Wade Cunningham wins Indy Lights pole

2005 Firestone Indy Lights champion Wade Cunningham won his first pole in two years, winning the pole for the Kansas Lottery 100. Cunningham recorded a two-lap qualifying average of 187.458 mph.

Sebastian Saavedra qualified second, Ana Beatriz was third, J.R. Hildebrand fourth and Pippa Mann fifth.

The Kansas Lottery 100 is scheduled for 1 p.m. (ET) Sunday, while the Road Runner Turbo Indy 300 is scheduled for 5 p.m.

POST-QUALIFYING QUOTES:

WADE CUNNINGHAM (No. 7 Lucas Oil/Sam Schmidt Motorsports, first): “I’m really happy to be on the pole. I thought the Panther guys were going to put up a challenge, especially after their strength in preseason oval testing. I’m just really pleased with the effort that the guys put in. It was kind of a late deal getting started this season. Being a four-car team, it’s pretty tough to get it all working in the same direction. We’ve made a lot of progress in the past two weekends, but it’s good to come back to an oval. I love oval racing, and here we are on the pole."

SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA (No. 27 Automatic Fire Sprinklers, Inc., second): “It was a great run for my team. We knew the time to beat was going to be really close. I’ve been very happy all weekend, knowing that the car was great. The guys did an awesome job with the setup. We have to keep concentrating. The Firestone tires were incredible during the whole two laps. Now our focus is the race. That’s where the real points are. We’re thinking about the championship, so we’re going to try to do our best tomorrow and keep it going."

ANA BEATRIZ (No. 20 Healthy Choice/Sam Schmidt Motorsports, third): “It was a pretty good run. The Healthy Choice/Sam Schmidt car was great. I think it will be very good for the race, and we should be able to improve our position."

J.R. HILDEBRAND (No. 26 ARPRO, fourth): “It was a decent day for the No. 26 car. I was hoping to hold on to the pole, but starting on the second row is not bad. I hope to get the AFS/AGR car up front and defend my win from last year."

Results
1. (11) Wade Cunningham, 187.458
2. (27) Sebastian Saavedra, 187.308
3. (20) Ana Beatriz, 186.846
4. (26) J.R. Hildebrand, 186.737
5. (16) Pippa Mann, 186.386
6. (5) Mario Romancini, 186.269
7. (35) Charlie Kimball, 186.101
8. (21) James Davison, 185.879
9. (15) Martin Plowman, 185.871
10. (2) Andrew Prendeville, 185.557
11. (44) Gustavo Yacaman, 185.490
12. (28) Daniel Herrington, 185.441
13. (4) Sean Guthrie, 185.197
14. (63) Dillon Battistini, 185.010
15. (9) Jonathan Summerton, 184.721
16. (33) Pablo Donoso, 184.560
17. (18) Junior Strous, 184.526
18. (49) Jesse Mason, 184.344
19. (36) Richard Philippe, 183.075
20. (3) Sergey Mokshantsev, 182.968
21. (55) Rodrigo Barbosa, 182.921
22. (37) Jay Howard, 180.252
23. (7) James Hinchcliffe, no speed
24. (59) Ali Jackson, no speed