Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires at Laguna Seca – VeeKay uses last minute flyer to grab his 7th pole of the season

By Steve Wittich

Rinus van Kalmthout (VeeKay) might need a miracle to win his second straight Road To Indy, but the Juncos Racing rookie isn’t going down without a fight. The Dutchman turned the quickest lap of the weekend, timed at 75.671 seconds, to grab pole for the second straight day at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. It will the seventh time this season that the 19-year-old will start an Indy Lights race from the pole.

Askew, who will start third in today’s Indy Lights race, improved by one spot and the presumptive champion will begin Sunday’s finale beside rival VeeKay.

Starting on the second row is Portland International Raceway Race #2 winner Toby Sowery and Askew’s Andretti Autosport teammate Robert Megennis.

After a quiet first half of the 30-minute session, the timing sheet was as follows: VeeKay, Askew, David Malukas, Sowery, Dalton Kellett, Lucas Kohl, Megennis and Norman.

With five just over three minutes remaining, Sowery turned the quickest lap of the session, briefly grabbing the provisional pole before presumptive champion Askew went to the top of the timing screens. It wasn’t by much. Askew’s lap was only three-hundredths quicker than the HMD Motorsports/Team Pelfrey rookie.

Askew went even quicker on his next lap, breaking the 76 second barrier for the first time in the session. But, his time on the provisional pole didn’t last long. VeeKay was able to go two tenths quicker on his final flying lap of the session.

Askew took a lap to cool down his Cooper Tires and was on a flyer that had to be aborted when the Jupiter, Fla. driver came across a local yellow in The Corkscrew.

Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires Qualifying #2 Results