DETROIT, Mich. – Kyle Kirkwood will start from pole for the first of two Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires races this weekend at The Raceway at Belle Isle after posting the fastest time in qualifying Friday for Andretti Autosport.
This is the second Cooper Tires Pole Award of the season for Kirkwood, from Jupiter, Fla., who also set the pace during qualifying on the series’ earlier visit to a temporary circuit on the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla., in April.
Fellow rookie Linus Lundqvist will start on the outside of the front row, while championship leader David Malukas will line up fifth after rebounding from a crash during the opening practice session Friday morning.
Kirkwood, 22, is seeking to become the first driver to win championships on all three levels of the Road to Indy development ladder after securing the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship crown in 2018 and the Indy Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires title in 2019. He laid down a marker by posting the fastest time in this morning’s practice at 1:24.2423. He found almost a full second in the closing moments of the 30-minute qualifying session, topping the charts with a lap at 1:23.2582, an average speed of 101.612 mph.
“This is a fun track, it’s everything I expected it to be – it’s just a lot hotter than I expected it to be,” said Kirkwood. “This car doesn’t absorb the bumps as well as an Indy car or a GTD car does, so it’s tough out there, very physical. That’s one of the track’s main characteristics. We started off with a bit of an edge since we’re able to apply some of the Andretti Indy car setup information because the two cars are fairly similar. But it seems as though everyone else has figured it out because Linus really kept me on my toes. It was the same thing that happened this morning in trading times back and forth with Alex Peroni. He’s unreal on street courses. He did well in Europe and he’s doing well over here. But we’ve learned the track quickly, I’ve got a good car and I’m driving well, so happy to get another pole for the team. Tomorrow, my goal will be to keep our pace, race well, make no mistakes and, of course, lead that first corner.”
Lundqvist, who has already won twice this season, was only .1716 seconds slower, and will start from the front row of the grid for the fifth time in seven attempts.
Indy Lights veteran Toby Sowery backed up his performances last month on the Indianapolis Grand Prix road course by being third fastest today for Juncos Racing. He will be joined on the second row of the grid by Australian rookie Alex Peroni, who equaled his best starting position of the young season for the Carlin team.
Following contact at turn 13 four laps in to the opening practice session which resulted in significant damage to the No. 79 entry, Malukas and his HMD squad impressed by posting the fifth quickest time. He will line up on the third row alongside Singapore’s Danial Frost of Andretti Autosport.