Laguna Seca Indy Lights: Max Chilton claims pole for opening race
Max Chilton secured pole position for the opening race of this weekend's Indy Lights season-finale at Laguna Seca
The ex-Formula 1 racer and Carlin driver went to the top early on and improved his time over the course of the morning to settle on a 1m14.233s, slashing the previous Lights track record in the process.
Juncos rookie Kyle Kaiser will join the Brit on the second row, with title contenders Spencer Pigot and Ed Jones lining up immediately behind them.
Points leader Jack Harvey will start from fifth after narrowly edging out 8Star's Sean Rayhall, although the pair were more than 0.7 seconds off the pace.
The result typified a difficult start to the weekend for the Schmidt team, which is fielding five of the 13 entries.
In addition to Harvey's P5, it has Mid-Ohio race winner RC Enerson starting 7th and Scott Anderson, Ethan Ringel and Heamin Choi lining up 11th, 12th and 13th respectively.
The opening race is scheduled to take place later on Saturday local time, with race two to follow on Sunday afternoon.
QUALIFYING RESULTS:
Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Max Chilton | Carlin | 1m14.2329s | - |
2 | Kyle Kaiser | Juncos Racing | 1m14.3586s | 0.1257s |
3 | Spencer Pigot | Juncos Racing | 1m14.3932s | 0.1603s |
4 | Ed Jones | Carlin | 1m14.6303s | 0.3974s |
5 | Jack Harvey | Schmidt Peterson Motorsports | 1m14.9583s | 0.7254s |
6 | Sean Rayhall | 8Star Motorsports | 1m15.0253s | 0.7924s |
7 | Felix Serralles | Belardi Auto Racing | 1m15.2042s | 0.9713s |
8 | R.C. Enerson | Schmidt Peterson Motorsports | 1m15.3108s | 1.0779s |
9 | Shelby Blackstock | Andretti Autosport | 1m15.4484s | 1.2155s |
10 | Juan Piedrahita | Belardi Auto Racing | 1m15.8179s | 1.5850s |
11 | Scott Anderson | Schmidt Peterson Motorsports | 1m16.1929s | 1.9600s |
12 | Ethan Ringel | Schmidt Peterson Motorsports | 1m16.2892s | 2.0563s |
13 | Heamin Choi | Schmidt Peterson Motorsports | 1m16.9258s | 2.6929s |
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