explained after the race. "I made a decent start and got by Phinny. Then we were able to keep the pace of [Zach] Veach and [Scott] Anderson, but down in Turn 7 we got hit and that was pretty much it. The car wasn't really damaged, but we lost too much time and without a yellow I just focused on hitting my marks each lap and bringing the car home. Tomorrow, I want to go out and really end the season well. It will be a tough race again, but I'm pumped up and going to try my hardest."
The sole Canadian racing in Indy Lights still has the 60-minute feature race to tackle this weekend. The grid for the feature race will be set by the second fastest lap each driver set during qualifying. As such, Meyer will start tomorrow's race in ninth place. The second race of the Grand Prix of Sonoma is slated to take the green flag at 2:00 p.m. EDT on Sunday. The television broadcast of the doubleheader weekend will air on NBC Sports Network on a tape-delayed basis on Sunday at 7 p.m. EDT, immediately after the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma.
You can learn more about Zack Meyer by visiting ZackMeyer.ca, and you can also follow Zack on Twitter @ZackMeyer66 and Instagram @ZackMeyer66.
About Zack Meyer:
A homegrown racer from Toronto, Ont., Meyer began his racing career in karting at Innisfil Indy Karting. Meyer's racing career blossomed under the tutelage of his driver coach and manager, Joe Launi. With both the support of his mother and Launi, Meyer went on to become one of the top karters for the ultra-competitive GP Racing Karts team, participating in and winning numerous KZ2 Shifter Kart events. Meyer claimed the championship for the Brian Stewart BSRKC-F125/ICC Shifter class in both 2009 and 2010, only to follow those up by claiming the championship in the KZ2 Class in the Florida Winter Tour in 2011 and 2012. Meyer made his debut in the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires in 2012 with JDC MotorSports before moving to the series full-time in 2013. Meyer posted a best finish of fourth in his home race, the Honda Indy Toronto, on his way to finishing the year as the highest-placed JDC MotorSports driver in the championship with sixth in the championship standings. For 2014, Meyer steps up to the top rung on the Mazda Road to Indy development ladder, Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires, with race-winning Team Moore Racing.