MONTEREY, Calif. – Series points leader Aaron Telitz will start the Pro Mazda Grand Prix of Monterey presented by Allied Building Products in a familiar position.
The Team Pelfrey standout earned his seventh pole of the season, topping a 30-minute session in advance of the first of three races this weekend at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca with a lap of 1:23.2863.
More importantly, the 24-year-old native of Birchwood, Wisc., claimed an important championship point as he seeks to win the Pro Mazda presented by Cooper Tires and the Mazda scholarship that provides a fully funded season in Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires.
“The front row start is just as important as the bonus point, because there’s a lot of points in the race,”said Telitz, who lapped the 11-turn, 2.238-mile road course after fog delayed the start of the days activity by nearly an hour. “Starting in the best start that I can. The car didn’t feel very good on the first run. We came in, told (engineer) Tom (Knapp) about it and made a little change and did a few quick laps.”
Pato O’Ward, who is also chasing Telitz in the point standings, made it an all Team Pelfrey front row, turning his fastest lap of the session on the final lap to gain a front-row starting position with a lap 1:23.8741.
“It was crucial (to get to second on the final lap), but we should be front row for all three races,” the Mexican teenager said. “Second is OK. We can still make some stuff happen from the front row.”
With three races on the slate for the weekend, Telitz was also able to bank two other fast laps in the session, which could help him earn pole for the remaining races of the season, which will be determined by either next fastest qualifying lap or fastest race lap.
“With three races, most of our times will come from qualifying since in the race we will have heavy fule load and maybe not run new tires again,” Telitz said. “Hopefully we can get pole for all three races with laps that were quick and consistent.”
Race 1 for the “Soul Red Finale” tripleheader is slated for 5:15 p.m. ET. Full streaming coverage will be found at http://racecontrol.indycar.com.