James Roe knew what he achieved Friday at Iowa Speedway, however he didn’t instantly know the spoils that got here with it.
Not solely did he seize his first profession Indy NXT by Firestone pole, the Irishman additionally set a monitor document with a two-lap qualifying common of 170.625mph.
If that wasn’t sufficient, Roe led a 1-2-3 sweep of qualifying for Andretti World.
“I didn’t know [all] that. There you go,” Roe mentioned.
The sequence’ track-record pace stood since 2017 when Colton Herta ran 163.835mph. Friday, 17 drivers eclipsed that with the assistance of repaved corners.
Driving the No. 29 Topcon machine, Roe will lead the Andretti World contingent forward of Louis Foster, whose second lap within the No. 26 Copart/Novara Applied sciences entry fell off simply sufficient for him to accept the No. 2 beginning place. Jamie Chadwick certified third within the No. 28 VEXT automobile.
Michael Andretti’s three drivers will lead the 18-car pack to the inexperienced flag in Saturday’s Indy NXT by Firestone at Iowa Speedway (2 p.m. ET, Peacock, IndyCar Radio Community). They’d the one automobiles to finish the two-lap qualifying runs with common speeds in extra of 170mph. Foster’s common was 170.601mph whereas Chadwick posted 170.387mph.
The one different pole of Roe’s skilled profession got here in 2021 within the Indy Professional 2000 race at World Huge Expertise Raceway driving for Flip 3 Motorsport.
“I can’t thank these guys sufficient,” Roe mentioned of Andretti World. “It’s been a hell of some weeks. Yeah, right here we’re — we’ve acquired a rocket ship, so let’s get the job achieved tomorrow.”
Roe certified fourth for final 12 months’s Indy NXT by Firestone race at Iowa. He completed ninth. He’s additionally ninth within the present season standings, nonetheless trying to find his first win.
“We have been robust right here final 12 months,” Roe mentioned. “We knew that our [qualifying] automobile was mega, so it was a matter of simply placing it collectively. Actually, we guessed a bit of bit on setup. I left the pits and mentioned I’m holding it flat…to the checkers.”
