Wilson wins Kentucky Indy Lights pole
Brandon Wagner, driving the No. 22 TMR-Xtreme Coil Drilling car for Team Moore Racing, posted a season-best starting position of second (190.641 mph). It was his best qualifying effort since winning the pole at Chicagoland Speedway in 2009.
Indy Lights Entry update:
Brandon Wagner is now driver of the #22 TMR-Davey Hamilton Racing car. #32 Davey Hamilton Racing entry has been withdrawn from the Kentucky 100
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Josef Newgarden is wearing a special helmet this weekend in honor of Chris Griffis, the team manager of Sam Schmidt Motorsports, who died unexpectedly on Sept. 12. Newgarden's plain black helmet only carries three small white memorial decals for Griffis. Several cars are carrying decals in memory of Griffis, who helped Sam Schmidt Motorsports win four driver's titles and won another title at Panther Racing.
QUALIFYING QUOTES:
STEFAN WILSON (No. 5 Andretti Autosport, Sunoco Pole Award winner): "I'm just so pleased to get my first pole. This is definitely one I have been shooting for. I have to thank everyone that made it happen, including my whole team. They worked so hard. We're just so pleased to come to the oval so strong and grab the pole. It was a pretty good lap we put down."
BRANDON WAGNER (No. 22 TMR/Davey Hamilton Racing, qualified second): "The car was great. The track was a little cold, it was kind of rough on grip but overall, we had a great qualifying lap. I wouldn't change a thing to the car or the two laps combined. A great car, a great two laps. Stef Wilson went out and laid down a stellar lap and it is hard to compete with. We're happy to start P2 and hope to finish up front."
ESTEBAN GUERRIERI (No. 7 Lucas Oil/Sam Schmidt Motorsports, qualified fifth): "My speed in practice, on the time sheet, wasn't really showing our potential. We were expecting to be very competitive in qualifying because I was running by myself a lot in practice. The car felt good on my run and I'm happy with the lap, but obviously being so far from P1, it's not good."
JOSEF NEWGARDEN (No. 11 Copart/Score Big/Robo-Pong/SSM, qualified sixth): "It's been fun running around the Kentucky track because of the bumps. It's made it rather challenging for a lot of the guys to find the set-up and not put it in the wall. One of the difficult things here is you can get caught out here. The cool weather is making it difficult as well. It makes it easy to spin out the car. I almost spun coming out on to the track myself. I think we have a really good package for the race. That's what's really important, being strong in the racer. It's great to qualify up front. That is certainly part of the process. If we can have a strong race car, that's what I would certainly ask for. For tomorrow, I feel really good about what I have."
BRYAN CLAUSON (No. 77 Mazda Road to Indy/CURB Records/SSM): "We flat spotted the tires in that spin. I had big vibration issues as a result. That lap wasn't even close. I felt like we were probably going to be as good as our teammates, if not better, because we had been better in practice. But, this is not a good start. We have a really good race car, but it's going to be tough to come from deep."
Lineup
1. (5) Stefan Wilson, 191.659
2. (22) Brandon Wagner, 190.641
3. (19) Jacob Wilson, 190.212
4. (4) Jorge Goncalvez, 189.881
5. (7) Esteban Guerrieri, 189.688
6. (11) Josef Newgarden, 189.638
7. (3) Victor Carbone, 189.629
8. (2) Gustavo Yacaman, 189.561
9. (17) Rusty Mitchell, 188.876
10. (16) David Ostella, 187.248
11. (77) Bryan Clauson, 187.182
12. (9) Anders Krohn, 186.503
13. (28) Duarte Ferreira, 142.343