A breakthrough moment for Aaron Jeansonne came on Friday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where the Porsche Carrera Cup North America rookie claimed his maiden pole position.
Jeansonne earned the Race Brew Pole Award by lapping the hallowed Brickyard at one minute, 25.015 seconds, which was more than two tenths quicker than Ryan Yardley in second.
Heading into Indianapolis, Jeansonne’s best finish of the season with Kellymoss was fourth at Miami International Autodrome, and he is in second place in the Rookie Driver standings behind Tyler Maxson.
“It feels so good, so rewarding for all the hard work that my team and I have put in all year,” said Jeansonne, whose pole comes less than a week after finishing second in the Porsche Endurance Challenge North America finale at Road Atlanta.
“I’ve learned so much from my engineer, and Riley (Dickinson, teammate) is obviously one of the best in the world in these cars. I’ve had a great example all year watching him do it so many times. So thank you to my team, Kellymoss, and my sponsors for helping me get here.
“There’s no other place I’d rather be than leading the field, so I can’t wait to do it.”
Behind Jeansonne – who will start first in both rounds this weekend – and Yardley was Zachary Vanier, who coincidentally ran third in both practice sessions on Thursday. The top 11 Pro class drivers were separated by less than a second by the session’s end.
Scoring a pole position in the Pro-Am class for the second consecutive event was Alan Metni, teammate to Jeansonne in the Kellymoss stable.
With a time of 1:26.364, Metni was more than two tenths faster around Indianapolis than championship leader JP Martinez, in second, and more than three tenths faster than James Sofronas, in third.
“I’m looking forward to it, I think this is going to be a fun race,” said Metni. “This is a great place to race. The infield section allows for some passing, it should be fun.”
Scott Blind and Chris Bellomo have taken turns atop the Masters class leaderboard at Indianapolis, but it was the former who topped qualifying on Friday. It was Blind’s first Carrera Cup pole since Montreal in June – a weekend in which he swept both poles and victories – and it came at a time of 1:26.698 around the 2.439-mile circuit.
Blind will keep an eye on his competitors, however, as Bellomo’s fastest time was .179 seconds off the top spot and Richard Edge was third by .509 seconds.
“This was a big one,” said Blind. “We’ve got Chris Bellomo back over here. He’s last year’s champ and he’s always fast, so we had to really dig deep. Richard was out there and you’re never safe when they’re on track. We were watching carefully. But we’re in here and we’re at the top of the charts and we’re super happy about that.”
Friday’s activities continue at Indianapolis Motorsport Speedway for Porsche Carrera Cup North America, as Race 1 is scheduled for 3 p.m. ET. Race 2 follows on Saturday at 10:45 a.m.
All Carrera Cup races, including replays from Road America, will be shown live on IMSA and Porsche Motorsport North America YouTube Channels, IMSA TV, Peacock, and the Porsche Motorsport North America social channels on Facebook, Linkedin, Threads and X.
