Veach takes Pocono Indy Lights pole

Zach Veach narrowly edged out Jack Harvey to secure pole position for today's Indy Lights race at Pocono. Veach laid down his two-lap average of 184.428mph early in the session, and it proved to be beyond the reach of any of his rivals.

With yesterday's six-hour test session having been scrapped due to high winds, Veach was leaning hard on last year's data from former Andretti Lights driver Carlos Munoz, and admitted that he was surprised by the result.

"I was looking to have a better race car than qualifying car, so I am kind of surprised to be where I am right now," said Veach, who is now equal points leader with Gabby Chaves. "But I'll take it."

Harvey delivered two consistent laps to fall just a fraction short, the Briton finishing with a two-lap average of 184.394mph, but pretty much everybody else struggled to string two decent laps together.

Turn 1 proved to be a particular trouble-spot and played a part in derailing Luiz Razia's hopes of a place on the front row, the Brazilian finishing up with the third-best time. The same corner also proved to be Chaves' undoing.

"It was really disappointing," said the Colombian. "This could have been a dominant pole. I guess we just have to work at it for the race.

"I'm not sure [of the problem]. This morning the car was really good, even with the tail wind, and we really didn't change that much. We did a few things, but nothing to throw the balance out that much. I think we have the fastest car out there; we just couldn't put it together in qualifying."