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Qualifying report

Iowa Indy Lights: Herta takes fourth pole of the season

Colton Herta put Andretti Steinbrenner Racing on pole at Iowa Speedway, outpacing Carlin Racing’s Zachary Claman De Melo by just under 0.4mph.

Colton Herta, Andretti-Steinbrenner Racing

Colton Herta, Andretti-Steinbrenner Racing

Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Herta, who lies third in the Indy Lights championship currently, lapped the 0.894-mile oval with a two-lap average of 163.670mph, as he seeks his third win of the year.

Herta, only the third in line, admitted that he was nervous waiting to see if his time would get knocked aside as one-by-one qualifying continued.

"I was toward the end of the qualifying line at Indy, so I didn’t have to go through that. [This time] it was terrible, I hope I never draw in the first three again! I was just about sick, wondering if I was going to get it! 

"The track didn’t change as much as we expected. It got hotter as cars ran, but we expected that. I had a really good lap – the car was perfect. We worked on the aero balance overnight, because we were so loose in the last practice yesterday, along with some mechanical work.

"I think we’ll be flat-out for the early part of the race this afternoon, but I think you’ll see more passing in the afternoon as the tires go off."

Canada’s Claman De Melo, who scored his first win at the last race, at Road America, set an average of 163.290 to knock championship leader Kyle Kaiser of Juncos Racing onto the second row. Kaiser’s third place on the grid means he starts ahead of the other three Andretti Autosport entries, led by the increasingly impressive Ryan Norman, who edged Dalton Kellett and Nico Jamin.

Neil Alberico and Garth Rickards in two more Carlin cars will fill out the fourth row, ahead of Nicolas Dapero (Juncos) and Matheus Leist (Carlin).

Belardi Auto Racing trio Santiago Urrutia, Aaron Telitz and Shelby Blackstock fill out positions 11 through 13, with Team Pelfrey’s Juan Piedrahita.

 

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