Franchitti Snags Pole for Milwaukee Indyfest

Photo Credit: INDYCAR/ LAT USA

Returning to the Milkwaukee Mile oval last season after a race promoter fiasco cancelled the 2010 activities at the track, there was questions whether the IZOD INDYCAR Series was going to appear at the complex in 2012. A less-than stellar track audience and TV audience put open wheel racing in doubt until Michael Andretti rescued the Wisconsin state spectacle. Still occurring on Father's day weekend, there is a change to the 225-lap event from the previous year. As opposed to the 2011 race, the 2012 Milwaukee Indyfest was event scheduled early on Saturday afternoon.

In Friday afternoon qualifying, Honda-engined IZOD INDYCAR competitors continued to show force with the 2012 Dallaras. Accomplishing a two-lap speed average of 168.737 miles per hour, Dario Franchitti took pole for Saturday's Milwaukee Indyfest for the Target Chip Ganassi Racing team. After qualifying the #10 car on pole, Franchitti expressed some surprise from the fast effort after practice."Practice is one thing, qualifying is another and then there is the race. For as warm as it it people are fighting the car and everyone wants the same line. I expect tomorrow is going to be tough, especially at the end of a full - stint on those Firestone tires." said Dario Franchitti.

Perhaps on the momentum of the Texas Motor Speedway upset win, the #18 Dale Coyne Racing car piloted by Justin Wilson continues to impress on ovals. "The confidence has helped a lot." said Wilson adding, "I feel like we've made some progress in understanding this car and what it's looking for, so we'll keep chipping away at it and making the car better and better." While qualifying 2nd, Justin Wilson will fall to 12th on the start of the 2012 Milwaukee Indyfest because of an unapproved engine change after the Texas race. Will Power's #12 Team Penske car, the #67 Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing car of Josef Newgarden, the #15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing vehicle of Takuma Sato and the Mike Conway driven #14 AJ Foyt Enterprises machine have also been handed grid position penalties of 10 spots.

Promoting the race through his sports event business arm, Michael Andretti's three-car team had mixed fortunes in qualifying. While Ryan Hunter-Reay's #28 car was the fastest Chevrolet-engined competitor presented as 3rd on the time sheet, James Hinchcliffe tied his worse starting spot of the season with a 13th place grid position. Marco Andretti will start 15th on the 1-mile oval with the #26 Chevrolet-powered Dallara. 

Visiting the Milwaukee mile for the first time, 2012 IZOD INDYCAR freshman Rubens Barichello place his #8 KV Racing Technology car 5th fastest between two Team Penske machines. Josef Newgarden for Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing also had a very respectable 7th quickest time but will forfeit 10 grid positions Saturday. "Knowing that we had the penalty coming here wasn't too bad because it's been a cycle this year. Everyone's had to go through it at some point and it's just our turn." said Newgarden.

A race with 25 cars, the 225-lap Milwaukee Indyfest main event is scheduled for a 12:30pm Eastern time start. According to weather forecasts, a slight chance of thunderstorms could threaten the race on Saturday.


2012 IZOD INDYCAR
Milwaukee Indyfest
Milwaukee Mile
Qualifying Results


Blue denotes vehicles serving grid position penalties

	Car #	Driver	Driver Nationality	Race Team	Engine
1	10	Dario Franchitti	Scotland	Target/Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
2	18	Justin Wilson	England	Dale Coyne Racing	Honda
3	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay	United States	Andretti Autosport	Chevrolet
4	12	Will Power	Australia	Team Penske	Chevrolet
5	8	Rubens Barrichello	Brazil	KV Racing Technology	Chevrolet
6	3	Helio Castroneves	Brazil	Team Penske	Chevrolet
7	67	Josef Newgarden	United States	Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing	Honda
8	5	EJ Viso	Venezuela	KV Racing Technology	Chevrolet
9	2	Ryan Briscoe	Australia	Team Penske	Chevrolet
10	11	Tony Kanaan	Brazil	KV Racing Technology	Chevrolet
11	9	Scott Dixon	New Zealand	Target/Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
12	77	Simon Pagenaud	France	Schmidt-Hamilton Motorsports	Honda
13	27	James Hinchcliffe	Canada	Andretti Autosport	Chevrolet
14	15	Takuma Sato	Japan	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda
15	26	Marco Andretti	United States	Andretti Autosport	Chevrolet
16	4	JR Hildebrand	United States	Panther Racing	Chevrolet
17	38	Graham Rahal	United States	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
18	98	Alex Tagliani	Canada	Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb Agajanian	Honda
19	6	Katherine Legge	England	Dragon Racing	Chevrolet
20	19	James Jakes	England	Dale Coyne Racing	Honda
21	83	Charlie Kimball	United States	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
22	22	Oriol Servia	Spain	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	Chevrolet
23	20	Ed Carpenter	United States	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevrolet
24	78	Simona de Silvestro	Switzerland	Lotus-HVM Racing	Lotus
25	14	Mike Conway	England	AJ Foyt Enterprises	Honda

Tagliani Tops Texas INDYCAR Qualifying for Firestone 550 Pole

Photo Credit: INDYCAR/LAT USA

 
A week after a bizarre street race on Detroit’s Belle Isle course, the 2012 IZOD INDYCAR Series is taken into another unusual situation for the 7^th race of the year. Only the second oval race of the 2012 season where drivers are still acquainting themselves with new Dallara racing machines, the Firestone 550 at Texas Motor Speedway is the first time the new vehicle configuration will run on a highly-banked circuit.

For the second year in a row, Canada’s Alex Tagliani was the toast of Texas in the time trials for the IZOD INDYCAR Series’ Firestone 550 at the 1.5-mile oval in Fort Worth. Last year winning the pole with Sam Schmidt’s team, it was Tagliani and the combined effort of the #98 Bryan Herta Autosport team that mustered a two-lap average speed of 215.691 miles per hour to take the top spot for Saturday night’s 228-lap event at the Texas Motor Speedway.

Beating the #10 car of Dario Franchitti by a thin 0.01 second advantage, the #98 car’s pole is only the latest indicator for an emerging force to be reckon with on the IZOD INDYCAR Series tour. Since being dropped by engine supplier Lotus at the end of the Long Beach event, the Bryan Herta Autosport team returned to the Indianapolis 500 with Honda’s formidable powerplant. After a stable Indy 500 for the team, Alex Tagliani delivered the #98 car into the top-10 at the Belle Isle for the highest finish in the 2012 season for the team. “Wow that is so great, back on the pole at Texas! I told people after we sat out the race in Brazil that our season started in Indy and it did, with Honda power.” said Alex Tagliani after qualifying adding confidence that his team will be a threat for the Firestone 550.

From 2^nd through 4^th, Chip Ganaasi-owned race cars of Dario Franchitti, Graham Rahal and Scott Dixon will be lined up on Saturday night planning to display their dominance showed in the first race of the double-race last season at Texas Motor Speedway. With the Firestone 550 integrated back into a single race for 2012, the Texas Motor Speedway event will not have the disputed second race lottery that proved costly for Franchitti and Dixon in 2011.

With Chevrolet power showing the way through the beginning of the 2012 IZOD INDYCAR Series season, the improved forces of Honda teams have begun to displace the bowtie’s early path of success. Will Power leads in the #12 Team Penske car in 5^th place leads the Chevrolet runners that occupy 4 of the top-10 spots in the Firestone 550 starting grid. Andretti Autosport’s #27 car piloted by James Hinchcliffe and Tony Kanaan in the #11 KV Racing Technology vehicle are Chevrolet drivers right behind Power’s #12 car while Marco Andretti is placed 9^th on the grid for the Saturday race.

Losing 10 grid positions after engine changes at the previous Belle Isle race will be the HVM Racing #78 car of Simona de Silvestro and the AJ Foyt-owned #14 driven by Mike Conway.

The Firestone 550 at Texas Motor Speedway will start at 8pm on Saturday night.


2012 IZOD INDYCAR
Firestone 550
Texas Motor Speedway
Qualifying Results

	Car #	Driver	Driver Nationality	Race Team	Engine	Speed
1	98	Alex Tagliani	Canada	Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb Agajanian	Honda	215.691
2	10	Dario Franchitti	Scotland	Target/Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	215.646
3	38	Graham Rahal	United States	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	215.554
4	9	Scott Dixon	New Zealand	Target/Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	215.331
5	12	Will Power	Australia	Team Penske	Chevrolet	215.116
6	27	James Hinchcliffe	Canada	Andretti Autosport	Chevrolet	214.920
7	11	Tony Kanaan	Brazil	KV Racing Technology	Chevrolet	214.701
8	14	Mike Conway	England	AJ Foyt Enterprises	Honda	214.458
9	26	Marco Andretti	United States	Andretti Autosport	Chevrolet	214.424
10	15	Takuma Sato	Japan	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda	214.196
11	77	Simon Pagenaud	France	Schmidt-Hamilton Motorsports	Honda	214.082
12	2	Ryan Briscoe	Australia	Team Penske	Chevrolet	214.060
13	22	Oriol Servia	Spain	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	Chevrolet	213.957
14	8	Rubens Barrichello	Brazil	KV Racing Technology	Chevrolet	213.949
15	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay	United States	Andretti Autosport	Chevrolet	213.927
16	5	EJ Viso	Venezuela	KV Racing Technology	Chevrolet	213.444
17	3	Helio Castroneves	Brazil	Team Penske	Chevrolet	213.402
18	83	Charlie Kimball	United States	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	212.833
19	18	Justin Wilson	England	Dale Coyne Racing	Honda	212.136
20	20	Ed Carpenter	United States	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevrolet	211.643
21	19	James Jakes	England	Dale Coyne Racing	Honda	211.245
22	6	Katherine Legge	England	Dragon Racing	Chevrolet	210.543
23	78	Simona de Silvestro	Switzerland	Lotus-HVM Racing	Lotus	204.066
24	4	JR Hildebrand	United States	Panther Racing	Chevrolet	202.596
25	67	Josef Newgarden	United States	Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing	Honda	No Speed

Briscoe Fastest During INDYCAR Qualifying on Streets of Long Beach

Photo Credit: Steve Swope/(C)2012 Steve Swope Photography

The third race weekend for the IZOD INDYCAR Series in 2012, the series returns to a temporary street circuits for the prestigious Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. With Saturday’s qualifying very important on the circuit where passing has proven to be tricky, this year’s time trial preparation for the 85-lap race Sunday would involve a very unusual situation for the IZOD INDYCAR Campaigners using the league‘s lead engine.

After two race in the 2012 IZOD INDYCAR Series, the Team Penske has shown off their understanding of the all-new Dallara DW12 race cars as drivers Helio Castroneves and Will Power won the season‘s first events. Team Penske also demonstrated under the new competitive engine formula in the IZOD INDYCAR Series the effectiveness of the Chevrolet power plant. However, heading into the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, all of the 11 competitors using Chevrolet’s Twin-Turbocharged V-6 engines were forced to heed to the advice of manufacturer that would cost them grid position starting the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. Engine changes on the 11 Chevrolet-powered INDYCAR race vehicles would be assessed in Saturday’s qualifying on the 11-turn, 1.968-mile road course in California.

Unlike Friday’s track time that was accompanied by a wet and cold day, Saturday was more inviting for the 2012 IZOD INDYCAR competitors as they try to set hot laps on the street course. Due to limited dry track practice, there was still some unknowns for drivers and teams. With all 26 IZOD INDYCAR cars posting time, it was Team Penske who again proved victorious during qualifying. Beating all fellow competitors for the first time in 2012, it was the Australian Ryan Briscoe who claimed has first pole since Chicagoland of 2010. Lapping the streets of Long Beach at 1 minute, 8.6089 seconds, Briscoe provides Team penske with three drivers having won a qualifying session for 2012. Briscoe’s winning effort came after a fierce battle on-track with teammate Will Power.

Exchanging fastest laps in the final minutes of the Firestone Fast Six qualifying round, Briscoe’s advantage over Power was less than a tenth of a second. Despite Ryan Briscoe having to accept a 10 grid position penalty (dropping him to 10^th place for Sunday), the fastest time will count in the points standings where a single point will be rewarded to the Team Penske driver.

Another IZOD INDYCAR Series team that scored two cars in the Firestone Fast Six grouping was Andretti Autosport. Andretti Autosport enters the California street course with familiarity on how to get to victory lane after winning the event the past two years. An emotionally-charged 2010 winner of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, Ryan Hunter-Reay qualified 3^rd and teammate Canadian James Hinchcliffe locked in a 6^th quickest time.

Despite the dominating efforts of Chevrolet in qualifying, the engine change penalties meant the starting line-up would fall to the advantage of the Honda and Lotus powered Dallara race cars. Dario Franchitti, the only non-Chevrolet runner to break into the Firestone Fast Six, collected a 4^th fastest run in Saturday’s qualifying. With Chevrolet-engined competitors being demoted, the #10 Target Chip Ganassi Racing receives the top starting spot for the 2012 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. “In the Firestone Fast 6 we knew where we'd be starting regardless of what time we did, but we kind of wanted to earn it.” said Franchitti.

Oriol Servia recorded the fastest lap recorded for a Lotus-powered IZOD INDYCAR Dallara DW12 for Dreyer and Reinbold Racing with a 1 minute, 10.6835 second timed trip around the street course. 20^th Fastest in time trials, Servia’s and his #22 car will also be assesses their own engine penalty by the sanctioning body that will drop the team to 23^rd starting the Long Beach race.

The Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, race #3 in the 2012 IZOD INDYCAR Series tour, will be set for about 4:15PM Eastern time (1:15PM Pacific time).


2012 IZOD INDYCAR Series
Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach
Qaulifying Results

Pos #	Car #	Driver	Nationality	Race Team	Engine
1	2	Ryan Briscoe	Australia	Team Penske	Chevrolet
2	12	Will Power	Australia	Team Penske	Chevrolet
3	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay	United States	Andretti Autosport	Chevrolet
4	10	Dario Franchitti	Scotland	Target/Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
5	5	EJ Viso	Venezuela	KV Racing Technology	Chevrolet
6	27	James Hinchcliffe	Canada	Andretti Autosport	Chevrolet
7	67	Josef Newgarden	United States	Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing	Honda
8	3	Helio Castroneves	Brazil	Team Penske	Chevrolet
9	18	Justin Wilson	England	Dale Coyne Racing	Honda
10	11	Tony Kanaan	Brazil	KV Racing Technology	Chevrolet
11	77	Simon Pagenaud	France	Schmidt-Hamilton Motorsports	Honda
12	9	Scott Dixon	New Zealand	Target/Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
13	15	Takuma Sato	Japan	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda
14	14	Mike Conway	England	AJ Foyt Enterprises	Honda
15	38	Graham Rahal	United States	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
16	4	JR Hildebrand	United States	Panther Racing	Chevrolet
17	83	Charlie Kimball	United States	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
18	26	Marco Andretti	United States	Andretti Autosport	Chevrolet
19	8	Rubens Barrichello	Brazil	KV Racing Technology	Chevrolet
20	22	Oriol Servia	Spain	Lotus-Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	Lotus
21	98	Alex Tagliani	Canada	Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb Agajanian	Lotus
22	19	James Jakes	England	Dale Coyne Racing	Honda
23	20	Ed Carpenter	United States	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevrolet
24	7	Sebastien Bourdais	France	Lotus-Dragon Racing	Lotus
25	6	Katherine Legge	England	Lotus-Dragon Racing	Lotus
26	78	Simona de Silvestro	Switzerland	Lotus-HVM Racing	Lotus

Sato Slays Power's Qualifying Streak for Edmonton Indy Pole

Photo Credit: LAT Photo USA

For the second time in three races, Japanese driver Takuma Sato will lead a 2011 IZOD INDYCAR field to green. Adapting quickly to the new 2.556 mile, 13-turn Edmonton City Airport road course, the #5 KV Racing Technology car rounded the circuit in 1 minute, 18.5165 seconds in the Firestone Fast Six final qualifying round. Delighted with the top effort, Sato commented in the post-qualifying press conference saying "It's a very special moment for me and for the team, as well. I mean, like you said, Iowa was another great moment. My first pole. To be able to do the same thing here, it means a lot."

The result of Takuma Sato's first pole IZOD INDYCAR on a road circuit comes with the end of Penske Racing driver Will Power's pole streak on road courses. Winning 8 consecutive poles on street or permanent road courses on the IZOD INDYCAR Series, Power's streak ironically started last year at the Edmonton Indy race. In qualifying, Will Power made a valiant attempt to extend the consecutive pole run but came a little more than 5/100th of a second short. The Australian driver of the #12 Verizon Penske Racing Dallara-Honda will start 2nd place for the Sunday race. Though Will Power lost the first place starting streak on road courses, this 2011 Edmonton Indy start will be his 13th straight IZOD INDYCAR qualifying session the #12 car collected a front row position.

Starting on the second front for Sunday's 90-lap main event, the Target/Chip Ganassi Racing cars both desire to finish one row ahead on race day to repeat their Honda Indy Toronto success two weeks ago. The New Zealand driver Scott Dixon topped the overall series points leader and teammate Dario Franchitti for the 3rd place standing spot.

Along with Sato's pole-winning performance in the Edmonton Indy qualifying session, a second KV Racing Technology car collected a top-5 starting position. The #59 of EJ Viso supplied a season-best effort during the Firestone Fast Six time trial to take 5th over Penske Racing's Ryan Briscoe. The routine vanguard of the KV Racing Technology team, Tony Kanaan starts in 11th place. Last year with Andretti Autosport, Kanaan finished 12th on the old Edmonton City Airport circuit.

This year in qualifying, Ryan Hunter-Reay will lead the four-car Andretti Autosport effort from the start of the Edmonton Indy. Qualifying 7th, Hunter-Reay starts well ahead of his teammates who struggled to come to terms with the new track. Oriol Servia, Helio Castroneves and Canadian's James Hinchcliffe round out the top-10 in the IZOD INDYCAR qualifying session.

Scheduled for a 2 PM Eastern start, the Edmonton Indy will air live on Versus in the United States and TSN for Canadian television viewers.

2011 IZOD INDYCAR Series

Edmonton Indy

Starting Lineup

1. 5 Takuma Sato/Japan/ KV Racing Technology
2. 12 Will Power/Australia/ Penske Racing
3. 9 Scott Dixon/New Zealand/ Target/Chip Ganassi Racing
4. 10 Dario Franchitti/Scotland/ Target/Chip Ganassi Racing
5. 59 EJ Viso/Venezuela/ KV Racing Technology
6. 6 Ryan Briscoe/Australia/ Penske Racing
7. 28 Ryan Hunter-Reay/United States/Andretti Autosport
8. 2 Oriol Servia/Spanish/ Newman/Haas Racing
9. 3 Helio Castroneves/Brazil/ Penske Racing
10. 06 James Hinchcliffe/Canada/ Newman/Haas Racing
11. 82 Tony Kanaan/Brazil/ KV Racing Technology
12. 19 Sebastien Bourdais/France/Dale Coyne Racing
13. 38 Graham Rahal/United States/Chip Ganassi Racing
14. 14 Vitor Meira/Brazil/ AJ Foyt Racing Enterprises
15. 22 Justin Wilson/England/ Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
16. 78 Simona De Silvestro/Switzerland/ HVM Racing
17. 77 Alex Tagliani/Canada/ Sam Schmidt Racing
18. 18 James Jakes/England/ Dale Coyne Racing
19. 26 Marco Andretti/United States/ Andretti Autosport
20. 27 Mike Conway/England/Andretti Autosport
21. 83 Charlie Kimball/United States/ Chip Ganassi Racing
22. 7 Danica Patrick/United States/ Andretti Autosport
23. 24 Ana Beatriz/Brazil/ Dreyer & Reinbold
24. 4 JR Hildebrand/United States/ Panther Racing
25. 8 Paul Tracy/Canada/Dragon Racing
26. 34 Sebastian Saavedra/Columbia/ Conquest Racing

Power's the Pole Sitter at Mid-Ohio Earning 7th IZOD IndyCar Pole for 2010

Photo Credit: Dana Garrett

Rolling out of 2-race stint that brought the IZOD IndyCar Series competition through Canada, the open wheel series returns to the United States to run on the 2.4 mile Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course located on the outskirts of Lexington. This race is also a homecoming of sorts back to permanent road courses since last month's Watkins Glen event. 


Winning two of the last three races, Will Power is on the verge of securing the series' first road course championship called the Mario Andretti Trophy. Clinching the pole for the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio with a 1 minute, 7.1997 second lap time through the Firestone Fast Six qualifying session, the #12 Penske driven by the fast Australian needs little more than to finish the event to lock up the honours of road racing champion. Depending on the strong finish, only this race and Infineon Raceway rounds remain for the Mario Andretti Trophy in 2010's IZOD IndyCar tour. Also leading the overall IZOD IndyCar points championship, Will Power first full season with Penske Racing is swimming in success entering a track which Power was unable to compete at in 2009. 


Planning to insure the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series overall points remains interesting, reigning champion Dario Franchitti has qualified his #10 Target/ Chip Ganassi Racing car 2nd at a little more than 1/10th of a second slower than the lead Penske Racing vehicle of Will Power. Not using the softer Firestone red tires, Franchitti still remarked that his Dallara-Honda was pulling "..consistent laps..". 


Offering the biggest surprise in the Mid-Ohio qualifying session was the speed from the KV Racing Technology car of Takuma Sato. Still looking for a finish to reflect some moments of greatness in his rookie year of American open wheel racing, Sato voiced his pleasure in post-qualifying. "I'm very pleased with the result today.  I was able to improve each session.  We tested here last week which helped me and my engineers a lot. We spent both practice sessions working on improving the car and each change we made led to more positive results". Takuma Sato will be the highest starting rookie at Mid-Ohio as Simona de Silvestro is the next closest driver starting 10th.

Ryan Hunter-Reay, 2009 Mid Ohio race winner Scott Dixon and Helio Castroneves rounded out the Firestone Fast Six grouping, timed into the race within that order. Of course, following the Edmonton race where Castroneves' penalty and excessively-passionate behavior became the headline news today in the IZOD IndyCar Series.



With the IZOD IndyCar Series delivering a strong showing of 27 entrants for this weekend's Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio, there are some new faces appearing since the last IZOD IndyCar Series round. Including drivers Jay Howard, Graham Rahal and Adam Carroll, last year's Firestone Indy Lights champion J.R. Hildebrand will finally have an opportunity in 2010 to run in the big series. Having driven in the American Le Mans for Patron Highcroft Racing, testing with Force India along with driving a vintage F1 car at Montreal, Hildebrand will drive the #24 Dreyer and Reinbold Racing car for this race.

A notable absence to the driver lineup at Mid-Ohio is Brazilian's Mario Romancini in the Conquest Racing car. Due to lack of funds, Romancini lost his ride which has regrettably robbed the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series fan of a steady Rookie of the Year title contender. Through much of the season, the Brazilian was the counter-measure to Swiss' Simona de Silvestro. Conquest Racing will be fielding a second car for Turin, Italy's Francesco Dracone.

Guaranteed to be a perfectly hot summer day, the Honda Indy 200 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course will start Sunday with television coverage starting on Versus at 2:30 P.M. Eastern time for American viewers and on TSN2 for Canadian audiences.



2010 IZOD IndyCar Racing
Honda Indy 200
Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course

Starting Lineup

1.   12 Will Power/Australia/ Penske Racing
2.   10 Dario Franchitti/Scotland/ Target/Chip Ganassi Racing
3.   5 Takuma Sato/Japan/ KV Racing Technology
4.   37 Ryan Hunter-Reay/United States/ Andretti Autosport
5.   9 Scott Dixon/New Zealand/ Target/Chip Ganassi Racing
6.   3 Helio Castroneves/Brazil/ Penske Racing
7.   6 Ryan Briscoe/Australia/ Penske Racing
8.   8 EJ Viso/Venezuela/ KV Racing Technology
9.   26 Marco Andretti/United States/ Andretti Autosport
10. 78 Simona De Silvestro/Switzerland HVM Racing
11. 22 Justin Wilson/England/ Dreyer and Reinbold Racing
12. 06 Hideki Mutoh/ Japan/ Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing
13. 4 Dan Wheldon/England/ Panther Racing
14. 77 Alex Tagliani/Canada/ FAZZT Race Team
15. 32 Mario Moraes/Brazil/ KV Racing Technology 
16. 36 Bertrand Baguette/Belgium/ Conquest Racing
17. 27 Adam Carroll/Northern Ireland/ Andretti Autosport

18. 24 J.R. Hildebrand/United States/ Dreyer and Reinbold Racing 
19 Raphael Matos/Brazil/ de Ferran Dragon Racing
20. 11 Tony Kanaan/Brazil/ Andretti Autosport
21. 19 Alex Lloyd/England/ Dale Coyne Racing
22. 7 Danica Patrick/United States/ Andretti Autosport
23. 34 Francesco Dracone/Italy/ Conquest Racing
24. 14 Vitor Meira/Brazil/ AJ Foyt Racing Enterprises
25. 02 Graham Rahal/United States/ Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing 
26. 66 Jay Howard/England/ Sarah Fisher Racing
27. 18 Milka Duno/Venezuela/ Dale Coyne Racing

Power Jets to Pole on Airport Circuit for Honda Indy Edmonton Race

Photo Credit: Steve Swope


Honda Indy Edmonton 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series Starting Lineup

1. 12 Will Power/Australia/ Penske Racing
2. 3 Helio Castroneves/Brazil/ Penske Racing
3. 9 Scott Dixon/New Zealand/ Target/Chip Ganassi Racing
4. 10 Dario Franchitti/Scotland/ Target/Chip Ganassi Racing
5. 6 Ryan Briscoe/Australia/ Penske Racing
6. 8 EJ Viso/Venezuela/ KV Racing Technology
7. 78 Simona De Silvestro/Switzerland HVM Racing
8. 37 Ryan Hunter-Reay/United States/ Andretti Autosport
9. 22 Justin Wilson/England/ Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
10. 2 Raphael Matos/Brazil/ de Ferran Dragon Racing
11. 06 Hideki Mutoh/ Japan/ Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing
12. 24 Tomas Scheckter/ South Africa/ Dreyer and Reinbold Racing
13. 5 Takuma Sato/Japan/ KV Racing Technology
14. 32 Mario Moraes/Brazil/ KV Racing Technology
15. 15 Paul Tracy/Canada/ KV Racing Technology
16. 26 Marco Andretti/United States/ Andretti Autosport
17. 34 Mario Romancini/Brazil/ Conquest Racing
18. 19 Alex Lloyd/England/ Dale Coyne Racing
19. 77 Alex Tagliani/Canada/ FAZZT Race Team
20. 36 Bertrand Baguette/Belgium/ Conquest Racing
21. 7 Danica Patrick/United States/ Andretti Autosport
22. 4 Dan Wheldon/England/ Panther Racing
23. 14 Vitor Meira/Brazil/ AJ Foyt Racing Enterprises
24. 11 Tony Kanaan/Brazil/ Andretti Autosport
25. 18 Milka Duno/Venezuela/ Dale Coyne Racing

Briscoe Starts on Pole for Saturday's IndyCar Race at Texas

Photo Credit: Steve Swope

The week after Indianapolis race has long been a mainstay event at the Milwaukee Mile oval. Of course, because of issues surrounding promotional rights and financial tie-ups, this traditional stop was stricken from the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series schedule. Instead, the open wheel tour has proceeded to the popular IZOD IndyCar Series at Texas Motor Speedway for the Firestone 550k.

26 cars join the 7th event on the 2010 schedule around the ultra-fast 1.5 mile speedway expanded by the presence of a two-car team from Sarah Fisher Racing. Owner/driver Sarah Fisher is joined by Jay Howard what will be the third race of 2010 (this race will actually be Howard's second start since his car failed to qualify into the Indy 500). Also in the lineup is South Africa's Tomas Scheckter rejoining Dreyer & Reinbold Racing as a substitute for regular Mike Conway. Experiencing a dramatic last lap crash in the Indy 500, the British driver Conway was taken to Methodist hospital following the accident for evaluation. Mike Conway could be out of the race car for 3 months as injury to his thoracic vetebrae was discovered. In a back brace, Conway was thankful to the physicians and medical staff confident he will be back to the track.

Taking the Peak Pole Award, Ryan Briscoe driving the Penske Racing #6 set an average fast lap of 215.273 miles per hour. Briscoe was able to nick the #10 Target/Chip Ganassi Racing's Dario Franchitti. With Briscoe's Texas pole in 2010, all three Team Penske drivers have taken poles in this season's IZOD IndyCar Series.

The top-5 starting positions have all been claimed by the IndyCar superteam cars belonging to Penske Racing and Target/Chip Ganassi Racing. 3rd to 5th through Texas qualifying were Will Power, Scott Dixon and Helio Castroneves suggesting that the Saturday night race is geared to be another all-out war between the two dominant operations. While Team Penske, propelled by their new star Will Power, was able to claim three of the four road races that started to the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series schedule, the complexion of team dominance has shifted to the red cars of recent races. The collective efforts of Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti within the Target/Chip Ganassi Racing team have snake-bitten the Verizon Penske machines. With Penske's Helio Castroneves the defending winner, the team intends to use the Firestone 550k as an atonement to their oval racing efforts.

Outside of the Team Penske vs. Target/Chip Ganassi Racing feud, Dale Coyne Racing rookie Alex Lloyd found momentum to break into the Firestone Fast Six with a speed of 214.408 miles per hour for an average lap in the #19 car. In fact, Lloyd wasn't the only surprise in the top 10. Behind the #19 Dale Coyne Racing car, Hideki Mutoh delivered another strong start on an oval for Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing with 7th place. Running near the front for much of the Kansas race last month, Mutoh has ambition of finishing prominently at Texas Motor Speedway. Danica Patrick starts a season-high 8th fastest effort in the #7 Godaddy.com car. Patrick leads the Andretti Autosport race effort which sees Marco Andretti in 10th, Tony Kanaan in 13th and Ryan Hunter-Reay starting deep in the field in a 22rd place starting spot.


Firestone 550k
2010 IZOD IndyCar Series
Starting Positions


1. 6 Ryan Briscoe/Australia/ Penske Racing
2. 10 Dario Franchitti/Scotland/ Target/Chip Ganassi Racing
3. 12 Will Power/Australia/ Penske Racing
4. 9 Scott Dixon/New Zealand/ Target/Chip Ganassi Racing
5. 3 Helio Castroneves/Brazil/ Penske Racing
6. 19 Alex Lloyd/England/ Dale Coyne Racing
7. 06 Hideki Mutoh/ Japan/ Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing
8. 7 Danica Patrick/United States/ Andretti Autosport
9. 32 Mario Moraes/Brazil/ KV Racing Technology
10. 26 Marco Andretti/United States/ Andretti Autosport
11. 5 Takuma Sato/Japan/ KV Racing Technology
12. 22 Justin Wilson/England/ Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
13. 11 Tony Kanaan/Brazil/ Andretti Autosport
14. 8 EJ Viso/Venezuela/ KV Racing Technology
15. 4 Dan Wheldon/England/ Panther Racing
16. 67 Sarah Fisher/United States/ Sarah Fisher Racing
17. 18 Milka Duno/Venezuela/ Dale Coyne Racing
18. 24 Tomas Scheckter/South Africa/ Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
19. 14 Vitor Meira/Brazil/ AJ Foyt Racing Enterprises
20. 77 Alex Tagliani/Canada/ FAZZT Race Team
21. 66 Jay Howard/England/ Sarah Fisher Racing
22. 36 Bertrand Baguette/Belgium/ Conquest Racing
23. 2 Raphael Matos/Brazil/ Luczo Dragon/de Ferran Motorsports
24. 37 Ryan Hunter-Reay/United States/ Andretti Autosport
25. 34 Mario Romancini/Brazil/ Conquest Racing
26. 78 Simona De Silvestro/Switzerland HVM Racing

Indy Grand Prix of Alabama Qualifying Sees Will Power Up Front

Photo Credit: Steve Swope/Penske Racing

Will Power flies to a second straight pole for the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series season. Lapping the Barber Motorsports Park 2.38 mile road course a 1 minute, 10.1356 seconds
Driving his #12 Verizon-sponsored Penske Racing car, Power's top time almost mirrored his fastest effort during Friday practice. As qualifying concluded, the #12 Penske Racing car was almost a mile per hour average faster than the performance of his closest time trial rival.

Starting on the front row, sophomore driver Mike Conway impressed by recording the 2nd fastest time. Through a drastic pick-up from Friday practice, the #24 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing flew to time of 1 minute, 10.6510 seconds. Only his 3rd career appearance in the Firestone Fast Six, Conway run is also his best qualifying result entering into only his 20th IndyCar race.

Another Penske Racing car which backed-up on the Friday performance the #3 of Helio Castroneves. Snatching 3rd in the timed session, Castroneves commented on starting near the top of the inaugural Indy Grand Prix of Alabama grid saying "It's always important to qualify upfront, no matter what place. But certainly here it seems to be a very challenging place." Also acknowledging in a post-qualifying press conference that pit strategy will be an unknown for many teams, Helio Castroneves props up his team saying "We'll continue doing very, very well. But for the No. 3 guys, we are stepping up every race, so hopefully tomorrow will be a good day for us.".

Wrapping up the Firestone Fast Six is Andretti Autosport's Marco Andretti, Scott Dixon Target/Chip Ganassi, and Japanese rookie Takuma Sato driving for KV Racing. Fourth place in the session Marco Andretti was asked in post-qualifying about the obvious small gains in Andretti Autosport. Responding to what changes have been made to Andretti Autosport, Marco Andretti responded "Making the car's comfortable for us to drive. The difference is, and the thing I've personally been pushing for in the off‑season is you listen to your drivers a bit more than what the computer tells them." After qualifying, Scott Dixon seemed mildly impressed with his #9 car. "So surprised we made it into the Fast Six with just how the car is handling. But we'll take another stab at it tonight and hopefully try and make a few changes for the warm‑up, and get some consistency back in the car, especially for the race tomorrow." Dixon said.


The inaugural running of the Indy Grand Prix of Alabama is set for Sunday April 11th at 3:30 p.m. airing on the Versus in the United States and TSN in Canada.


2010 Indy Grand Prix of Alabama
IZOD IndyCar Series
Qualifying Results

1) #12 Will Power/Australia/ Penske Racing
2) #24 Mike Conway/England/ Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
3) #3 Helio Castroneves/Brazil/ Penske Racing
4) #26 Marco Andretti/United States/ Andretti Autosport
5) #9 Scott Dixon/New Zealand/ Target/Chip Ganassi Racing
6) #5 Takuma Sato/Japan/ KV Racing Technology
7) #10 Dario Franchitti/Scotland/ Target/Chip Ganassi Racing
8) #11 Tony Kanaan/Brazil/ Andretti Autosport
9) #6 Ryan Briscoe/Australia/ Penske Racing
10) #8 EJ Viso/Venezuela/ KV Racing Technology
11) #22 Justin Wilson/England/ Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
12) #32 Mario Moraes/Brazil/ KV Racing Technology
13) #78 Simona De Silvestro/Switzerland HVM Racing
14) #37 Ryan Hunter-Reay/United States/ Andretti Autosport
15) #67 Graham Rahal/United States/ Sarah Fisher Racing
16) #19 Alex Lloyd/England/ Dale Coyne Racing
17) #06 Hideki Mutoh/ Japan/ Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing
18) #2 Raphael Matos/Brazil/ Luczo Dragon/de Ferran Motorsports
19) #7 Danica Patrick/United States/ Andretti Autosport
20) #14 Vitor Meira/Brazil/ AJ Foyt Enterprises
21) #77 Alex Tagliani/Canada/ FAZZT Race Team
22) #34 Mario Romancini/Brazil/ Conquest Racing
23) #4 Dan Wheldon/England/ Panther Racing
24) #18 Milka Duno/Venezuela/ Dale Coyne Racing
25) #36 Bertrand Baguette/Belgium/ Conquest Racing

IZOD IndyCar Qualifying is Delayed Until Sunday Morning

Photo Credit: Chris Jones/ IndyCar

Fans awaiting the start of the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series season with the first competitive timed laps of qualifying will be waiting through one more day. With many drivers still fighting to get a grip (literally) on the Sao Paulo street circuit, IndyCar officials have decided to move qualifying for the inaugural Indy 300 to Sunday morning. Qualifying was scheduled for today (Saturday) but the sanctioning body has swapped the time trials with a race day practice session.

While competitors eagerly await to opportunity to compete on the Brazilian 2.6 street course, concerns arisen to concrete patches that were just recently ground by abrasion machines. Providing additional time for the open wheel drivers to acquaint themselves to the new IZOD IndyCar event prior to race related qualifying, three full practice sessions will aid the race track surface as Dallara-Honda race cars can lay down a larger quantity of tire rubber.

The 2010 IZOD IndyCar season opening Sao Paulo Indy 300 is set for 11:30 AM Eastern time on TSN2 in Canada and on the Versus channel in the United States.