By Steve Wittich
For the eleventh time in his Road To Indy career, the fifth time in Indy Pro 2000 and third time on the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla., Parker Thompson will start from the inside of the front row.
The Red Deer, Alberta based driver broke the track record with a lap at 67.925 seconds, the only driver to break the 68-second mark.
Reigning Cooper Tires USF2000 Champion Kyle Kirkwood will start on the outside of the first row. Giving the Jupiter, Fla. native an excellent chance to redeem the weekend after a disappointing race on Friday afternoon
Sting Ray Robb, who is coming off a podium finish in yesterday’s race will start on the inside of the second row with Exclusive Autosport rookie Danial Frost on the outside of him.
The final Indy Pro 2000 qualifying session got underway just before 8 a.m. under a picture-perfect azure sky and the temperature at a comfortable 67F.
The distinctive note of the Elite Engine built 2.0L Indy Pro 2000 power plant served as an alarm for any of the residents of the condo buildings surrounding the circuit that were still asleep.
It didn’t take long for Thompson, who started the first Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Presented by Allied Building Products race on pole, to put the No. 8 Abel Motorsports on to the top of the timing sheets.
The Canadian was still there at the halfway point of the 20-minute session with a lap at 68.365 seconds. The rest of the top five with ten minutes remaining were Moisés de la Vara (DEForce Racing), Danial Frost (Exclusive Autosport), Nikia Lastochkin (Exclusive Autosport) and Robb.
Four minutes later RP Motorsport rookie Kyle Kirkwood turned a lap at 68.041 seconds, breaking the Indy Pro 2000 track record set by Oliver Askew last year.
Kirkwood’s track record and provisional pole didn’t last long when Thompson turned the first sub-68-second lap on the 1.8-mile, 14-turn street circuit.
Charles Finelli is not taking part in today’s action so that he can attend to a personal matter.
Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Presented by Allied Building Products qualifying #2 results
| RANK | CAR NO. | DRIVER | TEAM | FAST LAP | DIFFERENCE | TOTAL LAPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 | Parker Thompson | Abel Motorsports | 1:07.925 | –.—- | 15 |
| 2 | 28 | Kyle Kirkwood | RP Motorsport Racing | 1:08.040 | 0.1153 | 14 |
| 3 | 2 | Sting Ray Robb | Juncos Racing | 1:08.197 | 0.2719 | 14 |
| 4 | 68 | Danial Frost | Exclusive Autosport | 1:08.232 | 0.3071 | 15 |
| 5 | 10 | Rasmus Lindh | Juncos Racing | 1:08.241 | 0.3165 | 13 |
| 6 | 6 | Moises de la Vara | DEForce Racing | 1:08.279 | 0.3539 | 15 |
| 7 | 90 | Nikita Lastochkin | Exclusive Autosport | 1:08.599 | 0.6745 | 15 |
| 8 | 7 | Kory Enders | DEForce Racing | 1:08.609 | 0.6842 | 15 |
| 9 | 5 | Damiano Fioravanti | RP Motorsport Racing | 1:08.741 | 0.8159 | 15 |
| 10 | 11 | Antonio Serravalle | Pserra Racing/Jay Howard Driver Development | 1:08.955 | 1.0298 | 15 |
| 11 | 51 | Jacob Abel | Abel Motorsports | 1:09.076 | 1.1514 | 15 |
| 12 | 98 | Phillippe Denes | FatBoy Racing | 1:09.137 | 1.2119 | 16 |
| 13 | 91 | Parker Locke | Exclusive Autosport | 1:09.800 | 1.8754 | 14 |
| 14 | 83 | Charles Finelli | Fatboy Racing! | No Time | — | — |
The race rolls off at 11:25 a.m. this morning.
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