Toronto Indy Lights: Ex-F1 racer Nelson Piquet Jr on pole on debut

Ex-Formula 1 racer and Formula E championship leader Piquet, who is making his Lights debut this weekend with Carlin due to Max Chilton's commitments with Nissan at Le Mans, led the session during the opening minutes before being bumped back.

His chances of reclaiming the top spot appeared under threat when team-mate Ed Jones spun and brought out a local yellow with just 18 seconds left on the clock, but Piquet was able to complete one more lap at speed.

He put it to good use, clocking a 1m04.4194s to jump ahead of erstwhile pacesetter RC Enerson by 0.1730s.

"I knew I could get a lap together, I was just learning the limits of the track, the tyre an the car," Piquet said.

"We managed to get it at the end, so it's good."

Spencer Pigot, who had earlier knocked Piquet out of provisional pole before himself being beaten by Enerson, was left to settle for third place, with Jack Harvey set to join him on the second row.

Jones will start from sixth after his spin, but he can take some solace from the fact that his was not an isolated incident.

Kyle Kaiser also survived a spin unharmed, while Juan Piedrahita and Ethan Ringel needed repairs to their front and rear ends respectively after brushes with the wall.

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