Dalziel Leads ESM Sweep of Front Row at Indy

Photo: Darren Pierson

Extreme Speed Motorsports has swept the front row at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, with Ryan Dalziel flying to pole for Friday’s Brickyard Grand Prix.

The Scot reeled off a best lap of 1:17.603 early in the 15-minute Prototype qualifying session, outpacing teammate Johannes van Overbeek in the No. 2 HPD ARX-03b by 0.276 seconds.

It marked the first front-row sweep for the Scott Sharp-owned squad and the team’s second pole of the season following van Overbeek’s top qualifying run at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in May, which he went onto win with co-driver Ed Brown.

Dalziel, meanwhile, became the eighth different pole winner in as many races as he and co-driver Sharp search for their first win of the season in Friday’s two-hour and 45-minute race on the famed 2.439-mile circuit.

The pole for Dalziel came after a tangle with a Prototype Challenge car in second practice, which damaged the rear-end of their Tequila Patron-sponsored HPD.

P2 cars surprisingly showed the upper hand, with the No. 42 OAK Racing Morgan-Nissan of Gustavo Yacaman qualifying third with a 1:17.908 lap time.

Christian Fittipaldi was the quickest of the DP machinery, turning a 1:18.102 lap time in his No. 5 Action Express Racing Corvette he’ll share with Joao Barbosa, who went quickest in the day’s second practice session.

The No. 90 Spirit of Daytona Corvette DP of Richard Westbrook completed the top-five overall and in the Prototype class.

Prototype Challenge qualifying honors went to Colin Braun, who pedaled his CORE autosport Oreca FLM09 to its third class pole of the season.

Championship leader Braun recorded a quick lap of 1:19.849, impressively outpacing the competition in the spec prototype class by more than two-tenths.

Braun and co-driver Jon Bennett will be looking for their fifth class win of the season on Friday, which has included victories in the Tequila Patron North American Endurance Cup rounds at Daytona, Sebring and Watkins Glen.

Bruno Junqueira put his No. 09 RSR Racing entry second on the grid in class, ahead of the Luis Diaz-driven No. 25 8Star Motorsports car, which qualified third.

The top-five was completed by David Ostella (Performance Tech) and Martin Plowman (BAR1 Motorsports).

The Brickyard Grand Prix takes the green flag Friday at 5:45 p.m. ET, with live coverage on FOX Sports 1.

RESULTS: Qualifying

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John