"The day started out really good," he revealed, "I'm familiar with this track, so we started out and we were second behind Michael, so I felt very encouraged about the direction of the car and the pace that we were on.
"I made the appropriate changes for qualifying, and the opening laps were fine. The car responded really well to the input I was giving it, so I was pleased. I thought that it was just a matter of burning fuel, putting on tyres, and going for the pole. Unfortunately, and I feel really bad for the RuSPORT guys as they've provided a flawless car all
year, we had one little brush with the shift arm, and that caused us to come in during our new tyre run.
"It interrupted our pace. It's unfortunate, but the guys will fix it. I did have a small brush with the wall, and I probably felt some urgency when I noticed there was an issue and the pole was slipping away. It was a slight brush, and it didn't affect the car at all."
Dalziel, who finished second on the road in last year's Atlantic race in Denver, took fourth on the provisional grid after turning in a best lap of 1min 08.419secs (86.660 mph). The Scot has started third in each of the past three races and has not failed to qualify outside the top four since he put his car ninth on the grid for the season-opening Tecate Telmex Monterrey Grand Prix. The Sierra Sierra driver has also finished second in each of the past three races, and knows that he will need a win or podium finish and some help if he is to push the championship fight to the season finale in Miami next month.
Rounding out the top five in provisional qualifying was Danica Patrick (Team Rahal), who is working with a team-mate for the first time this season, following Jon Fogarty's decision to join the Rahal camp for the final two races of the year. The defending Denver champion - also reigning Atlantic titleist - joins Patrick on the provisional third row after qualifying sixth.
Luis Diaz (Dorricott Racing) was seventh in first round qualifying, followed by Alex Figge, Canadian Jonathan Macri and 17-year old Kyle Krisiloff.
Leading qualifiers - Denver Formula Atlantic:
1.
AJ Allmendinger 1min 07.653secs
2.
Michael Valiante 1min 08.306secs
3.
Aaron Justus 1min 08.360secs
4.
Ryan Dalziel 1min 08.419secs
5.
Danica Patrick 1min 08.578secs
6.
Jon Fogarty 1min 08.671secs
7.
Luis Diaz 1min 08.723secs
8.
Alex Figge 1min 08.815secs
9.
Jonathan Macri 1min 09.004secs
10.
Kyle Krisiloff 1min 09.095secs
11.
Joey Hand 1min 09.199secs
12.
Alex Garcia 1min 10.227secs
13.
Marc Breuers 1min 10.473secs
14.
Eric Jensen 1min 11.389secs
15.
Philip Fayer no time
