The sun rose over Tampa Bay on a warm, slightly overcast morning here on the streets of St. Petersburg for the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires qualifying session. Aaron Telitz, who was quickest in both of yesterday’s practice sessions, was the odds-on favorite to take the pole position in the very first qualifying session of the 2016 season for the defending champions, Team Pelfrey. 2015 USF2000 champ Nico Jamin has been leading the charge for five-time and defending USF2000 champions Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing as they aim to capture their first Pro Mazda championship since entering the series in 2014.

Team Pelfrey set the pace from the outset, with Pato O’Ward claiming quick lap ahead of his teammates Aaron Telitz and Weiron Tan. As they ticked away the laps, O’Ward continually went faster, putting pressure on his teammates to throw down a faster lap and wrest pole position from his grasp.

Despite Telitz being the favorite, it was O’Ward who would ultimately wind up on top, setting his fastest lap on Lap 8, while Telitz would have to settle for second. O’Ward’s pole position was ultimately the result of taking advantage of his Cooper Tires and setting his fastest lap of the session one lap sooner than Telitz, who turned his fastest lap on Lap 9. Jake Eidson, Cape’s other driver, snuck up into the top three with a late flier, besting Jamin. Tan, meanwhile, rounded out the top five.

Juncos Racing wasn’t able to break into the top five, but rookie Jake Parsons led the four-car charge ahead of Will Owen, Garett Grist, JDC MotorSports’ Jorge Cevallos, and Nicolas Dapero. The first Pro Mazda race of the weekend takes the green flag at 10:50 a.m. ET.

Pro Mazda Qualifying Results

1. Pato O’Ward
2. Aaron Telitz
3. Jake Eidson
4. Nico Jamin
5. Weiron Tan
6. Jake Parsons
7. Will Owen
8. Garett Grist
9. Jorge Cevallos
10. Nicolas Dapero
11. Bobby Eberle
12. Jay Horak