Pippa Mann secured her second pole position of the season for the Firestone Indy Lights Series at Kentucky Motor Speedway. The 29-year-old pipped (unavoidable, sorry) fellow Briton Martin Plowman by 0.165 mph as she registered an average speed over two laps of 190.474 mph around the 1.48-mile oval.
Plowman’s AFS / Andretti-Autosport team mate, Charlie Kimball, notched up the inside of row number two with Championship leader JK Vernay alongside. Vernay’s Championship challenger, James Hinchcliffe starts directly behind on the outside of row 3, while Lights rookie ‘Speedy’ Dan Clarke is place between the pair.
Adrian Campos Jr, Brandon Wagner, Arie Luyendyk Jr and Stefan Wilson line up from 7th – 10th respectively, with Rodrigo Barbosa taking up 11th position. Sebastian Saavedra, Philip Major and Gustavo Yacaman did not set times and will claim the final three spots as a result.
Since her return from injury a few weeks ago, Mann has delivered her finest performances since she started in Indy Lights – if she can convert this pole into a victory, it would indeed be well deserved and a popular one.
Vernay can claim the title in tomorrow’s race – he leads Hinchcliffe in the title hunt by 53 points with 105 available. However a bad day for the Frenchman could possibly bring Hinchcliffe right back into it, bringing the title down to the wire at Homestead in four weeks.
By the end of Saturday evening, we will know for certain.
Coverage for the 2010 Firestone Indy Lights Kentucky 100 will begin at 10.15pm (BST) from indycar.com.
2010 Indy Lights Kentucky 100 (Round 12, Qualifying)
Rank Car Driver Name Total Time Speed
1 11 Mann, Pippa 00:55.9447 190.474
2 27 Plowman, Martin 00:55.9932 190.309
3 26 Kimball, Charlie 00:56.0084 190.257
4 7 Vernay, JK (R) 00:56.0099 190.252
5 40 Clarke, Dan (R) 00:56.0464 190.128
6 2 Hinchcliffe, James 00:56.1096 189.914
7 22 Campos Jr, Adrian (R) 00:56.2945 189.290
8 32 Wagner, Brandon 00:56.3427 189.128
9 24 Luyendyk Jr, Arie 00:56.3669 189.047
10 28 Wilson, Stefan (R) 00:56.4069 188.913
11 18 Barbosa, Rodrigo 00:56.9392 187.147
12 29 Saavedra, Sebastian No Time
13 49 Major, Philip (R) No Time
14 10 Yacaman, Gustavo No Time
2010 Firestone Indy Lights Championship
1. JK Vernay 444 points
2. James Hinchliffe 391
3. Charlie Kimball 343
4. Martin Plowman 338
5. Sebastian Saavedra 303
6. Dan Clarke 271
