You never want to be a guinea pig on a day where ambient temperatures are south of 50 degrees.
But with 46-degree ambient temperatures, the Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires field of 16 competitors were first to venture out on the cold, dark and overcast 2.439-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course for a crucial 20-minute morning warmup session to kick off the Mazda Road to Indy activity on Saturday.
Santiago Urrutia had a tough start to the session with IndyCar Radio reporting the driver of the No. 55 Soul Red Mazda for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports was stuck in the pits with an apparent fuel pump issue, which sidelined the Uruguayan for the remainder of the session.
After incidents in race one of the Mazda Indy Lights Grand Prix of Indianapolis, both Team Pelfrey cars of Juan Piedrahita and Scott Hargrove, plus Andretti Autosport’s Dalton Kellett, all returned to the track.
Up front Felix Rosenqvist posted a best time of 1:15.4152 in the No. 14 Belardi Auto Racing entry ahead of Hargrove, Dean Stoneman, Friday winner and series points leader Ed Jones and Kyle Kaiser.
Zach Veach’s car, the second Belardi Dallara IL-15 Mazda, was stranded just prior to pit-in and needed a tow-in.
Warmup times are below.
| P | No | Name | FTime | Diff | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 14 | Felix Rosenqvist | 1:15.415 | 0.000 | 10 |
| 2 | 3 | Scott Hargrove | 1:15.681 | 0.2655 | 10 |
| 3 | 27 | Dean Stoneman | 1:15.791 | 0.3760 | 12 |
| 4 | 11 | Ed Jones | 1:15.850 | 0.4351 | 14 |
| 5 | 18 | Kyle Kaiser | 1:15.872 | 0.4572 | 12 |
| 6 | 4 | Felix Serralles | 1:15.907 | 0.4915 | 14 |
| 7 | 17 | Andre Negrao | 1:15.994 | 0.5787 | 9 |
| 8 | 22 | Neil Alberico | 1:16.176 | 0.7612 | 14 |
| 9 | 77 | Scott Anderson | 1:16.230 | 0.8146 | 11 |
| 10 | 7 | RC Enerson | 1:16.298 | 0.8832 | 14 |
| 11 | 28 | Dalton Kellett | 1:16.311 | 0.8959 | 14 |
| 12 | 5 | Zach Veach | 1:16.348 | 0.9328 | 12 |
| 13 | 13 | Zachary Claman De Melo | 1:16.447 | 1.0313 | 11 |
| 14 | 2 | Juan Piedrahita | 1:16.620 | 1.2052 | 10 |
| 15 | 51 | Shelby Blackstock | 1:16.689 | 1.2736 | 14 |
| 16 | 55 | Santiago Urrutia | No Time | — | — |
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Meanwhile here’s the starting grid for race two of the weekend, which has an estimated 1:25 p.m. green flag.
Jones and Urrutia are set to resume their battle from Friday, with the pair of Felixes third and fourth and Stoneman starting fifth.
| Rank | Car | Driver | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 11 | Ed Jones | 01:15.0014 |
| 2 | 55 | Santiago Urrutia | 01:15.0914 |
| 3 | 4 | Felix Serralles | 01:15.1006 |
| 4 | 14 | Felix Rosenqvist | 01:15.1164 |
| 5 | 27 | Dean Stoneman | 01:15.1669 |
| 6 | 7 | RC Enerson | 01:15.1987 |
| 7 | 5 | Zach Veach | 01:15.4457 |
| 8 | 77 | Scott Anderson | 01:15.4825 |
| 9 | 3 | Scott Hargrove | 01:15.5652 |
| 10 | 51 | Shelby Blackstock | 01:15.5707 |
| 11 | 18 | Kyle Kaiser | 01:15.6489 |
| 12 | 17 | Andre Negrao | 01:15.7930 |
| 13 | 28 | Dalton Kellett | 01:15.8319 |
| 14 | 22 | Neil Alberico | 01:15.8718 |
| 15 | 13 | Zachary Claman De Melo | 01:15.9174 |
| 16 | 2 | Juan Piedrahita | 01:15.9856 |
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