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IPS: Losch Grabs Freedom 100 Pole
Written by: IndyCar Communications   
05/23/2007 - 07:00 PM
Indianapolis, Ind.
 


Ken Losch (Dana Garrett/IPS photo) ยป More Photos

Ken Losch, owner/driver of the No. 52 Apex Racing car, topped the field of 24 to win the pole for the May 25's Freedom 100 Indy Pro Series race with a two-lap average of 188.231 mph (1 minute, 35.6271 seconds) on the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval.

IPS points leader Alex Lloyd (188.080 mph) will join Losch on Row 1. The penultimate qualifier, he broke up a potential all-Apex Racing front row. Mike Potekhen, driving the No. 53 Apex Racing car, posted an average of 187.686 mph. He will share Row 2 with Super Aguri Panther Racing's Hideki Mutoh (187.341).

Losch and Ryan Ruth founded Apex Racing in 2004 and are in their first season fielding a two-car team in the Indy Pro Series, the development series for the IndyCar Series. The team competed in Star Mazda last year, with Potekhen finishing fourth and Losch 12th in the standings.

Losch said after finding its way through the first three races, the team appears to have hit its stride at Indianapolis. Potekhen, in his second Indy Pro Series season, is the driver coach.

"It's my first few races in this program and a Star Mazda season," said Losch, who began competing in SCCA Formula Mazda in 2004. "It's pretty awesome. I've got a good teacher. I've got a good team. It's everybody. It's the whole program."

Losch, whose previous best starting position is 14th in the season opener at Homestead-Miami Speedway, had a post-qualifying practice session to fine-tune the car for the 100-mile race on Miller Lite Carb Day.

"Not only can the track change throughout the day but can change throughout the race," he said. "We have IndyCars going out (for practice before the Freedom 100). There will be different rubber on the track. A car that might be great in qualifying isn't necessarily great on the final three laps. It's going to be important to run the entire race consistently, and we may not be out front all the time."

Lloyd has started on the front row in the three races this season that included qualifying (the second race on the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla., inverted the first six finishers
from Race 1).

"I really felt like after the (April) Open Test, we were in a good position for the pole," said Lloyd, driving the No. 7 Lucas Oil/Isilon Systems/Sam Schmidt Motorsports car.

He posted the fastest lap of the session (188.385 mph on his first lap), but couldn't duplicate it on the second lap.

"Today the conditions were so much different than they were during the test in April that it didn't work out for us," Lloyd said. "We had a really good car during qualifying. We got it together; really good job by the team. We just missed out on Lap 2.

"All in all, we're happy; we're on the front row. I think tomorrow is going to be very tough but I'm looking forward to it."

AFS Racing driver Wade Cunningham (187.341), the 2006 race winner, will share Row 3 with Logan Gomez (187.016) in the No. 23 Isilon Systems/Lucas Oil/Sam Schmidt Motorsports car. Chris Festa (186.839), driving the No. 9 Chip Ganassi Racing car, and Matt Jaskol (186.728) in the No. 8 Michael Crawford Motorsports car, will be on Row 4.

Freedom 100 qualifying results:

1) Ken Losch, Dallara, 188.231
2) Alex Lloyd, Dallara, 188.080
3) Mike Potekhen, Dallara, 187.686
4) Hideki Mutoh, Dallara, 187.534
5) Wade Cunningham, Dallara, 187.341
6) Logan Gomez, Dallara, 187.016
7) Chris Festa, Dallara, 186.839
8) Matt Jaskol, Dallara, 186.728
9) Jon Brownson, Dallara, 186.690
10) Andrew Prendeville, Dallara, 186.460
11) Tom Wieringa, Dallara, 186.315
12) Al Unser III, Dallara, 186.237
13) Sean Guthrie, Dallara, 186.220
14) Brad Jaeger, Dallara, 186.158
15) Shane Jantzi, Dallara, 185.999
16) Joey Scarallo, Dallara, 185.833
17) Stephen Simpson, Dallara, 185.371
18) Jaime Camara, Dallara, 185.221
19) Ryan Justice, Dallara, 184.736
20) Micky Gilbert, Dallara, 184.671
21) Marc Williams, Dallara, 184.383
22) Robbie Pecorari, Dallara, 184.286
23) Bobby Wilson, Dallara, 183.784
24) Jonathan Klein, Dallara, 183.436