Perera wins Indy Lights pole

Franck Perera

Franck Perera, making his second Firestone Indy Lights starts and first on a road course, will start from the pole position for the first of two same-day races at Watkins Glen International.

Perera, driving the No. 55 Guthrie Racing car, posted a quick lap of 1 minute, 37.8651 seconds (123.967 mph) during a 30-minute session to determine the SWE Pole Award winner.

Raphael Matos (1:38.1211; 123.643) will join Perera on the front row. These two drivers finished 1st (Matos) and 2nd (Perera) in last year's Champ Car Atlantic Series and they are back at it against each other this year but in a series with much more horsepower.

Tomorrow they will run a doubleheader.

Qualifying Results Friday for the Corning Duels Firestone Indy Lights event on the 3.37-mile Watkins Glen International, with starting position, car number in parentheses, driver and speed:

1. (55) Franck Perera, 123.967
2. (27) Raphael Matos, 123.643
3. (2) Jeff Simmons, 123.398
4. (7) Richard Antinucci, 123.075
5. (25) J.R. Hildebrand, 122.926
6. (20) Ana Beatriz, 122.746
7. (9) Jonny Reid, 122.537
8. (22) Pablo Donoso, 122.413
9. (17) Bobby Wilson, 122.109
10. (23) Logan Gomez, 121.950
11. (33) Mitch Cunningham, 121.914
12. (26) Arie Luyendyk Jr., 121.799
13. (4) Sean Guthrie, 121.277
14. (18) Cyndie Allemann, 121.223
15. (54) Matt Lee, 121.052
16. (6) Daniel Herrington, 120.823
17. (15) Dillon Battistini, 120.095
18. (16) Brent Sherman, 119.747
19. (8) Mark Olson, 112.568
20. (5) Andrew Prendeville, 104.142
21. (11) James Davison, no speed