By Diane Swintal
#90 Louis Foster, Exclusive Autosport, Copart.com, Novara Technologies Road to Indy Photo credit: Gavin Baker Photography/Road to Indy – IndyPro 2000
Green flag on race one qualifying as the day begins to warm up – 68F with an expected high of 88 degrees.
Exclusive Autosport’s Louis Foster holds a 77-point lead over Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Reece Gold, and only needs to finish ahead of Gold and DEForce Racing’s Nolan Siegel to secure the championship title.
Wishing Gold a very happy birthday – 18 years old today!
Foster posted the first quick time, immediately eclipsed by Gold, and Gold’s teammate Enaam Ahmed.
Watching this space for more information on flood relief efforts coordinated by Pakistan native Ahmed – per Rob Howden, Ahmed is heading home immediately after the race weekend to see what he can do to help, after torrential rains have caused widespread flooding and devastation throughout the country.
Nine minutes into the session, Gold held the quick time, 4/100s of a second over Foster, with DEForce Racing’s Kiko Porto, Siegel, and Ahmed within 40/10s.
With six minutes remaining, must of the field headed to pit lane for fresh Cooper Tires.
With four minutes remaining, Foster grabbed the top stop by 1/10 of a second over Gold – but immediately thereafter, Marcos Flack – making his series debut – went into the tires in turn 11. The AMR INDYCAR Safety Team was able to get Flack out of the tires quickly and back underway, but he would lose his quick time for causing a red flag.
The green flag flew once again, but Gold was not able to post a quicker time, so Foster scored his fifth pole of the season and the valuable championship point. Gold will start race one in P2, with Siegel third – so the top three in points starting in the top three in this afternoon’s race one.
Indy Pro 2000 Race #1 Grid:
|
RANK |
CAR NO. |
DRIVER |
TEAM |
FAST LAP |
DIFF. |
|
1 |
90 |
Louis Foster |
Exclusive Autosport |
1:08.2477 |
—— |
|
2 |
55 |
Reece Gold |
Juncos Hollinger Racing |
1:08.3841 |
0.1364 |
|
3 |
8 |
Nolan Siegel |
DEForce Racing |
1:08.4472 |
0.1995 |
|
4 |
1 |
Kiko Porto |
DEForce Racing |
1:08.5775 |
0.3298 |
|
5 |
47 |
Enaam Ahmed |
Juncos Hollinger Racing |
1:08.6333 |
0.3856 |
|
6 |
3 |
Josh Green |
Turn 3 Motorsport |
1:08.7413 |
0.4936 |
|
7 |
40 |
Jack William Miller |
Miller Vinatieri Motorsports w/EA |
1:08.7555 |
0.5078 |
|
8 |
18 |
Yuven Sundaramoorthy |
Pabst Racing |
1:08.8123 |
0.5646 |
|
9 |
6 |
Salvador De Alba |
Jay Howard Driver Develpment |
1:08.8699 |
0.6222 |
|
10 |
7 |
Bijoy Garg |
DEForce Racing |
1:08.9073 |
0.6596 |
|
11 |
2 |
Jonathan Browne |
Turn 3 Motorsport |
1:09.0158 |
0.7681 |
|
12 |
19 |
Jordan Missig |
Pabst Racing |
1:09.0384 |
0.7907 |
|
13 |
4 |
Braden Eves |
Jay Howard Driver Development |
1:09.0880 |
0.8403 |
|
14 |
93 |
Lindsay Brewer |
Exclusive Autosport |
1:09.3325 |
1.0848 |
|
15 |
5 |
Marcos Flack |
Jay Howard Driver Development |
1:09.6071 |
1.3594 |
…
With the race two grid decided by the second quick time in qualifying versus the quick race lap – second-quick quali time here:
| RANK | CAR NO. | DRIVER | TEAM | FAST LAP |
| 1 | 55 | Reece Gold | Juncos Hollinger Racing | 68.4016 |
| 2 | 90 | Louis Foster | Exclusive Autosport | 68.4191 |
| 3 | 1 | Kiko Porto | DEForce Racing | 68.5791 |
| 4 | 8 | Nolan Siegel | DEForce Racing | 68.6298 |
| 5 | 47 | Enaam Ahmed | Juncos Hollinger Racing | 68.7660 |
| 6 | 40 | Jack William Miller | Miller Vinatieri Motorsports w/EA | 68.8066 |
| 7 | 3 | Josh Green | Turn 3 Motorsport | 68.9216 |
| 8 | 18 | Yuven Sundaramoorthy | Pabst Racing | 68.9841 |
| 9 | 7 | Bijoy Garg | DEForce Racing | 68.9885 |
| 10 | 6 | Salvador De Alba | Jay Howard Driver Develpment | 68.9971 |
| 11 | 4 | Braden Eves | Jay Howard Driver Development | 69.1122 |
| 12 | 2 | Jonathan Browne | Turn 3 Motorsport | 69.1149 |
| 13 | 19 | Jordan Missig | Pabst Racing | 69.2489 |
| 14 | 93 | Lindsay Brewer | Exclusive Autosport | 69.6983 |
| 15 | 5 | Marcos Flack | Jay Howard Driver Development | 71.3575 |