Indy Lights: Vautier on pole in St Petersburg

The French are in high spirits in Saint Petersburg. While simon pagenaud set the best time in the third free practice session of the?IndyCar, Tristan Vautier took pole position in Indy Lights on his first attempt. 2011 Star Mazda Champion, the equivalent of the F3 in the United States, the Grenoblois is a resident of Sam Schmidt Motorsports, the structure for which Pagenaud also drives. But the points in common do not stop there since, like Poitevin, Vautier wears the number 77. Like Jean-Karl Vernay in 2010, the Grenoblois therefore recorded pole position from his debut in Indy Lights. With a time of 1:06??4550, he beat his teammates Esteban Guerrieri (1:06??6326) and Oliver Webb (1:06??6370).

When he got out of the car, Sam Schmidt himself did not fail to come and congratulate his recruit. And Tristan is delighted with his performance. “ With my engineer, we set ourselves the goal of finishing in the top 5 after a complicated practice session yesterday. I had quickly damaged my front left tire, and I was very bad on the right turns. Not great for confidence before qualifying, he told AUTOhebdo. So we had to go back step by step and be present when we mounted the last two sets of tires, because that's where everything comes into play. Unfortunately, we left the last one a little late and a red flag stressed me out a bit. I didn't breathe during the last two laps! The checkout was great, but it's going to be a long ride. I'll do my best and we'll see? »