Askew Rolls To Indy Lights Pole
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| Oliver Askew |
Andretti Autosport's Oliver Askew kept the momentum rolling by winning the pole in Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires on Friday night at World Wide Technology Raceway.
The driver of the No. 28 Andretti Autosport Dallara IL-15 put down a flying two-lap run 159.918 mph (28.25065 seconds), which bettered Rinus VeeKay (No. 21 Juncos Racing) by a solid 0.2223 of a second.
In turn, the result marks the seventh pole of the season for Askew after also pacing practice earlier in the day.
“That last session there was probably one of the most fun times I’ve had in a race car," Askew said.
“The track was really, really good. I could carry a lot of throttle between Turns 1 and 2, so that’s always fun. This will just make tomorrow easier for us. We need to take this position and execute."
Defending race winner Ryan Norman (No. 48 Andretti Autosport) qualified third, followed by David Malukas (No. 78 HMD Motorsports) and Toby Sowery (No. 2 HMD Motorsports/Team Pelfrey) ending the session fourth and fifth, respectively.
A race winner on six occasions this year, Askew will look to make it seven and put a firmer grip on his championship lead, which sits at 46 points ahead of VeeKay (350-304) after claiming the bonus point for pole.
The top rung of the Road to Indy is set to go green at 4:25 p.m. ET for a 75-lap shootout that will stream live on NBC Sports Gold.
Pathetic 8-car Indy Lights Grid
| Pos | No | Name | Time | Diff | Gap | Speed | Team |
| 1 | 28 | Oliver Askew | 28.048 | –.—- | –.—- | 160.440 | Andretti Autosport |
| 2 | 21 | Rinus VeeKay | 28.136 | 0.2223 | 0.2223 | 159.935 | Juncos Racing |
| 3 | 48 | Ryan Norman | 28.171 | 0.2366 | 0.0143 | 159.736 | Andretti Autosport |
| 4 | 79 | David Malukas | 28.198 | 0.3202 | 0.0836 | 159.584 | HMD Motorsports |
| 5 | 2 | Toby Sowery | 28.255 | 0.3509 | 0.0307 | 159.263 | HMD Motorsports/Team Pelfrey |
| 6 | 67 | Dalton Kellett | 28.361 | 0.4998 | 0.1489 | 158.667 | Juncos Racing |
| 7 | 27 | Robert Megennis | 28.343 | 0.5640 | 0.0642 | 158.767 | Andretti Autosport |
| 8 | 5 | Lucas Kohl | 28.711 | 1.6817 | 1.1177 | 156.733 | Belardi Auto Racing |
Lindh sets new track record in tight qualifying bout in Indy Pro 2000
Qualifying for Indy Pro 2000 presented by Cooper Tires was a slugfest between title contenders with current championship leader Rasmus Lindh snatching the pole at the 1.25-mile oval.
The driver of the No. 23 Juncos Racing Tatuus PM-18 was the last among 12 drivers to go out, but put down the quickest two-lap average at 142.857 mph (31.500 seconds), edging title rival Kyle Kirkwood (No. 28 RP Motorsport Racing) by 0.152 of a second. Additionally, the pole-winning run from the Swede shattered the previous track record of 140.370 mph (32.0581 seconds) set in 2017 by Anthony Martin.
"It felt very good," Lindh said after scoring his fourth pole of the season. “I did a few mistakes, so we could've gone a little bit faster but it's just a little bit in the pocket for us right now."
The result provides Lindh, with an all-important bonus point and now sits 14 points up on Kirkwood (285-271).
After leading opening practice earlier in the day, Kory Enders (No. 7 DEForce Racing) backed up the performance by qualifying third, followed by Sting Ray Robb (No. 2 Juncos Racing) in fourth and Antoine Comeau (No. 3 Turn 3 Motorsport) ending up fifth in just his second-ever race weekend in the series.
Parker Thompson (No. 8 Abel Motorsports), who sits third in the championship, struggled in the session and will start tomorrow’s race from 10th.