Philip Kraus charges late for INDYCAR ButtKicker iRacing Pro Series victory at Iowa

As expected, the first trip to an oval in the inaugural INDYCAR ButtKicker iRacing Pro Series season produced a shakeup at the top of the pylon on Thursday night as PRIVATE LABEL Team Hype’s Philip Kraus parked it in victory lane at Iowa Speedway. After 147 laps, it was nearly one of the road experts from the Apex Racing Team, Luke McKeown, who stole one from under the oval experts’ feet. However, his fuel levels depleted a few laps too early, and Kraus flew by and into the lead with six laps to go. 

A final caution coming to two laps to go sealed it for Kraus. Cautions are specific to the oval portion of the schedule, but overtime is not a feature. With the laps too few, the race did not restart, and Kraus took the top spot of the podium with teammate Robert Maleczka III in second and Apex Racing Team’s Brandon Traino in third.

“We’ve had a lot of experience running this setup at Iowa, at PRIVATE LABEL Team Hype, and we know it’s pretty good on the long run,” Kraus said post-race. “A lot of the early run, like the first 20 or 30 laps of the run, were just biding time, saving fuel, making sure we could make it to the end. Rob was on a bit of a different strategy, he was trying to push the pace, to keep Luke and Peter (Berryman) honest, and it ended up working really well for us because it ended up being that they couldn’t make it on fuel. Rob was probably going to sputter on the line, but I was able to have the tire life on Rob and get by him. When Luke called his pit… it was a huge deep breath.”

Maleczka started on the pole and led the opening 27 laps before the first caution of the day flew for Coanda Esports’ Michele Costantini and Indy Alliance Racing’s Kevin Birrell. A stop wasn’t necessary, but if the race tended green, it could’ve been beneficial to those with fresh tires on the long run. Dan Amor opted to stay out, and led the race for 35 laps before the second and final caution came out, and it involved him as he worked the lapped traffic.

The final restart came at Lap 69, right on the border of making it to the end on fuel. Those in the front would have a tougher time saving the necessary fuel, while those further back could use the effects of the draft and save fuel and tire. Kraus, who started 17th, was up to 10th at the final restart, and didn’t move until under 60 laps to go. Kraus picked them off one-by-one, starting with Coanda Esports’ Elliott Vayron, then Traino, then Drago Racing’s Jose Soria, and before long, Team I5G’s Jacob Oster, to find his way into the top-five for the first time all night.

Up front, McKeown and his teammate, Peter Berryman, led Maleczka and last week’s winner at Long Beach, Team Redline’s Cooper Webster. Kraus got by Webster as Berryman began to slip back, losing the spot to Maleczka with 40 laps to go. With 10 laps to go, Kraus made his move around Maleczka for second, and was nearly on McKeown’s rear wing as the laps clicked away. Suddenly, McKeown posted his intentions to pit with six laps to go, and pulled off the banking in Turn 4. Berryman followed a lap later, the two losing out on possible podium positions to instead finish 25th and 26th.

As Kraus was coming to the line to take two laps to go, Drago Racing’s David Toth was wrecking just ahead, forcing the final caution, and ending the race. Kraus becomes the third different winner in three races, also scoring the first win for Chevrolet in the series in the process.

INDYCAR ButtKicker iRacing Pro Series results from Race #3 at Iowa Speedway are as follows:

INDYCAR ButtKicker iRacing Pro Series points after Race #3 at Iowa Speedway are as follows:

1. Cooper Webster, 104
2. Diogo C. Pinto, 93
3. Gustavo Ariel, 86
4. Florian A Lebigre, 81
5. Edoardo Leo, 78
6. Philip Kraus, 73
7. Sam Kuitert, 71
8. Peter Berryman, 69
9. Luke McKeown, 68
10. Robert Maleczka III, 58

With the win, Kraus jumps into the conversation for the championship, moving into sixth overall. Still ahead are Webster, who leads a five-pack of Team Redline drivers in Diogo Pinto, Gustavo Ariel, Florian LeBigre, and Indy Road Course winner Edoardo Leo in fifth. Sam Kuitert, another Team Redline entry, sits seventh, ahead of the ART teammates Berryman and McKeown. Maleczka also jumps up the order and rounds out the top-10.

Next up is a trip to Alabama for the fourth race of the season, and the third on a road course at Barber Motorsports Park. During the Qualifying Series season, Team Redline’s Diogo Pinto claimed the top split victory over teammates Cooper Webster and Sam Kuitert.

The broadcast for Barber Motorsports Park goes live at 8:00 p.m. ET on Thursday, October 10th, on all iRacing social channels and the NTT INDYCAR SERIES YouTube channel and website.

For more information on the INDYCAR ButtKicker iRacing Pro Series, visit www.iracing.com/indycar-esports/. For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.

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