Ryan Briscoe gave Team Penske its fourth consecutive pole in the IZOD IndyCar Series by edging Scott Dixon from Target Chip Ganassi Racing in Friday’s qualifying at Kansas Speedway—the first oval event of the 2010 season.
Briscoe, who qualified second-to-last in the 27-car field, posted a four-lap average of 212.145 m.p.h. on the 1.5-mile oval for his eighth career IndyCar pole. MiamiHerald.com
“I was listening to Dixon’s stats before he was going out and they said he was going for (pole) No. 17 and I thought, ‘That’s too many. I need to take that from him,’ ” said Briscoe, who earned his ninth IZOD IndyCar Series pole (the fourth in the past 14 events). “I’m glad I did. It’s great to win the pole. Team Penske has picked up from where it left off at Homestead last year.”
“We made some changes to the car after practice and the car was really strong,” Briscoe said. “It was a picture-perfect qualifying run. The gearing is critical, especially when it’s windy like this. When you get it right – like we did today – it makes a big difference. But there are a lot of good cars out there, including my teammates, so I expect a really competitive race.” IndyCar.com
Dixon, who won last year’s race at Kansas Speedway for Target Chip Ganassi Racing, will sit in the second position after qualifying at 211.298 mph.
“We anticipated that Scott would be the one to beat for the pole looking at his practice this morning,” Briscoe said.
Indeed, Dixon posted the fastest time of 212.694 in Friday’s practice, which was pushed back from a scheduled 10 a.m. start to 2:30 because of rain. Briscoe was right behind at 212.104.
When qualifying began at 5:15, Dixon, who was the 21st driver to take the track, was ready to qualify for the first oval race of the season after four street/road course events.
“The weather changed things today,” said Dixon, who won poles at Kansas Speedway in 2003 and 2008. “The car felt really good. We made some minor changes, and we seemed to gain a little bit from the first part of the practice session to the end part. Kansas City Star
Dan Wheldon, who won here in 2007 and ‘08, and defending series champion Dario Franchitti will share the second row, while surprise qualifiers Hideki Mutoh and Alex Tagliani will roll off from the third row.
Vitor Meira qualified seventh, while Will Power, the current points leader, saw his bid for a record-tying fourth straight pole come up short with an eighth-place starting spot.
Castroneves took the ninth spot, and Danica Patrick qualified in the top-10 for the first time this season with the 10th position. MiamiHerald.com
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