By Steve Wittich
For the first time in 109 career Mazda Road To Indy presented by Cooper Tire starts Juan Piedrahita will start from pole.
The 25 year old Colombian was the sixth driver to take to the Gateway Motorsports Park 1.25 mile paperclip oval, and after two laps, pipped provisional pole sitter Santiago Urrutia by only six-thousandths of a second.
Piedrahita was super excited, and gave credit to the Gary Neal led Team Pelfrey squad for giving him a perfect car.
Piedrahita hung on through seven drivers including championship leader Kyle Kaiser, who’s first lap of 160.610 was the quickest first lap. The Juncos Racing driver was the only driver to go slower on his second lap, and explained that he was too aggressive with his in-car adjustment after his first lap.
Mazda St. Louis Indy Lights Oval Challenge Presented by Cooper Tires qualifying results
| RANK | CAR NO. | DRIVER | LAP 1 | LAP 2 | AVERAGE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | Juan Piedrahita | 160.296 | 161.354 | 160.823 |
| 2 | 5 | Santi Urrutia | 160.600 | 161.044 | 160.822 |
| 3 | 27 | Nico Jamin | 160.242 | 161.325 | 160.782 |
| 4 | 48 | Ryan Norman | 159.797 | 160.749 | 160.272 |
| 5 | 18 | Kyle Kaiser | 160.610 | 159.850 | 160.229 |
| 6 | 13 | Zachary Claman De Melo | 160.019 | 160.400 | 160.209 |
| 7 | 98 | Colton Herta | 159.361 | 160.865 | 160.110 |
| 8 | 22 | Neil Alberico | 159.915 | 160.018 | 159.966 |
| 9 | 31 | Nicolas Dapero | 159.425 | 160.451 | 159.936 |
| 10 | 51 | Shelby Blackstock | 159.556 | 159.883 | 159.719 |
| 11 | 28 | Dalton Kellett | 158.593 | 160.627 | 159.603 |
| 12 | 26 | Matheus Leist | 158.963 | 159.620 | 159.291 |
| 13 | 9 | Aaron Telitz | 158.520 | 159.840 | 159.177 |
| 14 | 11 | Garth Rickards | 154.840 | 156.371 | 155.602 |
| 15 | 84 | Chad Boat | 153.834 | 156.182 | 154.999 |