INDYCAR: Briscoe On Pole At Milwaukee; Kanaan 3rd

IndyCar

INDYCAR: Briscoe On Pole At Milwaukee; Kanaan 3rd

2008 Milwaukee race winner Ryan Briscoe topped the qualifying sheets today, followed by Graham Rahal and a gutsy Tony Kanaan, driving with injured ribs, in third.

Marshall Pruett | Posted May 30, 2009 West Allis, WI

Pre-season predictions had Team Penske's Ryan Briscoe as a title favorite, and so far, he's on the right path, taking pole position today at 168.394mph. (Getty)

Ryan Briscoe's speed and maturity was on display once again as the Australian claimed pole for Sunday's 225 lap race on Milwaukee's 1.0 mile oval.

Briscoe posted a record-setting average speed of 168.394 under blue skies and temperatures in the mid-70s, and watched as half the field took their shot at wresting the pole away from him.

"I knew when I was in front of (Graham) Rahal, it was going to be good. He seems to get around this place pretty good and was on the front row last year. The car was good. I was a bit worried about my teammate and the Target boys, but thankfully the time held up. We won from 11th last year, so hopefully starting on the front row can get me away from the chaos that always happens the first couple of laps. I had a good race car last year, so hopefully we can replicate that tomorrow."

His Team Penske teammate had a complete reversal of fortunes, crashing in today's qualifying session. 2009 Indy 500 pole sitter and race winner Helio Castroneves completed his warm up lap, but on the first timed lap, Castroneves got high on the exit of turn 2 and struck the wall, damaging the right rear of the car. the three-time Indy winner was uninjured and will start last.

"I was just going for it. Sometimes you've just got to try, and the car snapped a little bit. I thought I saved it, but then it just slid and brushed the wall, but unfortunately that was the end of qualifying. So it's a shame. The car doesn't seem to be that bad, but when you're going for it, sometimes things like that happen. This place is always very tough. It's good for Ryan (Briscoe). At least it proves we have a good car. So we're going to try to hopefully have good pit stops and score good points, because now we have a great chance in the championship and we can't just give it away, so hopefully we're going to have a good day tomorrow."

With two pole positions so far in 2009, Newman/Haas/Lanigan driver Graham Rahal added another front row start to his tally, putting the McDonald's car alongside Briscoe. His teammate Robert Doornbos would follow behind in 12th.

"The McDonald's car felt pretty good, but I had a big snap and a big moment on the last lap, and our fourth lap time was three-tenths slower than the previous one. If that hadn't happened, I think we would have had pole. We sat on pole so many times this year that we are a little bit spoiled. At the end of the day, the McDonald's boys are doing a great job. Pretty much we showed up today exactly how we ended last year, because we are pretty competitive. We worked on race trim in the morning, and the car was pretty quick. We're going to put on the setup we had for the race last year. The car was good, but I made a mistake. If there was a race from last year that still bothers me, it was this one. The McDonald's boys practiced stops this morning. If I hit my marks, all our stops go well and get to the end, we should be able to have a good finish and be a contender. We have a shot at it tomorrow."

The most impressive performance of the day came from a bruised and battered Tony Kanaan. TK, after his well publicized 175G crash at Indy last Sunday, used significant padding to protect his injured ribs on the way to the 3rd fastest qualifying speed. "I have to thank the whole AGR team, the safety crews, and my personal trainer Ryan (Harber) for not only getting me back together but also rebuilding the car in time. While I'm not 100 percent back together, I'm here and very thankful for that. Qualifying went well today for Team 7-Eleven, and I think we will be competitive tomorrow. Hopefully we can get this car into victory circle at the end of the race."

Target Chip Ganassi's Scott Dixon placed his #89 car in 4th while his teammate Dario Franchitti battled low tire pressures to take the 8th spot. "We went out on stickers and tried to do our qualifying sim straight out of the box, and the car was not really very good," Dixon said. "Considering that we made the changes and got out here and ended up fourth, really only a tenth or so off of pole; you know it's pretty close. We concentrated a lot on race setup, and the race car was good, so I'm pretty confident that we can hopefully improve three spots."

Mario Moraes hopes to make better use of his 5th place in qualifying this weekend than he did of his 7th place start at Indy, and was followed by a motivated Hideki Mutoh in 6th. Mutoh, unaccustomed to being the 2nd fastest AGR entry, was almost a mile per hour faster than teammate Danica Patrick.

"I am very happy with our qualifying position," Moraes said. "The KV Racing Technology team has been working really hard since last weekend's Indy 500, and I spent a lot of time at the shop talking to the engineers. This is just my second time at Milwaukee, so I haven't got that much experience on short ovals, but after our performance today I am confident that we have a good car for the race tomorrow."

Mutoh was also expecting good things to come from his strong starting spot. "We had a good run today. We were quick in the morning session but then struggled with a fuel leak at the end of practice. The No. 27 guys worked really hard to get the issue fixed in time for qualifying. I'm excited for the race tomorrow and hope to have a good solid finish."

AGR's 4th entry for Marco Andretti would see the youngster's frustrating year continue, claiming the 13th fastest speed, more than 6 mph off Kanaan's fast time.

Behind Kanaan's bubbly exterior lies a hardened fighter. With a bruised body and cracked ribs to mind, the Brazilian stormed to the 3rd in qualifying for Sunday's 225 lap event. (Getty)

Rafa Matos was impressive once more, taking 9th, and Dreyer & Reinbold logged one of their stronger qualifying sessions with Tomas Scheckter in 10th and Mike Conway in 11th. "Our goal was top 10, and we qualified ninth, so we're happy," Matos said. "We've been fighting understeer all day long, and we kept improving a little bit here and there throughout the day. We have never tested here and have very little track time, but the engineers did a great job figuring out a few things to improve the Marines Luczo Dragon car. I think we have a little bit more to find and we'll keep chipping away, but I believe we will have a good car tomorrow."

Scheckter was impressed with the speed his team found in so little time. "It was good considering that we missed out on a session and that we only really had 45 minutes of running. The guys did a great job, and to be in the top 10 with that amount of time, I'm really happy with it. We think we have improved the car, as well, so I'm looking forward to the race."

Not everyone found the speed that was expected of them at Milwaukee. Dan Wheldon, coming off a 2nd place finish at Indy, only managed 14th fastest in his National Guard Dallara, while Justin Wilson's Z-Line Designs DCR entry managed 15th. Paul Tracy hoped for more from his AJ Foyt ABC Supply car, but had to settle for 16th, followed by HVM's EJ Viso in 17th.

Vision Racing had the toughest qualifying experience of the 20 cars that made an attempt, with Ryan Hunter-Reay in 18th and Ed Carpenter in 19th.

Team 3G's Stanton Barrett withdrew from the event after a crash in practice.

Pos Driver Average Speed
1 Ryan Briscoe 168.394
2 Graham Rahal 168.117
3 Tony Kanaan 167.793
4 Scott Dixon 167.089
5 Mario Moraes 166.791
6 Hideki Mutoh 166.139
7 Danica Patrick 165.168
8 Dario Franchitti 164.706
9 Raphael Matos 164.671
10 Tomas Scheckter 163.31
11 Mike Conway 162.187
12 Robert Doornbos 161.657
13 Marco Andretti 161.531
14 Dan Wheldon 161.433
15 Justin Wilson 161.411
16 Paul Tracy 160.798
17 EJ Viso 160.744
18 Ryan Hunter-Reay 160.381
19 Ed Carpenter 160.079
20 Helio Castroneves 0