Sulaiman takes IP2000 pole at Road America, Abel stars in third

Photo: Gavin Baker Photography

Manuel Sulaiman claimed his fourth career Indy Pro 2000 pole, and second at Road America, in qualifying for the opening race of this weekend’s round at the circuit.

For a long time it looked like Abel Motorsport’s Jacob Abel would take pole, having sat at the top of the timesheet for much of the session, but a constantly evolving track meant his mid-session advantage meant nothing when it came to the end.

Turn 3 Motorsport’s James Roe Jr was at first the only driver able to get close, then free practice pacesetter Artem Petrov joined him in lapping in the 2m04s with two-and-a-half minutes left to go of qualifying.

A minute later Juncos Racing driver Sulaiman came through with what would be the pole lap, setting a 2m04.6584s to put him 0.1358 seconds up on Abel.

In the final seconds Exclusive Autosport’s Petrov and Sulaiman’s team-mate Reece Gold also got close, with Petrov demoting Abel to the second row of the grid by 0.0010s and Gold going just 0.0022s slower than Abel.

For the main title contenders it wasn’t a strong showing, with points leader Christian Rasmussen (JHDD) a third of a second back in sixth place and Exclusive’s Braden Eves down in ninth.

Qualifying results