The first of three Friday Mazda Road To Indy qualifying sessions began promptly at 10:15am when the 24 Cooper Tires USF2000 Powered by Mazda rolled onto the 14-Turn, 4.048-mile Road America road course to determine the starting line-up for the first of two Cooper Tires USF2000 Grand Prix of Road America Powered by Mazda races.
Ten minutes into the half-hour session and the red flag flew for the first time when Green Bay, Wisconsin native and SCCA veteran beached himself in Turn 1.
The red flag only lasted six minutes due the quick work by the Holmatro Safety Team, who was able to get the No. 7 Mazda powered ArmsUp Motorsports machine back underway.
The track went back to green half-way through the session and the Cape Motorsports with /WTR foursome, who had yet to turn a hot lap, were some of the first cars to take to the track.
It didn’t take long for the “Cape’s” Anthony Martin to jump to the top of the time-sheet where he was able to hold on to the top spot with a top lap at 2:10.779, almost a half of a second ahead of his closest rival. It is 21 year-olds third pole of the season and also his third career Mazda Road To Indy pole.
Anthony Martin – No. 8 Cape Motorsports with /WTR) Speedway, LLC Photography)
Victor Franzoni, who is driving for local favorites ArmsUp Motorsports will start outside Martin. With a previous best grid spot of fourth, the second place starting position is the Sao Paulo, Brazil natives best of the season.
After starting the first seven races of the year on the front row, current championship leader Parker Thompson will be staring at the back of another car for the first time when the green flag waves for race #1 on Saturday morning.
It was Wisconsin based team Pabst Racing who took the next four spots on the grid. Jordan Lloyd will start fourth, while Garth Rickards will start a season best fifth, and Yufeng Luo will roll off inside of row four.
Jordan Cane who made the move to Cape Motorsports with /WTR for this weekends races will start outside the third row, his best starting spot of the season.
Ayla Agren, Nikita Lastochkin and Luke Gabin round out the first five rows.
The Cooper Tires USF2000 Powered by Mazda drivers race twice on Saturday. Race #1 occurs bright and early at 8am and Race #2 will roll off at 1:10pm.
Full Cooper Tires USF2000 Powered by Mazda qualifying result
| RANK | DRIVER | QUICK LAP | GAP |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anthony Martin | 2:10.779 | 0.000 |
| 2 | Victor Franzoni | 2:11.235 | 0.4558 |
| 3 | Parker Thompson | 2:11.312 | 0.5329 |
| 4 | Jordan Lloyd | 2:11.471 | 0.6919 |
| 5 | Garth Rickards | 2:11.610 | 0.8315 |
| 6 | Jordan Cane | 2:11.635 | 0.8557 |
| 7 | Yufeng Luo | 2:11.766 | 0.9875 |
| 8 | Ayla Agren | 2:11.946 | 1.1673 |
| 9 | Nikita Lastochkin | 2:12.099 | 1.3205 |
| 10 | Luke Gabin | 2:12.105 | 1.3263 |
| 11 | Lucas Kohl | 2:12.238 | 1.4587 |
| 12 | Cameron Das | 2:12.291 | 1.5119 |
| 13 | Max Hanratty | 2:12.565 | 1.7863 |
| 14 | Robert Megennis | 2:12.930 | 2.1510 |
| 15 | Austin McCusker | 2:13.411 | 2.6319 |
| 16 | Clint McMahan | 2:13.577 | 2.7986 |
| 17 | Devin Wojcik | 2:13.750 | 2.9711 |
| 18 | Tazio Ottis | 2:14.100 | 3.3207 |
| 19 | Sam Chastain | 2:14.238 | 3.4587 |
| 20 | Michai Stephens | 2:14.674 | 3.8957 |
| 21 | Dale VandenBush | 2:17.502 | 6.7228 |
| 22 | Brenden Puderbach | 2:20.160 | 9.3809 |
| 23 | Eric Filgueiras | 3:06.956 | 56.1770 |
| 24 | Dakota Dickerson | No Time | — |