Jones wins Lights pole

Ed Jones gets his pole check

Carlin’s Ed Jones took his third consecutive pole position today, around the Indianapolis road course, ahead of the Mazda Indy Lights Grand Prix of Indianapolis. Jones waited until the final few minutes before making his claim on the top stop and taking his sixth Indy Lights career pole. Team mate Felix Serralles was left ruing what could have been; the Puerto Rican was quickest for the majority of the session, only to be blocked on a lap that would have theoretically put him on the front row. Team mate Neil Alberico enjoyed a strong qualifying session in the top ten qualifying 10th.

After a wet practice session yesterday, track conditions were dry today for the Indy Lights qualifying session around the Indianapolis Grand Prix circuit. Serralles was quick out of the blocks, in the top three in the opening minutes. The Carlin man was still building up the pace though, improving to second quickest and then quickest overall with a 1.15.0.

With ten minutes to run in the session, Serralles was on provisional pole, having also broken the lap record, Jones was third and Alberico was 11th. The times were changing quickly though and in the next few minutes Serralles dropped to second, Jones to fourth and Alberico to 13th.

With one more new set of Cooper Tires fitted, the Carlin men were back out on track for a final attack on pole. Jones made the most of his new rubber, setting a new track record of 1.14.6 with Serralles also setting a personal best first sector. The St Pete race winner looked set to claim at least a front row start when he was blocked badly by Kyle Kaiser, meaning Serralles was unable to improve and was forced to settle for fourth. Kaiser would later lose his fastest time for blocking. Alberico meanwhile was also making improvements, the Indy Lights rookie climbing back into the top ten for his GP of Indy start.

Speaking about his pole lap, Jones said, “I was a bit surprised to be honest, I missed the apex on my fastest lap, so I thought I’d messed it up when the tires were at their best, but obviously the rest of the lap came together, but it was still a bit of a surprise."

A very frustrated Serralles added, “For me it was a really disappointing qualifying session in the end. The car was really good; I was pole and really comfortable for most of the session. I’m really very angry right now that my best lap got ruined, because I know I could have been on pole."

With drivers second fastest laps also setting the grid for race two on Saturday, Jones claims double pole and will lead the field away tomorrow, with Serralles starting third and Alberico 14th.

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