Qualifying notes and results for the first of two Cooper Tires Grand Prix of Road America Powered by Mazda

Parker Thompson, Oliver Askew, Rinus Van Kalmthout and David Malukas were all on point during a hectic five minutes of qualifying, and in a somewhat of a surprise it was Malukas’ lap of 2 minutes, 12.797 seconds that ended up being the quickest of the session.

After starting on pole in four straight races, championship leader Oliver Askew had to settle with an outside front row, but it could have been much worse. Askew was one of the last drivers to get a timed lap in before the checkered flag, and started that lap down in seventh place.

Rinus Van Kalmthout, who is in second place in the championship will start the race in third, and DEForce Racing rookie Moisés de la Vara rounds out a front two rows comprised completely of first year drivers. The fourth place start is the best of de la Vara’s MRTI career.

If they weren’t already awake, the early arriving campers for the KOHLER Grand Prix received an 8 a.m. wake-up call when the buzzing Mazda 2.0L engines of the USF2000 took to the 14-Turn, 4.014-mile Road America road course for their first qualifying session.

After heavy overnight rains there were still some damp spots, especially around Turn 3 and on the backside of the course through the Kettle Bottoms and Canada Corner, forcing the drivers to be cautious. There were still some early spinners, but the drivers were able to keep the engines lit and there were no red flags.

At the half-way point of the session, the top five were Kaylen Frederick, Parker Thompson, Robert Megennis, Rinus Van Kalmthout, and Moisés de la Vara.

Early lap times were in the 2 minute, 25 second range, but quickly began to fall, and with five minutes left in the times had fallen into the 2 minute, 16 second range, before dropping another four seconds on the drying track in the final four minutes.

Qualifying results for the first Cooper Tires Grand Prix of Road America Powered by Mazda

RANK CAR NO. DRIVER TEAM QUICK LAP GAP
1 79 David Malukas BN Racing 2:12.797 –.—-
2 3 Oliver Askew Cape Motorsports 2:13.698 0.9005
3 21 Rinus VeeKay Pabst Racing 2:14.078 1.2812
4 12 Moises de la Vara DEForce Racing 2:14.363 1.5657
5 23 Lucas Kohl Pabst Racing 2:14.404 1.6070
6 80 Robert Megennis Team Pelfrey 2:14.487 1.6899
7 90 Parker Thompson Exclusive Autosport 2:14.733 1.9362
8 7 Devin Wojcik ArmsUp Motorsports 2:15.276 2.4784
9 92 Dev Gore Exclusive Autosport 2:15.489 2.6920
10 11 Kory Enders DEForce Racing 2:15.511 2.7132
11 82 Jacob Loomis Team Pelfrey 2:15.564 2.7663
12 81 Kaylen Frederick Team Pelfrey 2:15.654 2.8569
13 36 Darren Keane Newman Wachs Racing 2:15.829 3.0322
14 27 Colin Kaminsky John Cummiskey Racing 2:17.074 4.2771
15 22 Calvin Ming Pabst Racing 2:17.127 4.3293
16 93 Jayson Clunie Exclusive Autosport 2:17.744 4.9463
17 2 Ricky Donison Cape Motorsports 2:18.226 5.4292
18 20 Chandler Horton RJB Motorsports 2:19.076 6.2784
19 97 Bruna Tomaselli ArmsUp Motorsports 2:20.356 7.5591

 


Qualifying notes and results for the second Pro Mazda Grand Prix of Road America Presented by Allied Building Products

The second Pro Mazda qualifying session the KOHLER Grand Prix weekend at Road America was a great reminder of why waiting to go out to set a quick lap in qualifying is a smart policy.

Reigning Cooper Tires USF2000 Powered by Mazda Champion Anthony Martin will start on the pole for the third time this year, and for the 10th time in his three season MRTI career.

Martin, who started the weekend six points behind championship leader Victor Franzoni but fell seven points behind after the Juncos Racing Brazilian earned one point for scoring an easy pole in yesterday afternoon’s qualifying session.

However, Franzoni will have a lot of work to do in Saturday’s second Pro Mazda race, as the 21 year-old was not able to turn a hot lap during the session.

With ten-minutes left in the session, Frazoni had just took to the 14-Turn, 4.014-mile Road America road course, but during Franzoni’s out lap, Bob Kaminsky spun in Turn 3, bringing out the red flag. At just past the half-way point of the qualifying session the top five were Martin, TJ Fischer, Nikita Lastochkin, Carlos Cunha, and Max Hanratty.

The track went green again with only five-and-a-half minutes left, giving Franzoni just enough time for one out lap and one flyer. However, just before Franzoni passed the timing line on what would have been a pole winning pole lap that of 2 minutes, 8.452 seconds, Kris Wright spun and hit the tire barriers in the tricky Turn 3. Therefore, Fraznoni’s lap didn’t count, and he will start dead last in the 15 car field.

TJ Fischer, who made his Pro Mazda debut on this weekend last year, will start on the outside of the front row for the third straight race.

Fisher’s two Team Pelfrey teammates, rookies Carlos Cunha and Nikita Lastochkin will start on the second row.

Qualifying results for the second Pro Mazda Grand Prix of Road America Presented by Allied Building Products

RANK CAR NO. DRIVER TEAM QUICKEST LAP GAP
1 8 Anthony Martin Cape Motorsports 2:08.586 –.—-
2 82 TJ Fischer Team Pelfrey 2:09.418 0.8318
3 80 Nikita Lastochkin Team Pelfrey 2:09.960 1.3743
4 81 Carlos Cunha Team Pelfrey 2:10.051 1.4648
5 6 Max Hanratty ArmsUp Motorsports 2:13.210 4.6242
6 14 Sting Ray Robb World Speed Motorsports 2:13.521 4.9346
7 13 Bobby Eberle World Speed Motorsports 2:13.594 5.0082
8 60 Jeff Green Juncos Racing 2:15.023 6.4367
9 12 Kris Wright JDC Motorsports 2:15.355 6.7687
10 57 Bob Kaminsky Kaminsky Racing 2:16.702 8.1156
11 31 Brendan Puderbach FatBoy Racing 2:17.699 9.1129
12 2 Dave Zavelson Unfair Advantage Motorsports 2:18.708 10.1214
13 5 Kevin Bury Unfair Advantage Motorsports 2:24.273 15.6867
14 83 Charles Finelli FatBoy Racing 2:35.078 26.4915
15 23 Victor Franzoni Juncos Racing 5:08.698 3:00.1114

 

A quick note from yesterday’s Pro Mazda qualifying session. A total of seven drivers were penalized two grid positions for doing an extra lap after getting the checkered flag. Those drivers were Bobby Eberle, Sting Ray Robb, Bob Kaminsky, Jeff Green, TJ Fischer, and Charles Finelli. While this might seem harsh, when you have six different series running between 8am through 5:40pm with short breaks, keeping on schedule can be a challenge and “blowing the checkered” on a 4.014 mile road course steals three or four minutes from schedule.

The new starting order for the first Pro Mazda race that will roll off later this afternoon is.

  1. Victor Franzoni – Juncos Racing
  2. Anthony Martin – Cape Motorsports
  3. Carlos Cunha – Team Pelfrey
  4. Nikita Lastochkin – Team Pelfrey
  5. Kris Wright – JDC Motorsports
  6. TJ Fischer – Team Pelfrey
  7. Brenden Puderbach – Fat Boy Racing
  8. Sting Ray Robb – World Speed Motorsports
  9. Max Hanratty – ArmsUp Motorsports
  10. Bob Kaminsky – Kaminsky Racing
  11. Bobby Eberle – World Speed Motorsports
  12. Jeff Green – Juncos Racing
  13. Dave Zavelson – Unfair Advantage Motorsports
  14. Kevin Bury – Unfair Advantage Motorsports
  15. Charles Finelli – Fat Boy Racing

USF2000 is next on track for their first race of the weekend at 11:45am (Central), and Pro Mazda is next on track at 1:35pm (Central) for their first of two races doing the KOHLER Grand Prix.


Practice notes and results for the Mazda Indy Lights Grand Prix of Road America Presented by Allied Building Products

Current championship leader Kyle Kaiser, with a lap of 1 minute, 53.876 seconds, led the lone Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tire practice before the highest rung of the MRTI qualifies for their first race of the weekend later this afternoon.

Carlin sophomore Zachary Claman DeMelo, who did his first Verizon IndyCar Series test with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports at Road America last week, had the second quickest lap, and his Carlin teammate Neil Alberico had the third quickest lap. Wisconsin driver Aaron Telitz and Freedom 100 winner Matheus Leist rounded out the top five.

Championship contender and two-time race winner Colton Herta was not able to turn any laps during the 45 minute session after his Andretti-Steinbrenner Racing crew found a fuel leak on the Deltro Energy sponsored No. 98.

Practice times for the Mazda Indy Lights Grand Prix of Road America Presented by Allied Building Products

RANK CAR NO. DRIVER TEAM QUICK LAP GAP
1 18 Kyle Kaiser Juncos Racing 1:53.876 –.—-
2 13 Zachary Claman De Melo Carlin 1:54.001 0.1249
3 22 Neil Alberico Carlin 1:54.098 0.2220
4 9 Aaron Telitz Belardi Auto Racing 1:54.200 0.3234
5 26 Matheus Leist Carlin 1:54.387 0.5106
6 2 Juan Piedrahita Team Pelfrey 1:54.547 0.6710
7 48 Ryan Norman Andretti Autosport 1:54.642 0.7660
8 31 Nicolas Dapero Juncos Racing 1:54.646 0.7703
9 27 Nico Jamin Andretti Autosport 1:54.654 0.7783
10 28 Dalton Kellett Andretti Autosport 1:54.766 0.8899
11 11 Garth Rickards Carlin 1:55.080 1.2042
12 51 Shelby Blackstock Belardi Auto Racing 1:55.101 1.2247
13 5 Santi Urrutia Belardi Auto Racing 1:55.196 1.3201
14 98 Colton Herta Andretti Steinbrenner Racing No Time

The Indy Lights drivers will be back on track at 2:30pm for their first qualifying session.

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