Nikita Johnson takes pole in wet USF2000 qualifying at Indianapolis

Photo: Gavin Baker Photography

Velocity Racing Development’s Nikita Johnson was fastest in USF2000 qualifying on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course.

Johnson had set the pace in Thursday free practice, and rain hit before qualifying began on Friday morning. That made the track exceptionally slippy, but not too many were caught out and Johnson was on top halfway through the session with a 1m36.1474s lap.

That put him just 0.0369 seconds ahead of Exclusive Autosport’s Jacob Douglas, with Jay Howard Driver Development’s Evagoras Papasavvas in third.

There was then a red flag stoppage as DEForce Racing’s Maxwell Jamieson had spun off and his car needed recovering from the wet grass. The clock continued to count down on the half-hour session through the interruption, and track action resumed with just under eight minutes to go.

However under the series’ rules on how much green flag running drivers actually get in sessions it meant the chequered flag was waved with five minutes remaining.

Almost everyone had headed back out when the session restarted, and almost all of them also improved on their final lap. That meant there was lots of changes to the order at the finish, with Pabst Racing’s Simon Sikes briefly on pole and then Douglas before Johnson also improved to secure pole by 0.2489s.

Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing’s Elliot Cox jumped up to third place after the chequered flag, with Sikes ending up in fourth ahead of team-mate Max Garcia.

Qualifying results