A Sam Schmidt car wins 4th straight Indy Lights pole
A Sam Schmidt Motorsports car will be making its fourth consecutive start from the pole.
Yacaman (159.520), driving the No. 2 TMR-Tuvacol-Xtreme Coil Drilling car, will be making his first front-row start.
Sam Schmidt Motorsports teammates Bryan Clauson (159.434) in the No. 77 Mazda Road to Indy/Curb Records/SSM car and Josef Newgarden (159.408), driving the No. 11 Copart/Score Big/Robo-Pong/SSM car, will share Row 2.
Duarte Ferreira (career best) and Victor Carbone will be on the third row, and Stefan Wilson and Brandon Wagner will be on Row 3 for the Sukup 100.
QUOTES:
ESTEBAN GUERRIERI (No. 7 Lucas Oil/Sam Schmidt Motorsports, Sunoco Pole Award winner): "It feels so good to win another pole position. It is very important at this track to do the right thing in qualifying because it is difficult to overtake during the race. We are in really good shape for tomorrow and I am pleased to start in the front. I was able to maximize on the short amount of time I had on the track and that is basically what motorsports is in Europe. It is all about making the most of the little time you have on the track. I try to be accurate and visualize in my head what my position on the track will be. This strategy has been working for me so far, but it wouldn't work if I didn't have a good car. I have to thank Sam Schmidt and the team because without them I couldn't do it.
GUSTAVO YACAMAN (No. 2 TMR-Tuvacol-Xtreme Coil Drilling, qualified second): "We were the second car out and that didn't help us because the track was very dirty from the USAC Silver Crown and midget cars. When I was out there I was able to work my bars and my weightjacker enough to get a good lap. I think if we would have drawn something a little later, we would have had a better run. I want to thank my team because this is my best qualifying attempt so far and this is the first time I am starting on the front row. It took me three years to get here, but we are here and I think we are looking good to run for pole position in the next few races. I am happy to start in the front row going into the race tomorrow. We have another practice session and we are going to work on the race car and make sure we have a good strong car for the race. This is a really hard track to race in and I think we can get it done and hopefully get our first podium of the year and build momentum from there."
BRYAN CLAUSON (No. 77 Mazda Road to Indy/CURB Records/SSM, qualified third): "It was all right. I was the first one of the team to go out, so I got to do all the gear checking and we just probably picked the wrong gear. Esteban (Guerrieri) picked a different one. I don't know if I could have ran what he ran. He ran a pretty strong lap, but I think we could have run second there."
Lineup
1. (7) Esteban Guerrieri, 160.787
2. (2) Gustavo Yacaman, 159.520
3. (77) Bryan Clauson, 159.434
4. (11) Josef Newgarden, 159.408
5. (28) Duarte Ferreira, 158.535
6. (3) Victor Carbone, 158.372
7. (5) Stefan Wilson, 157.618
8. (32) Brandon Wagner, 157.324
9. (9) Anders Krohn, 157.001
10. (16) David Ostella, 156.932
11. (4) Jorge Goncalvez, 156.027
12. (22) Victor Garcia, 155.685
13. (75) Chase Austin, no speed