By Steve Wittich

The green flag for the first USF2000 qualifying session of the weekend came out at bright and early at 7:50 a.m., but immediately went red, when an undetermined driver brought out the red flag with a spin on their out-lap.

They were able to get their Mazda powered Tatuus re-fired, and the green flag quickly came back out with 15 of the 20 minutes left in session in the session.

At the halfway point of the session, the majority of the drivers had been able to turn five laps. Parker Thompson, who is coming of a pair of wins “at home” in Canada, was the quickest with a lap time of 85.680 seconds. He was followed in the top five by Oliver Askew, Lucas Kohl, Andres Gutierrez, and Phillipe Denes.

With eight minutes left in the session, it was Askew, who took over at the top of timing and scoring

With seven minutes left in the session, the red flag came out for the second time when the No. 90 Exclusive Autosport machine of Thompson had an off on the outside of Turn 1. The safety crew also had to come to the aid of Devin Wojcik, who stuffed in the tires on the outside of The Carousel. Thompson was restarted and came back to pit lane under his own power. Wojick’s No. 7 ArmsUp Motorsports machine required a tow truck.

When the red flag came out, Askew still had the quickest time of the session, and was followed by Rinus VeeKay, Lucas Kohl, Kory Enders, Denes, Calvin Ming, Thompson (who lost his quick lap), Kaylen Frederick, Robert Megennis, and Moisés de la Vara.

The green flag came back out with just over a minute to go, giving each driver a chance to do one flying lap to attempt to approve their times. VeeKay was the first across the line to improve his time, but behind him, Askew was also able to go to hold on to score his seventh pole of the season.

Rinus VeeKay, who had the second quickest time of the session, blew the checkered flag, costing him two grid positions. The Dutch rookie will end up starting on the outside of the second row.

VeeKay’s penalty promoted his Pabst Racing teammate to the outside of the front row, and Thompson, who also improved on his last lap, to the inside of the second row.

Cooper Tires USF2000 Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio Presented by Allied Building Products Qualifying # 1 Results

RANK CAR NO. DRIVER TEAM QUICK LAP DIFFERENCE
1 3 Oliver Askew Cape Motorsports 1:24.094 –.—-
2 21 Rinus VeeKay Pabst Racing 1:24.760 0.6663
3 23 Lucas Kohl Pabst Racing 1:25.099 1.0051
4 90 Parker Thompson Exclusive Autosport 1:25.116 1.0221
5 11 Kory Enders DEForce Racing 1:25.207 1.1133
6 82 Phillippe Denes Team Pelfrey 1:25.298 1.2047
7 22 Calvin Ming Pabst Racing 1:25.304 1.2107
8 81 Kaylen Frederick Team Pelfrey 1:25.362 1.2682
9 80 Robert Megennis Team Pelfrey 1:25.437 1.3436
10 12 Moises de la Vara DEForce Racing 1:25.632 1.5384
11 37 Jacob Abel Newman Wachs Racing 1:25.633 1.5395
12 10 Andres Gutierrez DEForce Racing 1:26.022 1.9288
13 36 Darren Keane Newman Wachs Racing 1:26.291 2.1971
14 27 Colin Kaminsky John Cummiskey Racing 1:26.589 2.4954
15 97 Bruna Tomaselli ArmsUp Motorsports 1:26.825 2.7313
16 92 Dev Gore Exclusive Autosport 1:27.671 3.5774
17 79 David Malukas BN Racing 1:27.755 3.6619
18 93 Jayson Clunie Exclusive Autosport 1:28.491 4.3978
19 7 Devin Wojcik ArmsUp Motorsports 2:36.157 1:12.0638

Note: VeeKay and Gore will both lose two grid positions for doing a lap after the taking the checkered flag.

The first USF2000 race of the weekend rolls off in four hours, at 12:30pm.