IPS: Antinucci sets record, earns Infineon pole

Richard Antinucci set a new track record on his way to his first Indy Pro Series pole after averaging 100.639 mph around the twisting 2.3 mile road circuit at Infineon Raceway. Antinucci's time was 0.323 seconds faster than Alex Lloyd, who will start second.

"I'm very proud of breaking the record, but the most important thing is that we're first," said Antinucci. "I think a lot of people beat the record."

Antinucci and Lloyd were fastest in the morning practice session too.

Stephen Simpson continued to flex his muscles on road circuits and will start third. Simpson turned in his best qualifying effort since he started on the front row at Mid-Ohio where he finished third. "From Mid-Ohio to here certainly the road courses are coming together," said Simpson. "It's my first time at the circuit, so I think my experience at the start of the day wasn't much compared to a lot of the other drivers. We had to work extra hard."

Mike Potekhen will start fourth with Phil Giebler rounding out the top five.

Hideki Mutoh, Lloyd's only remaining challenger for the series title, will start tenth.

With two Indy Pro Series races at Infineon Raceway, Alex Lloyd can clinch the Pro Series championship this weekend with a pair of top ten finishes. Lloyd says he's not interested in coasting to the championship; instead, he's going to "go out there and win the race. If we can win both races, the championship is not an issue, so we'll just go for that."

Lloyd, who notched a victory and a second place in last year's pair of races, noted that he had not tested here this year. Nevertheless, "I'm pretty happy with how we've been today."

After testing a Ganassi Racing IndyCar at Sebring last week, Lloyd was offered a drive in one of the team's Grand American Rolex Series cars this weekend. "They're big heavy cars," said Lloyd, "very, very different. The driving style that makes me quick in an open wheel car doesn't work in a Grand-Am, so you've got to try and change that, re-learn it."

Despite the challenge, Lloyd was asked to qualify one of the team's Lexus Rileys. Ganassi cars will start fourth and fifth with Lloyd missing teammate Memo Rojas' time by 0.187 of a second.