Photo: Andersen Promotions
Neil Alberico will start from the pole position in the first Pro Mazda race of the season in St. Petersburg after a confident performance from the sophomore driver.
Alberico, 22, took the lead in the early stages and maintained his position until the checkered flag.
Although Mexican Jose Gutierrez and debutant Santiago Urrutia both came close to snatch the lead from Alberico, at the end it was his Cape Motorsports teammate Daniel Burkett?who took second while Urrutia and Gutierrez had to settle for third and fourth.
Series newcomers Frenchman Timothe Buret, Mexican Patricio O’Ward and Briton Raoul Owens will start from fifth, sixth and seventh respectively.
Will Owen qualified eighth while Pro Mazda Winterfest runner-up Weiron Tan and USF2000 champion Florian Latorre complete the top ten.
Qualifying results
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
| 1 | Neil Alberico | Cape Motorsports | 1:11.6765 | 22 | |
| 2 | Daniel Burkett | Cape Motorsports | 1:11.7214 | 0.0449 | 20 |
| 3 | Santiago Urrutia | Team Pelfrey | 1:11.7790 | 0.1025 | 22 |
| 4 | Jose Gutierrez | Juncos Racing | 1:11.7874 | 0.1109 | 21 |
| 5 | Timothe Buret | Juncos Racing | 1:11.8735 | 0.1970 | 20 |
| 6 | Patricio O’Ward | Team Pelfrey | 1:11.8816 | 0.2051 | 21 |
| 7 | Raoul Owens | JDC Motorsports | 1:11.9089 | 0.2324 | 21 |
| 8 | Will Owen | Juncos Racing | 1:11.9788 | 0.3023 | 20 |
| 9 | Weiron Tan | Andretti Autosport | 1:12.0423 | 0.3658 | 21 |
| 10 | Florian Latorre | Cape Motorsports | 1:12.0483 | 0.3718 | 20 |
| 11 | Garrett Grist | Juncos Racing | 1:12.3630 | 0.6865 | 15 |
| 12 | Kyle Connery | JDC Motorsports | 1:12.4578 | 0.7813 | 20 |
| 13 | Dalton Kellett | Andretti Autosport | 1:12.4618 | 0.7853 | 17 |
| 14 | Alessandro Latif | World Speed Motorsports | 1:12.7082 | 1.0317 | 22 |
| 15 | Parker Nicklin | JDC Motorsports | 1:13.3147 | 1.6382 | 20 |
| 16 | Bobby Eberle | World Speed Motorsports | 1:14.5553 | 2.8788 | 21 |
| 17 | Jay Horak | M1 Racing | 1:15.9019 | 4.2254 | 17 |