With a fifth title in sight, Nathaniel Powers snatched pole at the death in an enthralling battle between him and Felix Perez that was nearly interrupted by Maximilian Thunstrom, as a fantastic qualifying session saw the top 5 within a tenth of each other. Q1Meteor were the first out on the track in Q1, followed soon by Johan Halvosen who struggled in practice to get in a banker lap - which worked wonders as the Dane put in a strong lap. He was eventually displaced at the top as Yakumi Takahashi, but the two got through the session with ease. \n \nHis teammate however made several mistakes and Zander Brynildsen ended up getting knocked out. This allowed Nikolai Milkovich to make his second appearance in three races with a great second lap, while despite a brief scare as he struggled to put together a lap, Brock Kidd eventually got through to Q2. The midfield teams, led by Ingram's James Vasquez, were the first to take to the track. The short track led to plenty of traffic incidents, with close calls between several drivers. As the laps times came in, Lucas led with an impressive margin over the rest, before the big boys came out. \n \nMathershaw initially showed strong, as Enrique Ruiz went fastest but he was dispatched by Adrien Simon. Neither Lopez drivers could dislodge them but practice stars Powers and Perez went fastest soon after, the Mexican having a small edge over the Downton car. \n \nTyre wear was fairly low which lead to most drivers continuing to circulate and lower their lap times. Despite several improvements from Powers, he was unable to beat Perez as the latter showed more impressive pace. Noticeably, both Franklin cars were not in the mix as both failed to get in clean laps. \n \nWith 10 minutes to go, Powers put on a fresh set of tyres in an attempt to go fastest, which paid off and led to the rest coming in to respond. Perez managed to pip his rival back but a collective gasp came from the crowd as Thunstrom, having previously shaded his teammate Marcus Thunder, put in a stunning lap to go quickest by only a few thousandths. \n \nWith the likes of Mathershaw and Lopez unable to get close enough, and Klaas van Snelheid unable to rope together a pole worthy lap, it was a straight fight between the top three as the session boiled down to its final runs. Thunstrom looked to improve a bit more, but ran wide through the penultimate corner and lost time. \n \nPerez came across the line just as the flag dropped and went fastest to the roars of the crowd, but half a minute later Powers flew past to beat him - by just 4 hundredths of a second, to demote Perez to second and Thunstrom to third. Despite a valiant effort on his final lap, Simon was unable to get the Swede, as he had to settle for fourth. \n \nWhile Allar Kangur was unable to fight with Simon and Ruiz, Elroy Wagner did well to split Lopez's rivals in fifth ahead of Ruiz in sixth. Nick Addison salaved seventh in a poor session for Franklin, alongside Will Hoskins who, despite improving on his practice performance, was never on the same level as his teammate. \n \nWith 2 off track excursions and a couple of scruffy laps, van Snelheid was a disappointing ninth ahead of Kangur, who rounded out the top 10. Outside of the top teams, Thierry Xylander found a nice rhythm and was rewarded with 11th, as was Tumo Kinnumen who gave Westwood some hope of a points finish as his last lap bumped him up to 12th. \n \nThunder was well overshadowed by his teammates heroics, but Halvosen - who himself was outclassed by Kidd in practice - was especially strong in the final sector and was happy with 14th. Hunter Ryan was the lead Ocelot in 15th as Puccio Giodano had a fairly anonymous session. The most livid driver after qualifying, however, was Danilo Forini. A scrappy session combined with traffic issues left him only 17th. \n \nKidd was disappointed with 18th, while Ingram didn't have the pace to live with Xylander and Ryan, Jean Mattson barely managing 19th. Takahashi finished in 20th, ahead of a couple who were well behind their teammates - Sergio Alvarez, who was well behind Xylander once again, Jules Barclay, who will line up 23rd, and Max Meyer, who slipped from his highs of fifth in practice to a disastrous 25th in qualifying. \n \nAs things stand, Powers will be world champion after the race, with Klaas requiring to get up to fourth if his teammate wins to keep the title fight alive. However, if the last few US V-Prix's have shown us anything, it's to expect the unexpected around Indianapolis.
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