For the sixth time in seven races and eighth time in 2016, championship leader Aaron Telitz scored an all important bonus point for starting on pole. The 24 year-old Team Pelfrey rookie ended the half-hour qualifying session over a half-second ahead of teammate and closest championship chaser O’Ward.
Aaron Telitz won his eighth Pro Mazda presented by Cooper Tire pole for the first race of the “Soul Red Finale” weekend at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca (Photo courtesy of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, LLC Photography)
Juncos Racing rookie Nicolas Dapero will start the race in third, his best road and street course qualifying effort of the year.
Telitz and O’Ward’s teammate TJ Fischer will start outside the second row, his best qualifying result in six previous Pro Mazda starts.
The reigning Cooper Tires USF2000 Powered by Mazda champion and two time winner at Mazda Raceway in 2015, Nico Jamin ended up with the fifth quickest time of the session.
Qualifying for the Pro Mazda Grand Prix of Monterey Presented by Allied Building Products triple-header began under sunny skies after a one hour and ten minute delay for fog.
Telitz set the early pace, but was quickly passed by O’Ward. O’Ward’s early flyer was the first sub 1:24 lap of the weekend. A 1:24.677 set by Owen in the morning practice.
With ten minutes gone in the session the top five were: O’Ward, Fisher, Jamin, Telitz and Owen.
At this point the majority of the 12 car field came to pit road to make adjustments for the second half of the 30 minute session.
With 11 minutes left in the session, championship leader Telitz was able to get ahead his Team Pelfrey teammate O’Ward with a lap at 1:23.4472.
With ten minutes left in the session, the top five were: Telitz, O’Ward, Dapero, Owen and Fisher.
With seven minutes left in the session, Telitz was able to lower his quickest lap time to 1:23.2863, which at that point was 0.5878 seconds ahead of O’Ward.
With five minutes left in the session the top five were: Telitz, O’Ward, Dapero, Fisher and Jamin.
Pro Mazda presented by Cooper Tire qualifying results:
| RANK | NAME | QUICK LAP |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aaron Telitz | 1:23.2863 |
| 2 | Pato O’Ward | 1:23.8741 |
| 3 | Nicolas Dapero | 1:24.0098 |
| 4 | TJ Fischer | 1:24.4246 |
| 5 | Nico Jamin | 1:24.6104 |
| 6 | Will Owen | 1:24.6866 |
| 7 | Jake Parsons | 1:24.9107 |
| 8 | Joseph Burton-Harris | 1:25.8998 |
| 9 | Kory Enders | 1:26.1690 |
| 10 | Bobby Eberle | 1:26.7673 |
| 11 | Moises de la Vara | 1:27.5922 |
| 12 | Dan Swanbeck | 1:28.2080 |
The first of three Pro Mazda Grand Prix of Monterey Presented by Allied Building Products races this weekend is scheduled for 2:15pm (PT) or 5:15pm (ET). Your options to follow along are:
- live timing – Indy Lights, Pro Mazda, & USF2000
- on twitter –Indy Lights, Pro Mazda, USF2000, Cooper Tire, Mazda Racing and TSO Ladder
- via the Road To Indy TV app – Android or Apple iOS
- on IndyCar.com — INDYCAR Race Control
- on all social media channels via the #SoulRedFinale #TeamCooperTire and #MRTI hashtags
Or directly here: