Mid-Ohio: Series qualifying report

Martin Plowman set a Firestone Indy Lights track record at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and earned his first Sunoco Pole Award in the process. Plowman, driving the No. 27 Automatic Fire Sprinklers/KEP Printing car for AFS Racing Andretti Autosport, ...

Martin Plowman set a Firestone Indy Lights track record at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and earned his first Sunoco Pole Award in the process.

Plowman, driving the No. 27 Automatic Fire Sprinklers/KEP Printing car for AFS Racing Andretti Autosport, had a best lap of 1 minute, 12.8624 seconds during the 45-minute qualifying session for the Mid-Ohio 100.

James Hinchcliffe, who won at Edmonton two weeks ago, will start on the front row for the fourth consecutive race in the No. 2 TMR-Xtreme Coil Drilling car.

FIRESTONE INDY LIGHTS SUNOCO POLE QUALIFYING NOTES:

- Martin Plowman earned his first career Firestone Indy Lights pole. His previous best starting position this season was second at Iowa.

- Plowman also set a new track record for Firestone Indy Lights with his lap of 1:12.8624

- James Hinchcliffe qualified second, his sixth front row starting spot of the season.

- Dan Clarke qualified third, matching his highest starting spot of the year. Clarke also qualified third at Toronto.

FIRESTONE INDY LIGHTS SUNOCO POLE QUALIFYING QUOTES:

MARTIN PLOWMAN (No. 27 Automatic Fire Sprinklers-KEP Printing, Sunoco Pole Award winner): "I'm quite happy. I knew the car was awesome and it was hooked up. I don't think I breathed the entire three laps. My aerobic strength must be awesome because I didn't pass out (laughter). One of my biggest weaknesses all year has been to push the tires when they are at their peak. It's more of a confidence thing. In Friday's practice, we didn't worry about lap times. I got a lot of help from Michael (Andretti) and we made the car more comfortable to push."

JAMES HINCHCLIFFE (No. 2 Xtreme Coil Drilling - TMR, qualified second): "Starting on the front row is always a good place to be. I was really hoping for pole. Congrats to Martin (Plowman). That was a phenomenal lap, half a second clear of the field. We had a pretty decent balance in the car. On that last run we hit traffic at the wrong places but I don't think we had a half second left in it. I think second is probably the best we had in it and we just have to see if we can hold on to it for the race tomorrow."

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The 2010 Firestone Indy Lights season continues with the Mid-Ohio 100 on Aug. 8 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.