Home News DeFrancesco takes IP2000 pole on debut after Frost exclusion

DeFrancesco takes IP2000 pole on debut after Frost exclusion

by Craig Woollard

Photo: Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Devlin DeFrancesco and Andretti Steinbrenner Racing will start their first ever Indy Pro 2000 race at Road America from pole after a technical exclusion for a rival.

Qualifying was fairly chaotic, with three red flag stoppages, and Turn 3 Motorsport’s Danial Frost provisionally ending up as the fastest driver.

The 20-minute session was wet to begin with, and drivers took to the track on the wet tyres.

Pabst Racing’s Bob Kaminsky was the first to fall foul of the conditions before anyone set a lap, spinning off at Turn 8.

Once the session got going again, it was Sting Ray Robb’s turn to come to a halt, with the Juncos Racing entrant suffering from a mechanical issue between Turns 5 and 6.

The session resumed with 15 minutes remaining, but Pabst duo Colin Kaminsky (Bob’s son) and Hunter McElrea opted for dry tyres.

It initially looked like the right call, with McElrea edging Juncos’s Artem Petrov for the top spot and the track only getting better.

At that point, many of the drivers darted into the pits to follow their lead, while Petrov stayed out and improved further.

However, McElrea and Kaminsky continued to bring the benchmark down, proving it was time for dry-weather tyres.

It was Frost with only a few minutes to go who secured the top spot, beating DeFrancesco by a few tenths.

A third and final red flag was brought out with a minute to go, bringing a premature end to the session and ensuring nobody improved.

Afterwards, Frost was removed from the classification due to a non-compliant technical feature, promoting DeFrancesco to pole.

Exclusive Autosport’s Braden Eves, the reigning USF2000 champion, inherited a front row start, ahead of the younger Kaminsky.

 

Qualifying results
Pos Driver Team Time
1 Devlin DeFrancesco Andretti Steinbrenner Racing 2m05.0198s
2 Braden Eves Exclusive Autosport +1.3544s
3 Colin Kaminsky Pabst Racing +2.2320s
4 Moises de la Vara DEForce Racing +2.5066s
5 Parker Thompson DEForce Racing +2.6742s
6 Hunter McElrea Pabst Racing +3.1591s
7 Artem Petrov Juncos Racing +3.4683s
8 Manuel Sulaiman DEForce Racing +4.2321s
9 Antoine Comeau Turn 3 Motorsport +5.3998s
10 Jacob Loomis BN Racing w/ Team Benik +6.6057s
11 Nate Aranda Juncos Racing +9.7730s
12 Sabre Cook Team Benik +15.1045s
13 Bob Kaminsky Pabst Racing +28.3430s
14 Charles Finelli FatBoy Racing +35.4523s
15 Sting Ray Robb Juncos Racing no time
EX Danial Frost Turn 3 Motorsport 2m04.7072s