Indy NXT

Hildebrand nails down Iowa pole

J.R. Hildebrand will start from the pole position at Iowa Speedway in what has turned out to be a one day event for the Indy Lights Series. Friday night's practice session was rained out and with qualifying in the books, the team have just under ...

Published: Oct 2, 2009, 4:44 PM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

J.R. Hildebrand will start from the pole position at Iowa Speedway in what has turned out to be a one day event for the Indy Lights Series. Friday night's practice session was rained out and with qualifying in the books, the team have just under four and half hours to prepare for the race.

Hildebrand averaged 161.183 mph over two laps to earn his third pole of the season. With poles at St. Petersburg and Long Beach, this is Hildebrand's first on an oval track.

Wade Cunningham was the early favorite for the pole, posting the best lap in practice at 160.640 mph. Cunningham, driving for Sam Schmidt Motorsports, will start on the outside of the front row after qualifying at an average speed of 161.143 mph.

Hildebrand's AFS/Andretti Green Racing teammate, Sebastian Saveedra was on his way to the pole position after one lap but his second was a bit slower, placing him third on the grid.

Daniel Herrington, who drives for Bryan Herta Motorsports, earned his best starting position of the season, qualifying fourth at 160.903 mph.

James Hinchcliffe and Ana Beatriz fill out the third row. Both drivers compete for Sam Schmidt Motorsports.

James Davison's put a solid first lap in the book, but the Australian driver spun coming off the final turn of his qualifying run and will start 17th. Miraculously, Davison didn't hit anything and after crossing the grass in the infield, he continued across the line, driving on a strip of pavement located next to the wall that separates the track from pit lane. Davison described his mishap with three words, "I lost it."

Although he crossed under the white line, a no-no in the Indy Racing League, Davison was not penalized. He will retain his starting position on the inside of the ninth row. Despite the spin and excursion through the grass, Davison's time was still a half second faster than that posted by Rodrigo Barbosa.

To Davison's credit, safety crews later discovered a weeper at the exact spot that Davison lost control. Two competitors qualified after Davison before safety crews reported to the track with a jet dryer. When asked if the weeper caused his spin, Davison responded, "I can't say for sure. It may have, but I'm not sure."

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Iowa: Practice 2 times

Next article Iowa: AFS/Andretti Green Racing race notes

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Zane Smith fined $50,000 by NASCAR for ramming Carson Hocevar after Phoenix Cup race

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Phoenix II

4 h

Zane Smith fined $50,000 by NASCAR for ramming Carson Hocevar after Phoenix Cup race

FIA expects F1 races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi to continue as planned

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

United States GP

8 h

FIA expects F1 races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi to continue as planned

TDS Racing doubles down on IMSA program with two-car LMP2 return

IMSA

IMSA IMSA 8 h

TDS Racing doubles down on IMSA program with two-car LMP2 return

Why Isack Hadjar doesn’t like F1 sprints anymore

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Singapore GP

9 h

Why Isack Hadjar doesn’t like F1 sprints anymore

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts