Rinus VeeKay, who has a pair of USF2000 wins at Road America, was the quickest driver in a disjointed Indy Lights practice session.
Belardi Auto Racing veteran Aaron Telitz was the only driver within one second of the Dutchman’s lap of 114.9558 seconds.
Andretti Autosport rookie Robert Megennis was the third quickest driver, with the next five drivers all within a half-second of the Juncos Racing rookie.
The first and only Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires started promptly at 10:05 am as the nine AER/Dallara IL-15’s took to the 4.014-mile, 14-turn natural terrain road course.
The ambient temperature was comfortable 68F, and the track temperature was 86F.
At the 15 minute point of the 45-minute session, the leader, with a lap of 114.9958 seconds, was Rinus VeeKay.
The first red flag of the session came out with 25-minutes remaining when the No. 5 Belardi Auto Racing machine of Lucas Kohl came to a stop on track at the exit of The Carousel (Turn 10).
The AMR INDYCAR Safety Team was able to flat-tow him back to pit-lane, and the green flag came back out 17-minutes remaining.
Points leader Oliver Askew brought out the second red flag of the session with just over 10 minutes remaining. The No. 28 spun at the exit of Turn 14, taking out a Firestone advertising sandwich board, and ended up in the tires on driver’s left just before pit-in.
Askew told IndyCar radio that he lost it on the curb on the outside of Turn 14 and backed it into the tires.
He was able to get his Andretti Autosport car restarted and drive back to pit road. The damage was enough that he wasn’t ready to head back out.
The green flag came back out with eight minutes remaining, and the only driver to improve on his time in the final few minutes was David Malukas.
Toby Sowery was not able to turn any laps at speed, only turning four laps in total. The No. 2 BN Racing team was furiously working on an issue on the right front of the car with the driver complaining of slack in the steering. The fourth-place driver was able to get on track to complete a single out lap to test the team’s fix.
Cooper Tires Grand Prix of Road America Powered by AER Indy Lights Practice Results
| RANK | CAR NO | DRIVER | TEAM | QUICK LAP | DIFFERENCE | TOTAL LAPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 21 | Rinus VeeKay | Juncos Racing | 1:54.996 | –.—- | 15 |
| 2 | 4 | Aaron Telitz | Belardi Auto Racing | 1:55.161 | 0.1649 | 14 |
| 3 | 27 | Robert Megennis | Andretti Autosport | 1:56.004 | 1.0084 | 16 |
| 4 | 5 | Lucas Kohl | Belardi Auto Racing | 1:56.160 | 1.1640 | 14 |
| 5 | 67 | Dalton Kellett | Juncos Racing | 1:56.193 | 1.1974 | 14 |
| 6 | 48 | Ryan Norman | Andretti Autosport | 1:56.295 | 1.2991 | 14 |
| 7 | 28 | Oliver Askew | Andretti Autosport | 1:56.390 | 1.3943 | 9 |
| 8 | 79 | David Malukas | BN Racing | 1:56.590 | 1.5937 | 12 |
| 9 | 2 | Toby Sowery | BN Racing/Team Pelfrey | 2:09.823 | 14.8268 | 5 |
The top rung of the Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires qualifies at 2:05 pm this afternoon.