Browne snatches Indy Pro 2000 pole from Foster after end of qualifying

Photo: Gavin Baker Photography/Road to Indy

Turn 3 Motorsport’s Jonathan Browne claimed a surprise maiden Indy Pro 2000 pole position as he stole top spot away from Exclusive Autosport’s Louis Foster after qualifying finished.

Foster had been the driver to beat pretty much throughout qualifying, although DEForce Racing’s Nolan Siegel set the pace with the early laps that were set, but he was actually unable to match the 1m21.6946s lap he set to put himself ahead with almost half of qualifying still to go.

He got within a tenth or two several times, but it looked like his failure to improve wouldn’t cost him until a minute after the chequered flag was waved as Browne, who had been sat in 10th place, jumped to the top by less than two hundredths of a second.

One of the other pole contenders was Jack William Miller, whose Miller Vinatieri Motorsports team has entered into an alliance with Exclusive, and with 10 minutes to go he was in second place.

Pabst Racing’s Yuven Sundaramoorthy shuffled him to third with five minutes remaining, and he responded with an improved laptime only to be shuffled back down again by points leader Siegel and then Browne. He was just a tenth off pole but down in fourth place, and the top seven were covered by less than a quarter of a second.

Drivers switched to their second runs on fresh tyres in the first half of qualifying, and one driver who spent more time in the pits than most was the debuting Lindsay Brewer as her Exclusive-run was smoking. She got back on track and couldn’t improve her pace, but impressively was only 1.1318s down on Browne with the top 14 ahead of her spread by 0.7338s.

The grids for races two and three will be determined from a combination of the second-best laptimes from qualifying and the fastest laps from race one and then race two.

Qualifying results