“I’m really happy with the way my car handled on each of my qualifying laps,” Garcia said. “I think we were pretty fast with an average speed of 187.28 mph.”

According to Garcia, the team’s solid start to the race weekend is the best they have had all season.

“It’s just great to start a race weekend off in such a positive way,” he said. “I just hope it translates over to a great result to end our season!”

Garcia tested with JMM at Auto Club Speedway earlier in the season, which helped him immensely in practice and qualifications on Friday.

“We made so many improvements between testing in Fontana until now,” he said. “I’m also much more familiar with this track after testing, which helps a lot too.”

Sebastian Saavedra of Andretti Autosport won the pole for the Auto Club Speedway Foundation 100 with 2-lap qualifying average of 189.640 mph. He will be joined on the front row by his teammate Carlos Munoz.

Esteban Guerrieri, Jorge Goncalvez and Tristan Vautier will complete the top-five on the starting grid.

The field will take the green flag Saturday for its final race of the 2012 season at 3 p.m. PT. The race will be broadcast on Thursday, Sept. 20 at 5 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network.

“Oval racing is always fun and different, especially since I’m pretty new to them,” Garcia said. “I tested in Fontana earlier this year though, so at least I already know the track well.”

Garcia believes driving on three other ovals this year (Indianapolis, Milwaukee and Iowa) will pay dividends when the team arrives in Fontana.

“I feel more confident in myself to be ready for big oval tracks now that the season is wrapping up,” he said. “The team has done a great job of prepping the car for ovals, and I would like to leave Fontana giving them the best result possible.”

Despite it being a brand new race team, JMM’s professionalism has been helpful to Garcia over the season.

“I’ve learned a ton this year from my engineer and team at each track, and I’m really happy with that,” he said.

The green flag will drop on the Firestone Indy Lights 100 at Auto Club Speedway on Saturday, Sept. 15, at 3 p.m. PT. The race can be seen tape-delayed Thursday, Sept. 20 at 5 p.m. ET.

From there, it became a quest to finish Sunday’s 35-lap Firestone Indy Lights race.

“I ran out of room on the first lap,” Garcia said. “I had several cars around me fighting for space and went straight into the run off.”

Garcia rejoined the field in tenth position, and began chasing down his competitors.

“I was pushing really hard and catching the cars in front of me,” he said. “Each lap was feeling better and better in the car.”

Positive momentum for Garcia was halted when the No. 76 lost second gear.

“Driving the car on this track without second gear was hard because most of the corners are driven in second gear,” he said. “I couldn’t brake as hard and I was locking them (the tires) up. My exits out of the corners were slow as a result too.”

Garcia finished the day in ninth position.

“After all of my effort to work back up through the field it was disappointing to lose second gear,” Garcia said. “It wasn’t the result I wanted and we were stronger than that today.”

Tristan Vautier, driving for Sam Schmidt Motorsports, claimed his fourth victory of the 2012 Firestone Indy Lights season at the Grand Prix of Baltimore. Vautier led every lap of the race and averaged a speed of 85.476 mph.

The podium was rounded out with Gustavo Yacaman of Team Moore Racing in second and Esteban Guerrieri of Sam Schmidt Motorsports in third.

Vautier and Guerrieri will face off for the final round of the 2012 Firestone Indy Lights Championship at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif. on Sept. 15. Vautier currently leads Guerrieri, 429-418.

Juan Pablo Garcia is ninth in the championship standings with 240 points.

Garcia and JMM earned the eighth starting position with a lap of 84.793 mph. They will now shift to race mode and work to maximize the potential of the No. 76 car on race day.

“Tomorrow is another day, and we’ll look over our data tonight to see what we can do to make the race a good one for our team,” Garcia said.

Saturday morning practice and qualifying was Garcia’s first chance to try out the new chicane added to the track overnight after a shortened practice session on Friday.

“I think the chicane helped to improve the track a lot today,” Garcia said. “There are still a lot of bumps but it’s not nearly as bad now that the chicane is slowing us down a bit on the front stretch.”

Tristan Vautier of Sam Schmidt Motorsports earned the pole for the Grand Prix of Baltimore with a lap at 87.753 mph. His teammate Esteban Guerrieri joins him on the front row with a quick lap in qualifying of 86.917 mph.

Sebastian Saavedra and Carlos Munoz of Andretti Autosport will start third and fourth respectively, and Oliver Webb of Sam Schmidt Motorsports will start fifth.

The 35-lap Firestone Indy Lights race at the Grand Prix of Baltimore presented by SRT will be broadcast live on NBC Sports Network on Sunday, September 2 at 12:30 p.m. ET.