O'Ward seals pole for St. Pete opener
Patricio O'Ward claimed his maiden Pro Mazda pole position in qualifying for the season opener at St. Petersburg.
Photo by: Andersen Promotions
The 16-year-old Mexican, who has only secured a seat for the first two races of the season so far, led most of the session and kept first at the flag, despite being unable to improve in the final minutes.
O'Ward will share the front row with Team Pelfrey teammate and top rookie Aaron Telitz, who will start ahead of his former USF2000 rivals Jake Eidson and Nico Jamin.
Weiron Tan ended up fifth, followed by the Juncos trio of Jake Parsons, Will Owen and Garett Grist.
Former Formula Renault 2.0 driver Jorge Cevallos was ninth, while Brazilian F3 graduate Nicolas Dapero completed the top 10.
Qualifying times:
Pos | Rider | Team | Time |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Patricio O'Ward | Team Pelfrey | 1:11.572 |
2 | Aaron Telitz | Team Pelfrey | 1:11.648 |
3 | Jake Eidson | Cape Motorsports w/WTR | 1:11.719 |
4 | Nico Jamin | Cape Motorsports w/WTR | 1:11.838 |
5 | Weiron Tan | Team Pelfrey | 1:11.930 |
6 | Jake Parsons | Juncos Racing | 1:11.939 |
7 | Will Owen | Juncos Racing | 1:12.000 |
8 | Garett Grist | Juncos Racing | 1:12.234 |
9 | Jorge Cevallos | JDC MotorSports | 1:12.385 |
10 | Nicolas Dapero | Juncos Racing | 1:12.760 |
11 | Bobby Eberle | World Speed Motorsports | 1:14.076 |
12 |
Jay Horak | M1 Racing | 1:14.770 |
Jordan Lloyd on top of USF2000 qualifying
The first USF2000 qualifying of the season featured a veritable statement of intent from 2015 runner-up squad Pabst Racing.
Series returnee Jordan Lloyd picked up a maiden pole on his first outing with a new team, while squadmates Yufeng Luo and Garth Rickards were third and fourth.
Only Cape's Parker Thompson denied the Pabst team a front row sweep, taking second with the exact same laptime as Luo.
Pelfrey's James Munro was the top-placed rookie in fifth.
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