Last Saturday, Roger Yasukawa watched Buddy Rice and Sarah Fisher drive Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Honda-powered cars into the 91st running of the Indianapolis 500. The Los Angeles driver hoped to make an attempt the following weekend for his fifth Indy 500 start.
Today, Yasukawa drove the third DRR machine — the No. 24 Wellman-Corbier Custom Homes Honda Dallara — to the fastest qualifying speed of the day with an average speed of 222.654 miles per hour and Roger starts in the 23rd position (middle of the eighth row) next Sunday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Yasukawa recorded four laps of 222.688 m. p.h., 222.706, 222.618 and 222.605 for an average of 222.654. Roger’s consistent runs were just. 018 of a second apart and just missed the Indy 500 consistency mark of. 006 of a second set by Bobby Rahal in 1992.
The three-driver lineup for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing in the May 27 Indy 500 will be Rice in 16th (inside of row six), Fisher in 21st (outside of row seven) and Yasukawa in 23rd (middle of row eight).
Ten cars qualified Saturday at Indy led by Yasukawa’s 222.654 followed by John Andretti, Al Unser Jr., Alex Barron, Jon Herb, Jacques Lazier, Milka Duno, Marty Roth, Roberto Moreno and Jimmy Kite. The final starting spot and bumping for the Indy 500 will be Sunday beginning at noon.
Many of the qualified drivers also took to the track Saturday including Rice and Fisher. Buddy drove the No. 15 A1 TEAM USA/DRR Honda to 89 laps with a best speed of 221.460, while Sarah took the No. 5 AAMCO Transmissions/DRR Honda to 61 laps with a top speed of 219.841. Yasukawa’s best practice speed was 222.706 on Saturday morning prior to qualifying.
TEAM QUOTES: ROGER YASUKAWA (#24 Wellman-Corbier Custom Homes/DRR Honda Dallara): “We were definitely surprised a bit with the speed. The Wellman-Corbier car is just running great. We went out there this morning and the wind direction changed a bit so we had to fine-tune the car for that, but I was expecting a little bit slower speed, I guess maybe 222.1 or 222.2. I was kind of surprised to see the fastest lap of the month. The car is great. Now we can just focus on the race set-up. So far everything is going well. The crew is doing an excellent job and I think we have a good race car. We want to go out there and fine tune it a little more, but I’m really looking forward to the race. I was more nervous when Sarah and Buddy qualified than I was when I qualified! This year I am working with the engineers I worked with in 2003, and I drove for Dreyer & Reinbold in 2005. There’s no new chemistry there. So for me it’s just back in the office: another day at work. “
SARAH FISHER (#5 AAMCO Transmissions/DRR Honda Dallara): “Today we accomplished some things but we were chasing the car all day with the change in wind direction which got us off track a bit. My engineer, Chris, thinks we learned a lot and we’ve got a couple more laps to run tomorrow and we should be good. ”
BUDDY RICE (#15 A1 TEAM USA/DRR Honda Dallara): “We did good today. I think we ran the third most laps today. Today is the day that is going to be the closest to race day and I think our car is actually pretty solid. I was really happy to have run as many laps as we did today. We’ll have to see what happens on Carb day and the race. ”
DENNIS REINBOLD (Co-owner, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing): “Roger has done a great job for us thus far having only gotten in for a quick shakedown Wednesday night and did some on-track on Thursday and Friday. He jumped in the car this morning and shook it down and got qualified. We did some race day running today and he already likes his race car. We expect good things in the race. It’s really exciting to be the fastest of the second weekend. ”
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