Duncan qualifies ninth in Indy Lights at St Petersburg

Qualifying ninth from 27 was an OK start to Duncan’s US debut in the Genoa/Celebfilms.co.uk Dallara Indy Light car – but he has shown that he has the pace to be a regular top-three contender.

Duncan, 24, born in Surrey, UK, had a test day at the Sebring race track on Monday before having his first taste of the St Petersburg street circuit on Friday.

The morning practice session was wet and Duncan finished the session sixth-fastest. The afternoon qualifying session was dry and Duncan was in the first of two groups to qualify. He finished fifth fastest in his group just 0.6855 seconds from the pole time and is set to start ninth on the grid of 27 cars.

Duncan will qualify for the second race on Saturday morning US Eastern time (-5 hours BST) and race one will take place on Saturday afternoon.

He said: “The practice session went well in the wet and I was hoping for a top three but in dry qualifying I had quite a lot of under-steer. It’s going to be tough starting the race from ninth but having a few slower cars ahead will help.

“I think we should be able to make a difference with the car for qualifying tomorrow and I’m really going to go for a podium finish. I love the street circuits with the walls so close. It really sorts the men out from the boys!”

•   Filed under: Indy Lights
•   Tagged as: Genoa Racing, Streets of St Petersburg