Davison to start from Watkins Glen pole

James Davison earned the pole position for Saturday's Corning 100 with a lap averaging 124.843 mph around the 3.37-mile Watkins Glen road circuit. Davison was quick right off the transporter, setting the fastest lap in morning practice too.

Davison said he turned three really good laps and knew that two of them would be good enough for the pole. After Davison's Vision Racing crew called him into the pits, he exited the car and realized there were 5 minutes remaining in the session. "Then I had to play the waiting game," Davison said.

Sebastian Saavedra will start on the front row for the fourth time this season. Missing the pole by 0.0914, Saavedra admitted to making a mistake at Turn 9. "I think I lost one-tenth of a second there," said Saavedra, "The tenth I needed," he added.

Saavedra indicated that his car was perfect and that any loss of time fell on his shoulders.

James Hinchcliffe will start third, his best grid position since starting second at Long Beach. Hinchcliffe shaved over two seconds from his practice time, qualifying at an average speed of 124.637 mph. "Given the amount of track time we got, P3 is pretty respectable," said Hinchcliffe. "We struggled a bit in practice this morning, and to be fair, even the first part of qualifying was a little bit of nail biting because we didn't have the balance or speed we needed."

Series points leader J.R. Hildebrand qualified fourth. Hildebrand said he was balked by traffic, "so I think we could have picked up some time there."

Charlie Kimball qualified a season best fifth, followed by Felipe Guimaraes, who is making his first Indy Lights Series start driving for Bryan Herta Autosport.

Gustavo Yacaman and Stefan Wilson will start 19th and 20th, respectively. Yacaman's car stalled on the circuit with electrical problems while Justin Wilson's brother Stefan lost a wheel in Turn 3 on his out lap.

Ana Beatriz will start 17th after being penalized 5 grid positions for failing to observe a last lap caution period at Iowa. Beatriz was on her way to victory and had just taken the white flag when James Davison and Pippa Mann tangled in Turn 2. Beatriz rushed through the accident scene, narrowly missing Mann, who sat upside down in her machine in the middle of the track.

Ali Jackson will start from the tail end of the field if he makes it to the track. Jackson, who hails from Northern Ireland, has experienced travel delays and is expected at the track some time tonight.