(Photo: Road to Indy)
By Aaron Bearden
The 2021 Indy Lights season is unique in that it has three different scholarship winners all competing in the same season due to the tour’s canceled season in 2020 and the addition of a Formula Regional Americas championship scholarship. With the tour’s season halfway complete, Motorsports Beat has caught up with each of the scholarship drivers to see how their seasons have gone to date.
Sting Ray Robb enjoyed a breakout year during the 2020 Indy Pro 2000 season, securing himself an opportunity to rise up to Indy Lights in 2021.
Unfortunately for Robb, repeating last season’s success has proven challenging in the year to date.
The uniquely-named star arrived in the Indy Pro 2000 (then Pro Mazda) field back in 2017, competing for World Speed Motorsports. He shifted over to Team Pelfrey for 2018, but it was a moved to Juncos Racing in 2019 that ultimately bore fruit.
Robb finished fourth in the 2019 championship, scored a breakthrough win at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course early in the 2020 season and then marched on to score six additional wins, an Indianapolis Motor Speedway tripleheader sweep among them, to secure the series championship at year’s end.
“Obviously any championship win is pretty special, especially for anyone on the Road to Indy,” Robb told Motorsports Beat of the result. “For me it was much the same, but to have that weight kind of taken off my shoulders… As a driver that’s been in the Road to Indy for the last few years, to finally prove what we could do was pretty amazing.”
He credited much of his success to his Juncos Racing team. So when the opportunity to stay with them heading into Indy Lights emerged, Robb didn’t hesitate. “They feel like they’re part of our family now, and we feel like we’re part of theirs,” he said. “Their resources and experiences played a big role in my success – not only just in the results, but also in my productivity as a driver and getting better and improving every race.”
Given his success and familiarity with Juncos, Robb entered the 2021 season with high hopes. The field was stacked given that it was essentially two years’ worth of drivers, but the Idahoan believed he and Juncos could find their way.
At the halfway point, that hasn’t fully proven true. There have been a few signs of promise — Robb pointed out qualifying fifth at Indianapolis as a moment where he felt like the team was “getting there” – but the rookie has had a difficult time replicating 2020’s Indy Pro pace.
With 10 races in the books, Robb currently sits 10th in the championship standings with an average finish of 9.1. He’s only had one DNF and completed all other laps, but has finished no better than sixth at St. Petersburg while not leading any race.
“Expectations were higher than what we’ve seen so far to say the least,” Robb said of his season to date.
“There are great drivers in this series now. It’s crazy competitive and the biggest field they’ve had in a few years. So we expected it to be tough and we expected the other drivers to be really good. You know, we’ve got Kyle Kirkwood and Linus Lunquist were champions and other series in the past years, with Kyle winning the Indy Pro 2000 championship in ’19.
“(But) we had expectations to compete – maybe not win every race with that good of a field, but at least get some top-five finishes pretty consistently. We haven’t seen that so far, so it’s a work in progress.”
Robb may be struggling, but he has taken inspiration from teammate Toby Sowery – a competitor he praised as a “great all-around driver” and noted as “one of the most fun teammates I’ve had.”
While he isn’t quite in the championship battle, Sowery sits fourth in points with a trio of podiums and a 6.0 average finish.
“(Toby)’s pretty quick and I think he’s a really, really well-rounded driver,” Robb said. “It’s just a matter of getting us both to the front of the field. We’ve seen a couple of podiums for him, and I think that I could match that pretty soon.“
With half a season to go, Robb understands that any title ambitions are likely gone. He trails points leader David Malukas by 116 points with just 10 races to close the gap.
Instead of focusing on the scholarship, Robb is working to reset and aim for the top-fives he initially intended to start the year with. He’s also aiming to keep improving as a driver, both with his driving style and feedback to the team.
“(I can improve on) driving more with my elbows up,” Robb said when asked for what he’d like to improve. “There’s a lot of good drivers in this field, so one little mistake is costly. I think just trying to find the consistency that keeps me at the front of the pack when we’re there and I’m looking for some extra speed that will help us get there in qualifying. It’s so important.”
“On the engineering side, I can do a little bit better working with the team and trying to figure out what the car needs,” he later continued. “As a first-year driver, it’s a difficult balance between figuring out what I can do with the car and what the car can do for me. And if those aren’t working together, then it makes it hard to have a good race car at the end of the day.
“I think we’re getting to the point where I know what I’m looking for in the race car. It’s just a matter of finding out what we need to do to get that.”
Improving his form is Robb’s greatest focus heading into 2021, but he’s also cognizant of the need to keep his eye on opportunities for the future. In fact, he soon hopes to try a completely different discipline to cross a bucket list item off of his wish list.
“I’ve actually got a (potential) seat in the Baja 1000 at the end of the year,” Robb said. “Any chance I can get to be in a race car, I will … And driving something like a trophy truck is one of the bucket list items for me. So checking that off will be pretty special.”
The 19-year-old is also keen to continue his career in indy cars, but isn’t worrying too heavily about 2022 and beyond just yet.
“We started a conversation at beginning of the year about what our plans are for the future,” Robb said. “We’re still working on that, you know. My manager, Pieter Rossi, he’s got a good ear on the market when it comes to indy car seats and what’s available, and what’s going to be the best option for me to improve as a driver and be prepared to make that step into IndyCar.
“That’s the ultimate goal when you’re coming up the Road to Indy ladder. You want to progress into a driver that can compete at a high level in IndyCar, and we’ve seen drivers do that in the past.
“So for me, I’m just looking to focus on the next few races and not worry so much about what ‘22 has got in store for us.”
Catch up with the other Indy Lights scholarship drivers at the links below:
