Lights Sonoma Race: Vernay takes win, moves closer to title

J.K. Vernay took another step toward locking up the 2010 Firestone Indy Lights title by taking victory in the Canceros 100 on Sunday, fighting off AFS/Andretti Autosport's Charlie Kimball in the second half of the race. James Hinchcliffe, the closest driver to Vernay in the standings, settled for third on the day.

Vernay's win makes his title lead 71 points, nearly insurmountable over the final few races. "Just a great weekend," said an elated Vernay. "After such a disappointing weekend at Mid-Ohio, I really wanted to win here. My family came for this race, so it's beautiful for everybody. I'm really happy." (About final restart): "We had a good car, maybe he was a bit faster. I wanted to take care of my tires and wasn't really pushing. We did the fastest lap at the end. You always worry when you have a Safety Car because you never know what will happen, but we won and it's fantastic for the team."

Kimball enjoyed his best run since the early part of the season, taking second after qualifying on the front row. "It's great to be on the podium, especially here in California," he said. "We had a lot of support this weekend. We were quick from the green flag, but I had to fight my way past (James Hinchcliffe). Once I did that I didn't have enough to go after J.K. (Vernay) up front."

Hinchcliffe was very matter of fact in his observation of the day. "We started third and finished third. It was a pretty standard day," he expained. "We managed to get ahead of Charlie (Kimball) at the start. He didn't get a great start. I didn't do anything particularly good to be honest. But it was clear that those two guys, J.K. (Vernay) and Charlie were the class of the field today and we were best of the rest. I was struggling with rear grip a little bit and just trying to hold on to it. Once Charlie got by and he did it with a pretty clean move, it was to consolidate third place and get on the podium."

With that, the series moves to Chicagoland next week, with Vernay looking to put the title out of reach.

Full results of the race on Infineon Raceway