PEAK PERFORMANCE POLE POST-QUALIFYING NOTES:
This is Dario Franchitti’s fourth pole of the season and the 10th of his IndyCar Series career.
Franchitti was the only driver to qualify for each Firestone Fast Six session this season. Ryan Briscoe qualified second, it is his eighth front row start this season.
Marco Andretti qualified fourth, it was his best road/street course qualifying performance and his first Firestone Fast Six appearance this season.
Hideki Mutoh qualified fifth in his first Firestone Fast Six appearance.
Graham Rahal qualified sixth. He qualified for all but one Fast Six session.
Franck Montagny qualified eighth for his IndyCar Series debut.
PEAK PERFORMANCE POLE POST-QUALIFYING QUOTES:
DARIO FRANCHITTI (No. 10 Target Chip Ganassi Racing, PEAK Performance Pole Award winner): “It’s pretty cool (to make every Firestone Fast Six this season). It’s so hard in the IndyCar Series with the competition level; there are so many good road racers. To make it into the Fast Six each time is an achievement every time. So to be in them all, I’ve got to thank my guys for giving me good cars. Sometimes you have to hang on to it as well and sometimes you have to wheel around. Today I had a pretty good car. In a couple corners I had to commit to them and hang on, but in general the car was really good. I’m very happy to get the Target car on the pole for the race.
RYAN BRISCOE (No. 6 Team Penske, qualified second): “I had a pretty bad practice this morning; I spent more time in the dirt than on the tarmac. (But) I had a feeling we were in decent shape going into qualifying. The car felt good from the get-go and got better and I was right back into the groove. I felt confident going through the session with our strategy on tires. I could have gone quicker in (the Firestone Fast Six), but I just didn’t get a clean lap together and I had a locking issue with the brakes. I was frustrated I couldn’t get the pole, but Dario (Franchitti) was really quick and he certainly did a good job on used reds.”
HELIO CASTRONEVES (No. 3 Team Penske, qualified third): “Qualifying was pretty exciting today, and I think the race shouldn’t be much different. I’m a bit disappointed as I thought the Team Penske car was better than third place, and I’m sure Ryan (Briscoe - qualified 2nd) feels the same way. During the first session, we had a problem with our fuel pressure which the team was able to fix for Q2. Then in Q2, we had an issue with the throttle, which they were able to fix for Q3, so I guess taking all of this into consideration we did ok. The important thing is that the car is great and I’m feeling confident going into tomorrow’s race.” (About Will Power): “I also want to say that we were all very concerned about Will (Power) and hope that he has a quick recovery. You never want to see any of your colleagues get hurt, especially a teammate. Will has done a lot to help us out this year, and it’s just a shame that this had to happen to him today. We all know the risks involved in racing, but that doesn’t make it any easier when someone you are close to gets hurt.”
MARCO ANDRETTI (No. 26 Team Venom Energy, qualified fourth): “It wasn’t that bad of a qualifying effort for the Venom boys. We’re getting there. We’re just learning how to use the red tires to our advantage.”
HIDEKI MUTOH (No. 27 Formula Dream, qualified fifth): “Right from the get-go, the Formula Dream car was very good. It’s the first time I’m in the Fast Six, so I’m happy. I made a huge mistake in Turn 5. Hopefully, we can have a good race and score a podium finish tomorrow.”
GRAHAM RAHAL (No. 02 McDonald’s Racing Team, qualified sixth): “The McDonald’s car felt pretty good all day, especially for not having tested here. I thought we did a good job. When we showed up we were pretty close. There is still work to be done because we certainly struggled quite a lot in that last session of qualifying. It wasn’t a very comfortable feeling; we’d like to be closer than that. Overall, the guys worked hard today. We made a lot of big changes over lunch, and they worked out, so they’re going to sleep well tonight. We made the Firestone Fast Six again, which means we made it every race this year but one and that is a good feeling. Now we just need to have a straightforward race tomorrow, save some fuel, get by some of these guys and be in it for the win.”
SCOTT DIXON (No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing, qualified 10th): “(Qualifying) was pretty dismal, actually. I’m really frustrated. We’ve been chasing a brake problem from this morning. Every time you really start to push the car and you go to brake later, we would lock the rears (brakes). We could see that there was something going on, we’re just not sure what it is. The saving grace was Dario (Franchitti) winning the pole which is fantastic. It helps us keep some points off those Penske’s. We’ll have to go off strategy tomorrow and try something a bit different.” (About tomorrow’s race): “This is the last of our road courses and then we have a whole run of mile-and-a-half ovals. All three of them are quite a bit different from each other. We faired pretty well last season at all of those races, obviously; winning one of them and finishing second in the other two. Hopefully we can drag something out of tomorrow’s race and then have a good run on the last ovals.”
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