Mazda Road To Indy – Honda Indy Toronto Saturday qualifying notes and time sheets

The 13 Cooper Tires USF2000 powered by Mazda contenders for the two Allied Building Products Grand Prix of Toronto races took to the 1.755 mile, 11-Turn Exhibition Place street circuit. The twenty minute qualifying session began promptly at 8:45am and took place under overcast skies with the temperature at 62F

It should come as no surprise that the pole run in USF2000 would come down to a fight between sophomores: Nico Jamin, Aaron Telitz and Jake Eidson.

But for the seventh time this year and sixth straight race it was the 19 year-old Frenchman Jamin that will start on point for the first race this afternoon. The current points leader will be joined on the front row by his closest championship chaser, Eidson. Telitz will start on the inside of the second row beside top rookie qualifier Anthony Martin.

Keyvan Andres Soori will start fifth, his best qualifying effort of the year.

21 year-old Wisconsin native Max Hanratty also had his bed qualifying result of the season. He will start the race in the eighth spot.

Parker Thompson, one of two Canadians in the filed, spun in Turn 9 on his out lap.

Nikita Lastochkin took his car into the run-off area in Turn 3 and was not able to return to the circuit.

Halfway through the 20 minute session the top five were: No. 22 Jake Eidson, No. 33 Anthony Martin, No. 3 Aaron Telitz, No. 5 Keyvan Andres Soori and No. 82 Luke Gabin. The points leader Nico Jamin was all the way down in seventh place.

Most drivers came in after an early run to make adjustments.

With five minutes to go in the session the top five were: No. 2 Nico Jamin, No. 22 Jake Eidson, No. 3 Aaron Telitz, No. 33 Anthony Martin and No. 5 Keyvan Andres Soori.

Eidson was on a last minute flier in an attempt to catch Jamin but appeared to be held up by another car.

Yufeng Luo did not turn a lap in qualifying.

Here are the full qualifying results for the first USF2000 race of the Honda Indy Toronto:

RANK CAR NO. DRIVER QUICK LAP
1 2 Nico Jamin 1:10.765
2 22 Jake Eidson 1:11.032
3 3 Aaron Telitz 1:11.096
4 33 Anthony Martin 1:11.437
5 5 Keyvan Andres Soori 1:11.803
6 82 Luke Gabin 1:11.965
7 83 Garth Rickards 1:12.340
8 6 Max Hanratty 1:12.609
9 81 Ayla Agren 1:12.689
10 80 Parker Thompson 1:12.731
11 84 Nikita Lastochkin 1:12.796
12 16 James Dayson 1:13.655
13 23 Yufeng Luo No Time

The green flag for the fist USF2000 race of the weekend flies at 12:40pm

—————

The 18 Pro Mazda presented by Cooper Tire contenders for the two Cooper Tires Pro Mazda Grand Prix of Toronto races took to the 1.755 mile, 11-Turn Exhibition Place street circuit. The twenty minute qualifying session began promptly at 9:20am and took place under overcast skies with the temperature at 60F.

Pro Mazda qualifying has been close all season, but the drivers took that to new heights during their qualifying session for the first race in Toronto. Reigning Cooper Tires USF2000 powered by Mazda champion Florian Latorre took home his first Pro Mazda Pole with a lap of 1:09.722, which was only five one-thousandths (0.005) of a second ahead of local Canadian driver Garett Grist. The best starting position of the season for Grist before today’s effort was sixth.

The top six drivers were all within two-tenths of a second of the pole winning time. The second row will be Weiron Tan and championship leader Santiago Urrutia. The third row will be Pato O’Ward and Timothe Buret.

The seventh quickest time was the best that Neil Alberico, who sits second in the championship, could manage.

The top 15 drivers were all within one second of Latorre.

With five minutes gone in the first session the top five were: No. 7 Jose Gutierrez, No. 81 Santiago Urrutia, No. 5 Garett Grist, No. 10 Florian Latorre and No. 6 Timothe Buret, but the top of time charts resembled a slot machine as the positions changed each time the drivers tripped the timing wire.

After an early 4 to 6 lap run most drivers came into the pits to make damper and wing adjustments before going back out for second run on fresh sticker Cooper Tire slicks.

Halfway throughout the 20 minute session and the top five were: No. 22 Weiron Tan, No. 81 Santiago Urrutia, No. 10 Florian Latorre, No. 82 Pato O’Ward and No. 6. Timothe Buret. Championship contender Neil Alberico and his No. 3 Cape Motorsports with /WTR machine were sixth.

With five minutes to go in the session the top five had not changed.

With three minutes to go Florian Latorre laid down the quickest lap of the session.

With only a minute left in the session the No. 3 of Daniel Burkett spun at the exit of Turn 10, but was able to get going and the track stayed green.

After the checkered flag flew, the No. 22 of Weiron Tan hammered the wall with the left side of the car on the exit of the quick Turn 10. The Andretti Autosport team will have a lot of work to get that car ready. Tan qualified third for the race.

Here are the full qualifying results for the first Pro Mazda race of the Honda Indy Toronto:

RANK CAR NO. DRIVER TOP LAP
1 10 Florian Latorre 1:09.722
2 5 Garett Grist 1:09.728
3 22 Weiron Tan 1:09.813
4 81 Santiago Urrutia 1:09.864
5 82 Pato O’Ward 1:09.872
6 6 Timothe Buret 1:09.893
7 3 Neil Alberico 1:09.919
8 23 Will Owen 1:10.029
9 7 Jose Gutierrez 1:10.057
10 28 Dalton Kellett 1:10.108
11 21 Victor Franzoni 1:10.120
12 2 Daniel Burkett 1:10.499
13 14 Alessandro Latif 1:10.537
14 80 Raoul Owens 1:10.699
15 91 Kyle Connery 1:10.820
16 62 Bryson Schutte 1:12.429
17 13 Bobby Eberle(E) 1:14.341
18 37 Jay Horak(E) 1:15.915

The green flag for the fist Pro Maca race of the weekend flies at 1:35pm
————-

The 11 Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tire contenders for the two Cooper Tires Grand Prix of Toronto Powered by Mazda races took to the 1.755 mile, 11-Turn Exhibition Place street circuit. The twenty minute qualifying session began promptly at 9:55am and took place under overcast skies with the temperature at 61F.

Nelson Piquet, Jr. made quite an impression in his first Indy Lights debut, scoring pole on the last session. RC Enerson will start next to Piquet, Jr. his best start of the season.

Only five minutes into the session and almost half the field has had issues.

Piquet, Jr. looped his car in Turn 10. The 29 year old son of three-time Formula 1 Nelson Piquet was able to get going again.

Juan Piedrahita, who will be making his sixth start on the streets of Toronto had an issue in Turn 11 and damaged his nose.

Juncos Racing’s Kyle Kaiser spun and made light contact in the same spot as Piedrahita.

Ed Jones, Piquet, Jr.’s Carlin teammate also looped his car.

Pole sitter at the Freedom 100, Ethan Ringel also made wall contact with his left rear after getting loose at the exit of Turn 10. The SPM with Curb-Agajanian team flailed to replace the toe-link.

Half-way through the half-hour session and the top five were: No. 12 Spencer Pigot, No. 7 RC Enerson, No. 42 Jack Harvey, No. 11 Ed Jones and No. 14 Nelson Piquet, Jr.

At that point most drivers and teams came in an made wholesale adjustments (dampers and ride height) and put on fresh Cooper sticker tires.

With eight minutes left in the session the adjustments started to take hold when Piquet, Jr. turned in the quickest lap of the day, but he was quickly pipped by Pigot who went back to the top of the charts on his next lap.

With five minutes left in the session Piquet, Jr. bolted on new Cooper Tire boots and went out to try and grab pole for Carlin Racing.

With only two minutes left in the session Ed Jones was pushing hard and spun his No. 11 in Turn 1. He made light contact with the rear of the car, but was able to get going.

On his last lap it was SPM with Curb-Agajanian rookie RC Enerson who went to the provisional pole, but that only held for a few seconds as Piquet, Jr. turned a lap at 1:04.419.

The top eight drivers were within one second of pole sitter Piquet, Jr.

Had a chance to chat with the front row Enerson and Piquet, Jr. after qualifying.

Enerson said that they added more front wing before his quickest run. His car was too loose early in the session. He explained that their is a very noticeable difference between the USF2000 car (which he raced in Toronto last year) and the Indy Lights car. The walls go by A LOT quicker and the bumps are more noticeable.

Piquet, Jr. said it was hard to give his opinion of the Lights car on this circuit because of the bumps and concrete patches. He didn’t think that having raced on street circuits in Formula E was a huge advantage because the the Indy Lights car has significantly more power, downforce and tire grip. He does think that having driven so many different cars in his career helped him adapt to another new machine quickly. His biggest concern is that he hasn’t done a rolling start since karting.

Here are the full qualifying results for the first Indy Lights race of the Honda Indy Toronto:

RANK CAR NO. DRIVER QUICK LAP
1 14 Nelson Piquet Jr 1:04.419
2 7 RC Enerson 1:04.592
3 12 Spencer Pigot 1:04.636
4 42 Jack Harvey 1:04.932
5 4 Felix Serralles 1:05.254
6 11 Ed Jones 1:05.272
7 51 Shelby Blackstock 1:05.300
8 5 Juan Piedrahita 1:05.468
9 18 Kyle Kaiser 1:05.920
10 77 Scott Anderson 1:06.015
11 71 Ethan Ringel 1:07.038

The green flag for the first Indy Lights race of the weekend flies at 4:45pm.