A string of Mazda powered took to the 2.67-mile 13-turn road course at NOLA Motorsports Park in search of the first pole of the 2015 edition of Cooper Tires Winterfest.   Series sophomore, Jake Eidson took top honors with a lap of 96.306 seconds.  The remainder of the top five was a mix of veterans and rookies with sophomores Nico Jamin and Aaron Telitz taking the next two spots on the grid, and freshman Jordan Lloyd and Nikita Lastochkin rounding out the top five.

Here is your starting grid for the first race:

Fourteen Pro Mazda presented by Cooper Tire cars took to the track for qualifying and it was guest driver Jack Aitken, who used a last lap flier to take the pole position over Andretti Autosport’s Weiron Tan.   It was Juncos Racing who make up the rest of the top five with drivers Jose Gutierrez, Will Owen and Garett Grist.

Here is your starting grid for the race:

The speed difference between USF2000 and Pro Mazda is especially noticeable watching in the last corner, as the Pro Mazda drivers were able to get on the throttle much sooner than their USF2000 brethren.

Both sessions went green for the entire half hour.  The first USF2000 race is up next at 3:30pm.  That will be followed by a Pro Mazda race at 4:30pm (all times are Central).

It’s interesting to see who is here in driver coaching roles.  Stefan Wilson is working with all of the Team Pelfrey drivers, Peter Dempsey is here working with all of the Juncos Racing drivers and Jack Hawksworth is on site working with Weiron Tan and Alessandro Latif (both of whom he shares management with).