Team Penske's Will Power will start from pole in the IndyCar Grand Prix of Long Beach. Power held off Ganassi's Dario Franchitti and rookie Raphael Matos (Luczo Dragon) in the closing stages of the Firestone Fast Six session. Justin Wilson, E.J. Viso and Scott Dixon round out the top six.
Power's performance is even more impressing considering the fact that the Aussie is in a brand new car. As Helio Castroneves returned yesterday night after his tax trial acquittal, Power moved to a third, newly entered Penske car, handing over the number 3 car back to Helio. Power however kept focused on the job at hand and beat Ganassi's Dario Franchitti for pole.
Will Power: "The key was to take it easy early on and save the big laps for the end. My crew has been incredible, typical Penske; they prepared everything so well. We had to swap the setup to a different car and we still do well. I love this place, I want to have a good run tomorrow and do my best to win the race."
Despite having been out of a car for six months, Helio Castroneves clearly didn't have too much trouble getting back up to speed, as the Brazilian was on course for a strong result. However, at the end of the second session, Castroneves lost the back of his Dallara-Honda into turn one, making contact with the barriers and ending his qualifying challenge. Castroneves will start tomorrow's race from eight.
As Castroneves failed to maked it to the Fast Six, the small teams were eager to steal the show at Long Beach. Last year's Indy Lights champ and IndyCar rookie Raphael Matos was an impressing third for Luczo Dragon. E.J. Viso (HVM) joins him on row two. Dale Coyne's Justin Wilson followed up his strong performance at St. Petersburg, holding off 2008 champion Scott Dixon for a fifth starting position.
In contrast to the small teams' success, Andretti Green had a much less impressive qualifying session. A clearly frustrated team leader Tony Kanaan got into 11th position, while his less experienced team-mates are to be found at the back of the grid. Hideki Mutoh (17th), Marco Andretti (19th) and Danica Patrick (22nd) failed to advance to the second session, with Patrick crashing out in the penultimate corner of the 2-mile street course.
Former Red Bull F1 driver Robert Doornbos will start the race from 15th on the grid, ahead of fellow rookie Mike Conway.
1. Will Power Penske
2. Dario Franchitti Chip Ganassi
3. Raphael Matos Luczo Dragon
4. E.J. Viso HVM
5. Justin Wilson Dale Coyne
6. Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi
7. Graham Rahal Newman/Haas/Lanigan
8. Helio Castroneves Penske
9. Alex Tagliani Conquest
10. Ryan Briscoe Penske
11. Tony Kanaan Andretti Green
12. Ryan Hunter-Reay Vision
13. Mario Moraes KV
14. Dan Wheldon Panther
15. Robert Doornbos Newman/Haas/Lanigan
16. Mike Conway Dreyer & Reinbold
17. Hideki Mutoh Andretti Green
18. Darren Manning Dreyer & reinbold
19. Marco Andretti Andretti Green
20. Vitor Meira A.J. Foyt
21. Stanton Barrett 3G
22. Danica Patrick Andretti Green
23. Ed Carpenter Vision
(fc)
Written: Sat, 18 Apr 2009 22:46:07
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