Photo: Indianapolis Motor Speedway, LLC Photography
Reigning Australian Formula 4 champion Jordan Lloyd secured pole position for the first race of the USF2000 season in St. Petersburg, in his first appearance in the series since last April.
The Pabst Racing driver’s best lap of 1m14.394s secured a career USF2000 pole position. Lloyd was also the fastest driver in Friday morning’s free practice session.
He will share the front row of the grid for Saturday morning’s season-opening race with Canadian?Parker Thompson, who was second-quickest for Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing.
Lloyd’s teammates?Yufeng Luo and?Garth Rickards qualified third and fourth respectively, giving Pabst Racing three of the top four spots on the grid for tomorrow.
Kiwi rookie?James Munro qualified fifth for his USF2000 debut for Team Pelfrey, ahead of the second Cape Motorsports car of?Anthony Martin in sixth.
Seventh was JAY Motorsports’?Luke Gabin, while Brazilian?Victor Franzoni, another driver returning to USF2000 after eleven months out, was eighth-fastest for ArmsUp Motorsports.
Two of the youngest drivers in the series will start on row five: 16-year-old?Robert Megennis of New York, and 15-year-old?Jordan Cane of Chichester, England, both driving for Team Pelfrey.
USF2000’s leading lady?Ayla Agren qualified twelfth, in-between Pelfrey’s third rookie?TJ Fischer?(11th) and new Cape Motorsport recruit?Nikita Lastochkin (13th).
There are 26 cars – nearly double the average number of entries from last year – expected to take the green flag in the first race of the season .
Qualifying results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
| 1 | Jordan Lloyd | Pabst Racing | 1:14.3936 | 16 | |
| 2 | Parker Thompson | Cape with WTR | 1:14.5292 | 0.1356 | 14 |
| 3 | Yufeng Luo | Pabst Racing | 1:14.5292 | 0.1356 | 16 |
| 4 | Garth Rickards | Pabst Racing | 1:14.7057 | 0.3121 | 16 |
| 5 | James Munro | Team Pelfrey | 1:14.7748 | 0.3812 | 16 |
| 6 | Anthony Martin | Cape with WTR | 1:14.8466 | 0.4530 | 13 |
| 7 | Luke Gabin | JAY Motorsports | 1:14.9920 | 0.5984 | 15 |
| 8 | Victor Franzoni | ArmsUp Motorsports | 1:15.1610 | 0.7674 | 14 |
| 9 | Robert Megennis | Team Pelfrey | 1:15.2375 | 0.8439 | 17 |
| 10 | Jordan Cane | Team Pelfrey | 1:15.2511 | 0.8575 | 17 |
| 11 | TJ Fischer | Team Pelfrey | 1:15.2660 | 0.8724 | 16 |
| 12 | Ayla Agren | John Cummiskey Racing | 1:15.4867 | 1.0931 | 16 |
| 13 | Nikita Lastochkin | Cape with WTR | 1:15.4995 | 1.1059 | 7 |
| 14 | Austin McCusker | Chastain Motorsports | 1:15.5021 | 1.1085 | 16 |
| 15 | Felipe Ortiz | Afterburner Motorsport | 1:15.5622 | 1.1686 | 16 |
| 16 | Max Hanratty | ArmsUp Motorsports | 1:15.7940 | 1.4004 | 15 |
| 17 | Dakota Dickerson | Afterburner Motorsport | 1:15.8155 | 1.4219 | 16 |
| 18 | Lucas Kohl | John Cummiskey Racing | 1:15.8242 | 1.4306 | 17 |
| 19 | Michai Stephens | RJB Motorsports | 1:16.0326 | 1.6390 | 14 |
| 20 | Tazio Ottis | JDC Motorsports | 1:16.3846 | 1.9910 | 16 |
| 21 | Sam Chastain | Chastain Motorsports | 1:16.5254 | 2.1318 | 12 |
| 22 | Clint McMahan | RJB Motorsports | 1:16.7217 | 2.3281 | 13 |
| 23 | Rob Allaer | JDC Motorsports | 1:18.0406 | 3.6470 | 16 |