By Steve Wittich
The second USF Juniors Presented by Cooper Tires qualifying sessions at Barber Motorsports Park finished like the first, with dominant performances by second-generation driver Nicolas Giaffone and DEForce Racing.
The 18-year-old from Brazilian was over half a second quicker than his teammates Lucas Fecury and Quinn Armstrong, lowering his track record at Barber Motorsports Park to 85.738 seconds.
Fecury rounds out the all-Brazilian front row, with Armstrong and reigning Lucas Oil Formula Car Race Series champion Jack Jeffers starting from the second row.
The 15 USF Juniors Presented by Cooper Tires drivers were the first cars on track early on Friday morning at Barber Motorsports Park.
Overnight rain cleared the track of any rubber, but with mostly sunny skies at 7:45 am, the track was dry. The ambient temperature was 66F, and the track temperature was 73F.
VRD Racing’s Jimmie Lockhart was the early leader, but as the drivers got their tires up to temperature laps, times were falling quickly.
DEForce Racing’s Giaffone, Armstrong and Fecury waited longer than their competitors to head out on the 2.3-mile, 17-turn natural terrain road course, but it didn’t take long for them to go to the top of the timing screens.
Giaffone held the provisional pole at the halfway mark of the 20-minute session, with Jack Jeffers (Exclusive Autosport), Armstrong, Joey Brienza (Exclusive Autosport) and Jimmie Lockhart (VRD Racing) rounding out the top five.
Giaffone was the first driver to go under 86 seconds and, on his sixth lap of qualifying, lowered the track record he set on Thursday afternoon.
For the second straight qualifying session, the No. 33 of Max Taylor (VRD Racing) brought out a red flag with just under five minutes remaining in qualifying. This time, the driver from New Jersey spun in Turn 1.
Giaffone’s teammates Fecury and Armstrong had just set the second and third quickest laps matching the first qualifying session.
The AMR INDYCAR Safety Team quickly cleared the car of Taylor, and the track went green, with drivers allowed to complete one timed lap.
Nobody improved, giving Giaffone a second pole, the fourth at Barber Motorsports Park for DEForce Racing.
Cooper Tires Grand Prix Of Alabama Race #2 – USF Juniors unofficial qualifying results
| RANK | CAR NO. | DRIVER | TEAM | BEST LAP | DIFFERENCE |
| 1 | 19 | Nicolas Giaffone | DEForce Racing | 1:25.738 | — |
| 2 | 17 | Lucas Fecury | DEForce Racing | 1:26.253 | -0.515 |
| 3 | 16 | Quinn Armstrong | DEForce Racing | 1:26.272 | -0.534 |
| 4 | 92 | Jack Jeffers | Exclusive Autosport | 1:26.400 | -0.662 |
| 5 | 91 | Joey Brienza | Exclusive Autosport | 1:26.477 | -0.739 |
| 6 | 48 | Jimmie Lockhart | VRD Racing | 1:26.482 | -0.744 |
| 7 | 68 | Ethan Ho | DC Autosport | 1:26.776 | -1.038 |
| 8 | 90 | Erick Schotten | Exclusive Autosport | 1:26.899 | -1.161 |
| 9 | 33 | Max Taylor | VRD Racing | 1:26.967 | -1.229 |
| 10 | 18 | Brady Golan | DEForce Racing | 1:26.980 | -1.242 |
| 11 | 29 | Hudson Schwartz | VRD Racing | 1:27.149 | -1.411 |
| 12 | 12 | Ethan Barker | VRD Racing | 1:27.304 | -1.566 |
| 13 | 55 | Juan Felipe Pedraza | Ram Racing | 1:27.496 | -1.758 |
| 14 | 57 | Carson Etter | DC Autosport | 1:28.898 | -3.16 |
| 15 | 93 | Giovanni Cabrera | Exclusive Autosport | 1:30.763 | -5.025 |
The pair of Cooper Tires Grand Prix of Alabama races will get the green flag at 10:15 am and 4:15 pm.