By Steve Wittich
Both Patrick and Steve were at the memorial service for T.E. McHale when this session was going on, so we don’t have any in-depth notes.
In his first Indy Lights qualifying session, Andretti Autosport rookie Hunter McElrea won the pole. It’s the seventh pole for the team on the 1.8-mile, 14-turn St. Petersburg street circuit, tying them with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports for the circuit lead.
McElrea has won a pole in all three Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires series and has ten poles in total. The 22-year-old has one pole in Indy Lights, four in Indy Pro 2000, and five in USF2000.
Linus Lundqvist (HMD Motorsports w/Dale Coyne Racing) veteran will start outside the front row.
The front three rows consist of three drivers from Andretti Autosport and Global Racing Group/HMD Motorsports.
The pole-sitter in “St. Pete” has won 13 of 26 races.
Indy Lights Grand Prix of St. Petersburg unofficial qualifying results
RANK | CAR NO. | DRIVER | TEAM | DIFFERENCE |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 27 | Hunter McElrea | Andretti Autosport | —— |
2 | 26 | Linus Lundqvist | HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing | 0.2923 |
3 | 2 | Sting Ray Robb | Andretti Autosport | 0.3939 |
4 | 24 | Benjamin Pedersen | Global Racing Group w/ HMD Motorsports | 0.5565 |
5 | 28 | Christian Rasmussen | Andretti Autosport | 0.5768 |
6 | 83 | Matthew Brabham | Andretti Autosport | 0.7612 |
7 | 21 | Kyffin Simpson | TJ Speed Motorsports | 0.9392 |
8 | 11 | Antonio Serravalle | Abel Motorsports | 1.0895 |
9 | 7 | Christian Bogle | HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing | 1.1213 |
10 | 51 | Jacob Abel | Abel Motorsports | 1.1380 |
11 | 59 | Manuel Sulaiman | HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing | 1.3206 |
12 | 68 | Danial Frost | HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing | 1.3271 |
13 | 12 | James Roe Jr | TJ Speed Motorsports | 1.6728 |
14 | 99 | Ernie Francis Jr | Force Indy | 2.4302 |