Photo: Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Kiko Porto claimed his third career USF2000 pole by topping qualifying for the second race in St. Petersburg.
The DEForce Racing driver prevented Exclusive Autosport duo Christian Brooks and Matt Round-Garrido locking out the front row for the second time in a row, although it was Brooks who was fastest when qualifying was stopped mid-session.
There was enough time after the red flag interruption, brought about because of Ely Navarro going off at turn 10 in his DEForce-run car, for the field to head back out but only some drivers improved.
Brooks couldn’t match the 1m12.1028s lap he had set early on, setting seven more laps but with no gain, while Porto and Round-Garrido left it until their final efforts to set their personal bests.
Porto went fastest with a 1m12.0840s, putting him just 0.0188 seconds ahead of Brooks, and Round-Garrido was 0.0914s back in third.
Turn 3 Motorsport’s Josh Green also improved late on to qualify fourth, ahead of Cape Motorsports’ Michael d’Orlando and Pabst Racing’s Yuven Sundaramoorthy.
Porto’s team-mate Prescott Campbell tumbled down the order as brake issues kept him in the pits after the restart, and the points leader ended the session down in 16th.
After missing free practice and the first qualifying session of the day, Siegel got the fourth DEForce car on track and qualified 24th out of 26.
Qualifying results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kiko Porto | DEForce Racing | 1m11.9887s | 12 | |
| 2 | Christian Brooks | Exclusive Autosport | 1m12.1028s | +0.0188s | 12 |
| 3 | Matt Round-Garrido | Exclusive Autosport | 1m12.1754s | +0.0914s | 13 |
| 4 | Josh Green | Turn 3 Motorsport | 1m12.2396s | +0.1556s | 10 |
| 5 | Michael d’Orlando | Cape Motorsports | 1m12.3690s | +0.2850s | 9 |
| 6 | Yuven Sundaramoorthy | Pabst Racing | 1m12.4360s | +0.3520s | 12 |
| 7 | Myles Rowe | Force Indy | 1m12.4538s | +0.3698s | 13 |
| 8 | Spike Kohlbecker | Cape w/ Ignite Autosport | 1m12.4551s | +0.3711s | 9 |
| 9 | Thomas Nepveu | Cape Motorsports | 1m12.5853s | +0.5013s | 9 |
| 10 | Andre Castro | Legacy Autosport | 1m12.5880s | +0.5040s | 11 |
| 11 | Josh Pierson | Pabst Racing | 1m12.6075s | +0.5235s | 12 |
| 12 | Jace Denmark-Gessel | Pabst Racing | 1m12.6285s | +0.5445s | 12 |
| 13 | Bijoy Garg | JHDD | 1m12.7618s | +0.6778s | 11 |
| 14 | Dylan Christie | Turn 3 Motorsport | 1m12.8376s | +0.7536s | 12 |
| 15 | Erik Evans | Velocity Racing Development | 1m12.9313s | +0.8473s | 11 |
| 16 | Prescott Campbell | DEForce Racing | 1m12.9384s | +0.8544s | 8 |
| 17 | Peter Vodanovich | JHDD | 1m12.9442s | +0.8602s | 12 |
| 18 | Billy Frazer | Exclusive Autosport | 1m12.9622s | +0.8782s | 13 |
| 19 | Jackson Lee | JHDD | 1m13.0145s | +0.9305s | 12 |
| 20 | Evan Stamer | Cape w/ Ignite Autosport | 1m13.1863s | +1.1023s | 12 |
| 21 | Grant Palmer | Exclusive Autosport | 1m13.1989s | +1.1149s | 13 |
| 22 | Ely Navarro | DEForce Racing | 1m13.2557s | +1.1717s | 8 |
| 23 | Michael Myers | Michael Myers Racing | 1m13.2727s | +1.887s | 13 |
| 24 | Nolan Siegel | DEForce Racing | 1m13.4073s | +1.3233s | 13 |
| 25 | Trey Burke | Joe Dooling Autosports | 1m13.6027s | +1.5187s | 12 |
| 26 | Kent Vaccaro | Miller Vinatieri Motorsports | 1m14.2549s | +2.1709s | 9 |