By Patrick Stephan

Neil Alberico just beat Daniel Burkett in Pro Mazda presented by Cooper Tires qualifying here at St. Pete. The gap of 0.0449 seconds came as Alberico set his fast lap about five from the end, while Burkett mustered his best lap on his final of 20 laps.

Thanks to yesterday’s rain, most drivers have a new set of tires for both this qualifying session and both races this weekend.

There were a couple minor incidents, with Garret Grist finding the turn 5 runoff and Timothe Buret noising slightly in to T10 tires, but he was able to back out and come around to complete the last lap of the session.

Alberico, 22, who hails from Redlands, California finished 3^rd in last year’s ProMazda championship to Spencer Pigot and Scott Hargrove – both of whom have moved up to Indy Lights for 2015.