Photo: Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Andretti Autosport’s Oliver Askew dominated qualifying for Indy Lights’ first ever race at the Circuit of the Americas, taking pole position by 0.5194 seconds over team-mate Ryan Norman.
It was the 22-year-old’s second pole in a row after the St. Petersburg season opener, and follows up the test-topping times he set at the Formula 1 venue last month, where he was considerably less dominant.
Robert Megennis matched his best qualifying performance with third place in the third Andretti car, going just 0.0185s slower than Norman.
Despite not participating in the pre-season COTA test and competing on a round-by-round basis, Toby Sowery went fourth fastest for the joint BN Racing/Team Pelfrey entry on just his second weekend in a Indy Lights car.
He headed BN Racing team-mate David Malukas, who outpaces Juncos Racing’s Rinus VeeKay by 0.0005s to take the fifth spot on the grid.
Belardi Auto Racing had a disastrous session, with Lucas Kohl and Julien Falchero close to two seconds off the pace in seventh and eigth, and championship leader Zachary Claman DeMelo failing to set a time.
Qualifying results
| Pos | Name | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oliver Askew | Andretti Autosport | 1m55.5454s |
| 2 | Ryan Norman | Andretti Autosport | +0.5194s |
| 3 | Robert Megennis | Andretti Autosport | +0.5379s |
| 4 | Toby Sowery | BN Racing/Team Pelfrey | +0.7238s |
| 5 | David Malukas | BN Racing | +0.8510s |
| 6 | Rinus VeeKay | Juncos Racing | +0.8515s |
| 7 | Lucas Kohl | Belardi Auto Racing | +1.7055s |
| 8 | Julien Falchero | Belardi Auto Racing | +1.8479s |
| 9 | Dalton Kellett | Juncos Racing | +2.3969s |
| 10 | Zachary Claman DeMelo | Belardi Auto Racing | no time |