Dario Franchitti, winner of last Sunday’s IndyCar race in Iowa, grabbed the pole Friday for the SunTrust Indy Challenge at Richmond International Raceway.
Franchitti produced a four-lap average of 167.315 miles per hour around the .75-mile oval. He was three-tenths of a second quicker than teammate Scott Dixon, who will start on the outside of the front row in Saturday’s race. United Press International
The pole shaved another point off Briscoe’s slim lead in the standings, and the Australian can feel—not to mention see—Franchitti charging.
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“Absolutely,” said Briscoe, who finished one spot behind Franchitti at Iowa. “I think we all are going to have to get used to it.”
Franchitti won the series title the last time he competed for it (2007), won the Iowa race for the second time he tried and dominated Richmond’s SunTrust Indy Challenge the last time he was here.
He not only looks comfortable with each race in Ganassi Racing’s No. 10 car, he is comfortable, which showed Friday in his four-lap average of 167.315 mph.
“It’s one of those things that when you’re at a new team each week you get to know the people better, they get to know you, the engineers, everything, and hopefully it keeps going in that positive direction that we’re seeing,” he said. Indianapolis Star
“The car was understeering off of (turn) two and it was probably oversteering out of four, so it took some hanging onto,” Franchitti said after averaging 167.315 mph in his trip around the smallest oval in the IndyCar Series to win the pole for Saturday night’s race.
Helio Castroneves. Castroneves qualified third with teammate Briscoe to his outside.
Dixon and Castroneves each also have two victories this season, although Castroneves said he scared himself by getting too close to the car’s limitations during his qualifying run.
“I stopped breathing for about 50 seconds,” he said, laughing. “The last two laps I didn’t breathe at all. It was one of those things — you find the limit on the car, and once you’re there, you can’t back off, man. You’ve just got to go and ride the car.”
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Danica Patrick would have loved that problem. She is fifth in points and driving for the Andretti-Green Racing team that was Franchitti’s home two years ago, but will start 10th.
“I don’t think any of us are very happy,” Patrick said of herself and her three AGR teammates. Hideki Mutoh will start eighth, Marco Andretti 16th and Tony Kanaan 17th. The Associated Press
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