Team Penske pilot scores pole for today’s 300-miler
It’s been a relatively quiet start to the year for Team Penske’s Ryan Briscoe. He’s grabbed a top-five finish and three top-10s in the first four events, so things haven’t been bad. But he’s also the only Penske driver without a win so far, as both of his teammates Will Power and Helio Castroneves have triumphed in the early stages of the championship.
The Aussie will look to rectify that problem today by attempting to win today’s Road Runner Turbo Indy 300 at Kansas Speedway from the pole. His four-lap qualifying average speed of 212.145 m.p.h. was nearly a full mile per hour quicker than defending Kansas champ Scott Dixon, who had to settle for the outside of the front row after posting an average of 211.298 m.p.h.
Today’s event is the first oval race of 2010 as well as the lead-in for the month of May and the Indianapolis 500. Even after Briscoe claimed his ninth IZOD IndyCar Series pole, he showed that the Brickyard isn’t far from his mind.
“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. “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. That’s a good sign.
“Hopefully it’s a sign of speed to come at Indy, as well.”
Meanwhile, Dixon said that his No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing machine was lacking some oomph.
“The car didn’t seem to have the speed it should have,” he said. “Not sure where we lost the speed, but Briscoe seemed to stay consistent and fast. Hopefully we can find some of that [Friday night]. The car was good in traffic and it drove well. Since we only had one practice session, it was harder to find and make any changes before the qualifying session.”
Dario Franchitti, defending series champion and Dixon’s teammate, will start third on the inside of Row 2, where he’s joined by Hideki Mutoh of Newman/Haas Racing (yes, the “Lanigan” part is gone). The third row features a pair of relative surprises in FAZZT Race Team’s Alex Tagliani and A.J. Foyt Racing’s Vitor Meira. Series points leader Power and Castroneves hold the fourth row, and Danica Patrick (Andretti Autosport) and Mike Conway (Dreyer and Reinbold Racing) rounded out the top ten starting spots.
Dan Wheldon and Marco Andretti’s qualifying times were disqualified after they drove below the white line during their runs. Wheldon will start 25th and Andretti will start 26th.
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IZOD IndyCar Series
Road Runner Turbo Indy 300
Kansas Speedway – Kansas City, Kan.
Starting grid
1. 6-Ryan Briscoe, Penske, 212.145
2. 9-Scott Dixon, Ganassi, 211.298
3. 10-Dario Franchitti, Ganassi, 211.236
4. 06-Hideki Mutoh, N/H, 211.039
5. 77-Alex Tagliani, FAZZT, 210.887
6. 14-Vitor Meira, Foyt, 210.675
7. 12-Will Power, Penske, 210.672
8. 3-Helio Castroneves, Penske, 210.467
9. 7-Danica Patrick, Andretti, 210.429
10. 24-Mike Conway, D&R, 210.336
11. 5-Takuma Sato, KV Racing Tech., 210.335
12. 32-Mario Moraes, KV Racing Tech., 210.186
13. 2-Raphael Matos, Luczo Dragon + De Ferran, 209.912
14. 67-Sarah Fisher, Fisher, 209.868
15. 11-Tony Kanaan, Andretti, 209.744
16. 8-E.J. Viso, KV Racing Tech., 209.700
17. 43-John Andretti, Andretti, 209.684
18. 78-Simona de Silvestro, HVM, 209.397
19. 36-Bertrand Baguette, Conquest, 209.344
20. 22-Justin Wilson, D&R, 209.168
21. 66-Jay Howard, Fisher, 208.752
22. 37-Ryan Hunter-Reay, Andretti, 208.488
23. 19-Alex Lloyd, Coyne, 208.325
24. 18-Milka Duno, Coyne, 207.814
25. 4-Dan Wheldon, Panther, speed DQ’d
26. 26-Marco Andretti, Andretti, speed DQ’d
27. 34-Mario Romancini, Dallara-Honda, no speed
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Materials from league press releases were used in the making of this article.
