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INDYCAR: Dixon Takes Homestead Pole
Written by:
Jeff Olson
Senior writer, RACER Magazine http://www.racer.com/speedtv
Senior writer, RACER Magazine http://www.racer.com/speedtv
03/28/2008 - 08:13 PM
Homestead, Fla.
Scott Dixon kept Ganassi Racing atop the leaderboard in afternoon practice. (LAT photo) » More Photos
Scott Dixon had to wait until the last of nearly 100 laps of qualifying Friday night to secure the pole position for the IndyCar Series season opener at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Dixon, who lost the 2007 season championship to Dario Franchitti on the final lap of the final race last year, watched Ed Carpenter narrowly miss Dixon’s average when Carpenter’s No. 20 Vision Racing Dallara-Honda went just a tick slower than it had the first three qualifying laps. That gave Dixon the pole with a four-lap average of 213.341 mph in the No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara-Honda.
The duel between Dixon and Carpenter overshadowed the crash of Dixon’s teammate, Dan Wheldon, who will try to win a record fourth consecutive Homestead race from the back of the 25-car field.
“What a crazy qualifying session,” Dixon said. “Two big crashes and a new format. It was pretty interesting.”
The last-second drama and Wheldon’s crash upheld both sides of the controversy surrounding the new oval qualifying format, which increased each driver’s qualifying laps from two to four. Critics say the format took too long and gave an inordinate advantage to the drivers and cars that went later in the qualifying.
“There were a bunch of guys we didn’t think we would have to worry about who ended up having some big laps,” Dixon said. “Kudos to the Vision team for second and third. That’s a big deal. We will see about tomorrow. There could be plenty of interesting things tomorrow.”
Dixon’s pole position also was the first in the newly unified series, which featured eight drivers from Champ Car. The two series combined last month in a historic agreement between IndyCar owner Tony George and Champ Car co-owners Kevin Kalkhoven and Gerald Forsythe that ended a 12-year split in American open-wheel racing. Dixon was the youngest winner in CART, Champ Car's predecessor, when he prevailed at Nazareth at the age of 20 in 2001.
“To win the first qualifying session after unification, that doesn’t mean much, ” Dixon said. “If we win the first race, that means something totally different.”
Wheldon was not injured when his No. 10 Ganassi Dallara-Honda crashed in Turn 4 during his qualifying attempt, but Wheldon, who was fastest during the first practice session Friday, will start 25th when Saturday’s race begins shortly after 8 p.m. EDT.
“I got loose in Turns 3 and 4 and just couldn’t catch it,” Wheldon said. “It’s a shame because I was up on my lap.”
Carpenter led a revitalized Vision charge and just missed taking pole. (Ron McQueeney/IndyCar photo) » More Photos
Carpenter and teammate A.J. Foyt IV provided the bulk of the drama when they began to threaten the top qualifiers late in the session. Foyt, the 22nd driver on the track, put himself second behind Dixon with a four-lap average of 212.211 mph in the No. 2 Vision Dallara-Honda. Carpenter then topped Dixon for three of the four laps before his final lap slipped by a full tenth from his first lap.
“I wasn’t quite sure I could go that fast,” Carpenter said. “Then, as the run was going on, I was thinking, ‘I can’t remember what Scott ran, but I know I’m probably in front of him.’ Then the last lap I thought I might have done it.”
Jay Howard also crashed during the elongated qualifying procedure, seriously damaging the No. 24 Roth Racing Dallara-Honda and injuring
Dallara chassis are at a premium in the early days of unification. On Thursday, Newman/Haas/Lanigan announced that it would withhold Graham Rahal from Saturday’s race because it was having trouble securing parts in time to repair Rahal’s car, which crashed during testing earlier in the week. Instead, the team chose to focus on next week’s street race at St. Petersburg.
“It’s a very daunting task (for the new teams),” said Brian Barnhart, the Indy Racing League’s president of competition and operations. “There was a misnomer about over-downforced, underpowered, easy-to-drive, flat-out on an oval. The two days of testing earlier this week, none of them would stand by that or say it’s the case. It’s a challenge out there. With 25 cars on the track, it will be an experience of learning the tendencies of other drivers.”
A daunting task for the likes of Mario Moraes. (LAT photo) » More Photos
Others who showed speed in the new qualifying format included Danica Patrick, who had P1 briefly and will start fourth, and Team Penske newcomer Ryan Briscoe, who will start fifth in the No. 6 Dallara-Honda driven the previous four years by Sam Hornish Jr.
Marco Andretti, Helio Castroneves, Tony Kanaan, Hideki Mutoh and Marty Roth rounded out the top 10.
The new era has its share of worry: Only two of the eight former Champ Car drivers -- Oriol Servia and Bruno Junqueira -- have extensive oval experience, and none has experience in the IndyCar Series’ heavy-downforce, inches-apart formula. The slowest IndyCar regular, Milka Duno, is ahead of five of the former Champ Car drivers, and Wheldon -- with perhaps the fastest car in the field -- will start last.
“We’re trying to learn in two days what other teams have learned in five years,” Servia said.
GAINSCO Indy 300 qualifying results:
Pos) Driver, Team, Speed (4-lap avg.)
1) Scott Dixon, Target Ganassi, 213.341
2) Ed Carpenter, Vision, 213.311
3) A.J. Foyt IV, Vision, 212.211
4) Danica Patrick, Andretti Green, 212.129
5) Ryan Briscoe, Penske, 212.108
6) Marco Andretti, Andretti Green, 211.838
7) Helio Castroneves, Penske, 211.581
8) Tony Kanaan, Andretti Green, 211.580
9) Hideki Mutoh, Andretti Green, 210.508
10) Marty Roth, Roth, 211.458
11) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Rahal Letterman, 210.744
12) Vitor Meira, Panther, 210.315
13) Buddy Rice, Dreyer & Reinbold, 209.486
14) Darren Manning, Foyt, 210.315
15) Franck Perera, Conquest, 209.230
16) Oriol Servia, KV, 209.021
17) Justin Wilson, Newman/Haas/Lanigan, 208.757
18) Milka Duno, Dreyer & Reinbold, 208.308
19) Enrique Bernoldi, Conquest 208.130
20) Ernesto Viso, HVM, 208.101
21) Will Power, KV, 208.029
22) Bruno Junqueira, Coyne, 207.434
23) Mario Moraes, Coyne. 207.067
24) Dan Wheldon, Target Ganassi, No time, No speed
25) Jay Howard, Roth, No time, No speed
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