Stefan impressed in his first ever oval race, finishing seventh in the Firestone Freedom 100 at the famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

After spending most of the practice sessions working on his car's race set-up, Stefan and the team weren't expecting much in qualifying and indeed he was only 13th quickest of the 16 entries. His aim for the race was to run every lap, learn as much as possible and concentrate on getting the best finish he could. "It's going to be a really big challenge," he said beforehand, "and I just want to keep level-headed."

In fact, the work on the race set-up paid off and he did rather more than just run every lap.

Off the rolling start, Stefan was able to maintain his position, but he gained a place almost immediately when JK Vernay had to pit with a brake problem. On lap two Stefan moved up two more places to 10th when, up ahead, Jeff Simmons spun and collided heavily with polesitter Pippa Mann. Thankfully, both were able to walk away from their wrecked cars.

From the restart Stefan kept up a steady pace. "We didn't have the perfect car," he explained afterwards, "but I was working on it in the cockpit, adjusting my bars and the weight-jacker, and just trying to dial in the car. We got to a point in the race where the car was balanced and I could work with it and was able to get the draft."

Stefan swapped places several times with Brandon Wagner before Wagner moved up the field, and then on lap 22 he passed Gustavo Yacamán for ninth place. His next target was his team-mate Sebastián Saavedra and it took him just six more laps to reel him in and make the pass. Still moving forward, Stefan was able to close the 2-second gap to Wagner and overtake him on the last lap but one. He took the chequered flag in seventh place and remains sixth in the championship standings, just five points behind Saavedra.

The race was won by Wade Cunningham, taking his third victory in the Freedom 100 after a fierce battle with Charlie Kimball and James Hinchcliffe.

Stefan's verdict on his first oval race: "It was a good day and a good chunk of points for the championship. It wasn't easy, but I was pleased with what I achieved. We never gave up and that's what we have to do for the rest of the season."