Pakistan’s Enaam Ahmed set a new track record in qualifying at the Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis for the Freedom 90 race on Friday, May 27 despite suffering from severe food poisoning during the event. Doctors advised him not to race, but his unbelievable determination to make Pakistan proud pushed him to break records and go down in history as the fastest man ever to lap the Lucas Oil Raceway.
An elated Enaam said before his first-ever race on an oval track, “I set the quickest time overall in qualifying, but one thing I need to get used to with the oval track is having a lap average. So that was a bit of a lack of experience on my part but I have the pace.”
The grid position was determined by the combined average of two qualifying laps. The 90- lap rain-delayed race, known as ‘Night Before The 500’, was held under the lights. Enaam earned his best ever starting position in the American racing scene, qualifying on the front row. The race-long battle saw Enaam pushing his teammate who had previous racing experience at this track really hard in the second half of the race. “I was battling illness, so I was struggling to keep to a good pace during the second half of the race. I had severe food poisoning. This oval was the most physically demanding track I ever drove because the speeds were so high, and there were no straights to rest, so it was extremely difficult being ill,” explained an exhausted Enaam.
His 4th placed finish in the race helped him move up in the same spot in the championship. After winning the British Formula 3 Championship and placing third in the Japanese Formula 3, the 2022 season marks Ahmed’s first full-season assault on American soil. The next race will be on June 11th. at Road America, one of the best and fastest tracks in the United States, located in scenic Elkhart Lake in Wisconsin. Enaam’s fans in Pakistan are encouraged to follow his historic “Road to Indy” career live on www.indypro2000.com or their YouTube channel.