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IndyCar
INDYCAR: Briscoe, Chevrolet On Long Beach Pole
Team Penske's Ryan Briscoe beat teammate Will Power on the final lap to claim pole at Long Beach, but the Aussie will now surrender P1 to Dario Franchitti.
Ryan Briscoe took his turn leading the Team Penske trio in qualifying, earning his first pole since 2010. (Photo: Marshall Pruett)
It took a last-lap push to do it, but at the end of the 1.9-mile tour, Team Penske’s Ryan Briscoe knocked teammate Will Power off the top of the time sheets to claim his first pole of 2012. It marked the Aussie’s first pole since Chicagoland in 2010, and he also eclipsed Power's 2011 pole time by .456 seconds.
“It’s huge,” he said with a big smile. “To get the pole around this track is pretty satisfying. The boys here at Team Penske gave me a great car today. Now we have to come through the field and see if we can get a podium or a win. I just want to go out and drive the wheels off this thing.”
Power lost out on his fourth consecutive pole at Long Beach by .09 seconds after making a mistake at Turn 8, posting a 1:08.70 to Briscoe’s 1:08.60.
"It was a battle in the Fast Six for sure, that was everything I had and we threw down a mega lap," he said. "Qualifying was important because we didn't want to end up 15th or 16th, but yeah so I'm sure we're going to make the best out of the situation and see where we can end up. Days like tomorrow will end up being really important for the championship, just trying to get as many points as possible and work hard at strategy."
Andretti Autosport’s Ryan Hunter-Reay took third with a lap of 1:08.71 followed by 2011 series champion Dario Franchitti who had his first positive qualifying session of the year.
"It was OK, I expected a little bit more grip out there today but with only one session and two laps at a time here and it was tough to know what we really wanted out of the car, but it was the same for everybody, so..." said RHR. "Tired of being that couple hundredths off of the Penske guys here, three years in a row now. So yeah it was a good day, but we wanted a lot more today and I'm pretty bummed about that."
After a rough start to the championship, Franchitti was pleased to have what he considered to be a normal starting position.
“To make the Firestone Fast 6 was good,” said the Scot. “I’d like to have had a goal at the pole, but [the Chevy penalty] was in the back of my mind. It’s going to be a battle all year with the manufacturers. Happy for today and looking forward to tomorrow.”
KV Racing’s EJ Viso impressed yet again, leading his three-car team to qualify fifth with a 1:09.06-second run around the 11-turn track.
"Coming from a pretty good performance wise start of the season, we definitely have this ball rolling," said the pint-sized Venezuelan. "Pretty much everything that we planned happened. Unfortunately maybe it was my side, maybe I had a little of time that could have put me closer to the front, if not on pole. The last corner, just left it out there. Here we are; it is a very long race. Unfortunately, we are not going to be starting in the position that I qualified. We needed to change the engines. Me and all the Chevy guys, but this is how it is. This is a team work. We win as a team and we lose as a team. Looking forward to this race very much."
Andretti’s James Hinchcliffe completed the top 6 with a lap of 1:09.21 seconds, but could suffer during the first stint tomorrow with tires that took a beating during his qualifying runs.
"I sort of went for it on my last lap, and had a pretty phenomenal smoke show in turn one when both fronts (tires) locked up," he said. "Still managed to finish the lap and sneak into the Fast 6, but unfortunately because of the tires we need for the race, had to run those again in the Fast 6 and they had flat spots. I was a little bit handicapped going in. We did what we could. Still a good bounce-back. Happy to be in the Fast 6 again."
With the 10-spot penalties facing every Chevrolet-powered entry, Briscoe earns a point for pole, but come Sunday, the grid will look vastly different, with Franchitti promoted to P1.
Josef Newgarden had his first visit to the Firestone Fast 6 sewn up until the final lap of the Fast 12 when Hinchcliffe eclipsed the Honda-powered rookie by .03 seconds.
Once known as little more than oval specialists, the combination of Newgarden and the hungry but underfunded Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing team have been incredibly effective on road and street courses so far this season.
With all of the Chevy’s set to move back 10 spots apiece, Newgarden will start on the front row alongside Franchitti on Sunday.
“It’s a weakness now and an advantage for us,” said Newgarden of the Chevy penalties. “We wanted to qualify out front outright. I’m definitely bummed we didn’t make the top 6. I can’t say enough about [the SFHR team], so I want to make sure they get the credit they’re due. I think the coolest thing for us is each time we qualify, we qualify better.”
Current points leader Helio Castroneves qualified eighth, the only Team Penske car to miss the Fast 6, followed by Dale Coyne Racing’s Justin Wilson, who struggled in the morning with his Honda-powered car but found plenty of speed for qualifying to earn ninth.
“There’s day where you can’t buy a break and days when it’s given to you,” said Wilson. “The potential was in there (to make the Fast 6) but I screwed up a couple of corners.”
KV Racing’s Tony Kanaan qualified 10th, .34 seconds off Power’s best in the Fast 12.
Simon Pagenaud was surprising in how he struggled to do better than 11th in his Schmidt Hamilton Motorsports Honda entry, but the biggest surprise came from Franchitti’s teammate Scott Dixon, who has served as Honda’s standard bearer in the early rounds.
Dixon went out for the Fast 12 with fire emanating from the gearbox area, and pitted to have the fire quickly extinguished. The Kiwi returned to the track to try and set a time, but was black flagged after the fire cropped up again on his out lap, leaving him 12th on the time sheets. The team reported it will replaced Dixon's transmission overnight.
“It’s huge,” he said with a big smile. “To get the pole around this track is pretty satisfying. The boys here at Team Penske gave me a great car today. Now we have to come through the field and see if we can get a podium or a win. I just want to go out and drive the wheels off this thing.”
Power lost out on his fourth consecutive pole at Long Beach by .09 seconds after making a mistake at Turn 8, posting a 1:08.70 to Briscoe’s 1:08.60.
"It was a battle in the Fast Six for sure, that was everything I had and we threw down a mega lap," he said. "Qualifying was important because we didn't want to end up 15th or 16th, but yeah so I'm sure we're going to make the best out of the situation and see where we can end up. Days like tomorrow will end up being really important for the championship, just trying to get as many points as possible and work hard at strategy."
Andretti Autosport’s Ryan Hunter-Reay took third with a lap of 1:08.71 followed by 2011 series champion Dario Franchitti who had his first positive qualifying session of the year.
"It was OK, I expected a little bit more grip out there today but with only one session and two laps at a time here and it was tough to know what we really wanted out of the car, but it was the same for everybody, so..." said RHR. "Tired of being that couple hundredths off of the Penske guys here, three years in a row now. So yeah it was a good day, but we wanted a lot more today and I'm pretty bummed about that."
After a rough start to the championship, Franchitti was pleased to have what he considered to be a normal starting position.
“To make the Firestone Fast 6 was good,” said the Scot. “I’d like to have had a goal at the pole, but [the Chevy penalty] was in the back of my mind. It’s going to be a battle all year with the manufacturers. Happy for today and looking forward to tomorrow.”
KV Racing’s EJ Viso impressed yet again, leading his three-car team to qualify fifth with a 1:09.06-second run around the 11-turn track.
"Coming from a pretty good performance wise start of the season, we definitely have this ball rolling," said the pint-sized Venezuelan. "Pretty much everything that we planned happened. Unfortunately maybe it was my side, maybe I had a little of time that could have put me closer to the front, if not on pole. The last corner, just left it out there. Here we are; it is a very long race. Unfortunately, we are not going to be starting in the position that I qualified. We needed to change the engines. Me and all the Chevy guys, but this is how it is. This is a team work. We win as a team and we lose as a team. Looking forward to this race very much."
Andretti’s James Hinchcliffe completed the top 6 with a lap of 1:09.21 seconds, but could suffer during the first stint tomorrow with tires that took a beating during his qualifying runs.
"I sort of went for it on my last lap, and had a pretty phenomenal smoke show in turn one when both fronts (tires) locked up," he said. "Still managed to finish the lap and sneak into the Fast 6, but unfortunately because of the tires we need for the race, had to run those again in the Fast 6 and they had flat spots. I was a little bit handicapped going in. We did what we could. Still a good bounce-back. Happy to be in the Fast 6 again."
With the 10-spot penalties facing every Chevrolet-powered entry, Briscoe earns a point for pole, but come Sunday, the grid will look vastly different, with Franchitti promoted to P1.
Josef Newgarden had his first visit to the Firestone Fast 6 sewn up until the final lap of the Fast 12 when Hinchcliffe eclipsed the Honda-powered rookie by .03 seconds.
Once known as little more than oval specialists, the combination of Newgarden and the hungry but underfunded Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing team have been incredibly effective on road and street courses so far this season.
With all of the Chevy’s set to move back 10 spots apiece, Newgarden will start on the front row alongside Franchitti on Sunday.
“It’s a weakness now and an advantage for us,” said Newgarden of the Chevy penalties. “We wanted to qualify out front outright. I’m definitely bummed we didn’t make the top 6. I can’t say enough about [the SFHR team], so I want to make sure they get the credit they’re due. I think the coolest thing for us is each time we qualify, we qualify better.”
Current points leader Helio Castroneves qualified eighth, the only Team Penske car to miss the Fast 6, followed by Dale Coyne Racing’s Justin Wilson, who struggled in the morning with his Honda-powered car but found plenty of speed for qualifying to earn ninth.
“There’s day where you can’t buy a break and days when it’s given to you,” said Wilson. “The potential was in there (to make the Fast 6) but I screwed up a couple of corners.”
KV Racing’s Tony Kanaan qualified 10th, .34 seconds off Power’s best in the Fast 12.
Simon Pagenaud was surprising in how he struggled to do better than 11th in his Schmidt Hamilton Motorsports Honda entry, but the biggest surprise came from Franchitti’s teammate Scott Dixon, who has served as Honda’s standard bearer in the early rounds.
Dixon went out for the Fast 12 with fire emanating from the gearbox area, and pitted to have the fire quickly extinguished. The Kiwi returned to the track to try and set a time, but was black flagged after the fire cropped up again on his out lap, leaving him 12th on the time sheets. The team reported it will replaced Dixon's transmission overnight.
INDYCAR BRAZIL
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