Englishman Dan Wheldon goes into the Indianapolis 500 weekend looking for another victory.
Wheldon, winner of the famous race last year, qualified his Target Chip Ganassi on the front row with third fastest time, a four lap average of 227.338mph, alongside the two pace-setting Penskes of Sam Hornish Jnr and Helio Castroneves. Hornish posted a four-lap average of 228.985 mph. His teammate, Castroneves, provisionally qualified second at 228.008.
After qualifying had repeatedly been delayed by rain, Wheldon was satisfied with his final attempt.
“I think it was a reasonable run for us” said Wheldon. “Maybe we could have been a little bit more daring and taken a little bit more downforce out. But Team Penske has been very strong with Sam Hornish in particular. We have been a couple of steps behind and that’s been difficult for us to make up.”
Wheldon and the team, however, are much more optimistic about their race trim.
“Under race trim, we are much more equal,” the defending Indianapolis 500 winner said. “I think we need to fine tune our race car to a certain degree, just to make sure we are really good.”
The 90th running of one of the world’s most famous motor races takes place on Sunday, May 28th. After further testing, Wheldons optimism appeared measured.
“The car was okay,” the defending Indianapolis 500 winner said. “We worked solely on race set-up. We had a set-up that we were somewhat comfortable with in previous days, but when we put the car in deep traffic it didn’t work. So, we had to come back and figure out what we needed to do and how we could get it done. But I think we are better. We’ve still got some work to do on Carburetion Day but we should be alright.”
The 27-year-old also predicted that in addition to Marlboro Team Penske, the Andretti Green Racing cars could run stronger on Race Day.
“I think we are pretty good in comparison with the Penskes,” the Emberton, England, native said. “But I will tell you that Andretti Green would be good on race day. They always produce good race cars. It should be an interesting Indianapolis 500.”
Written: Wed, 24 May 2006 09:55:05
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