Hunter McElrea on pit road in St. Petersburg (Photo Courtesy of Penske Entertainment)
By Steve Wittich
Both Patrick and Steve were at the memorial service for T.E. McHale when this session was going on, so we don’t have any in-depth notes.
In his first Indy Lights qualifying session, Andretti Autosport rookie Hunter McElrea won the pole. It’s the seventh pole for the team on the 1.8-mile, 14-turn St. Petersburg street circuit, tying them with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports for the circuit lead.
McElrea has won a pole in all three Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires series and has ten poles in total. The 22-year-old has one pole in Indy Lights, four in Indy Pro 2000, and five in USF2000.
Linus Lundqvist (HMD Motorsports w/Dale Coyne Racing) veteran will start outside the front row.
The front three rows consist of three drivers from Andretti Autosport and Global Racing Group/HMD Motorsports.
The pole-sitter in “St. Pete” has won 13 of 26 races.
Indy Lights Grand Prix of St. Petersburg unofficial qualifying results
| RANK | CAR NO. | DRIVER | TEAM | DIFFERENCE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 27 | Hunter McElrea | Andretti Autosport | —— |
| 2 | 26 | Linus Lundqvist | HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing | 0.2923 |
| 3 | 2 | Sting Ray Robb | Andretti Autosport | 0.3939 |
| 4 | 24 | Benjamin Pedersen | Global Racing Group w/ HMD Motorsports | 0.5565 |
| 5 | 28 | Christian Rasmussen | Andretti Autosport | 0.5768 |
| 6 | 83 | Matthew Brabham | Andretti Autosport | 0.7612 |
| 7 | 21 | Kyffin Simpson | TJ Speed Motorsports | 0.9392 |
| 8 | 11 | Antonio Serravalle | Abel Motorsports | 1.0895 |
| 9 | 7 | Christian Bogle | HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing | 1.1213 |
| 10 | 51 | Jacob Abel | Abel Motorsports | 1.1380 |
| 11 | 59 | Manuel Sulaiman | HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing | 1.3206 |
| 12 | 68 | Danial Frost | HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing | 1.3271 |
| 13 | 12 | James Roe Jr | TJ Speed Motorsports | 1.6728 |
| 14 | 99 | Ernie Francis Jr | Force Indy | 2.4302 |