Not surprisingly, four drivers with extensive experience at Barber Motorsports Park led the way during the morning session. Mazda Road To Indy veterans Ed Jones (Carlin), Scott Hargrove (Team Pelfrey), Kyle Kaiser (Juncos Racing) and RC Enerson (Schmidt Peterson Motorsports) were joined by series debutante Felix Rosenqvist (Belardi Auto Racing).
All five of the drivers representing five different teams were all within two-tenths of a second of the 1:13.029 lap turned by Jones.
The first half of the three-hour session was run under green-flag conditions, with only a couple of local yellow flag zones for spins. The top five at the half-way point of the session were: Jones, Kaiser, Rosenqvist, Serralles and Urrutia.
It wasn’t long after the half-way point that a succession of red-flags meant the remainder of the session was rather disjointed.
Spins and mechanical issues for Negrao, Piedrahita, Jones and Anderson that necessitated tow-ins made it difficult for drivers to get into a good rhythm.
Teams and drivers each receive two sets of sticker tires for today’s test, and are able to use any carry over tires from previous sessions. In fact, there were a few drivers that spent the majority of the morning on the 2015 spec Cooper Tire.
Because the teams were working on different development items, this morning’s times are not necessary representative of each driver’s ultimate pace.
Here is the session time sheet:
P | Name | FTime | Laps |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Ed Jones | 1:13.029 | 35 |
2 | Scott Hargrove | 1:13.043 | 45 |
3 | Kyle Kaiser | 1:13.137 | 49 |
4 | RC Enerson | 1:13.183 | 46 |
5 | Felix Rosenqvist | 1:13.195 | 67 |
6 | Andre Negrao | 1:13.440 | 52 |
7 | Santiago Urrutia | 1:13.470 | 45 |
8 | Felix Serralles | 1:13.599 | 37 |
9 | Shelby Blackstock | 1:13.688 | 39 |
10 | Zach Veach | 1:13.764 | 53 |
11 | Dalton Kellett | 1:14.027 | 50 |
12 | Juan Piedrahita | 1:14.051 | 58 |
13 | Scott Anderson | 1:14.068 | 55 |
14 | Dean Stoneman | 1:14.095 | 39 |
15 | Neil Alberico | 1:14.301 | 45 |
16 | Zachary Clamen De Melo | 1:14.629 | 45 |
The afternoon session begins at 1:30pm and you can follow along at http://www.indylights.com/results/live-timing