UpdateF1 >> Formula 1 News > Briscoe grabs Milwaukee pole

Castroneves last after crash

Ryan Briscoe will start on pole for the ABC Supply/A.J. Foyt 225 at the Milwaukee Mile. Briscoe put in a four-lap average of 168.394 mph to hold off Graham Rahal, while Tony Kanaan is the first of the AGR cars in third. Penske team-mate and last week's Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves crashed out during his qualifying run and will start dead last.

"I knew when I was in front of Rahal it was going to be good," said Briscoe, who is third in the standings. "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 (Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti), but thankfully the time held up.

Starting on pole, Briscoe is looking to repeat last year's victory at the legendary Milwaukee Mile.

"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."

Graham Rahal will start second for the second consecutive year for Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing. "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," says Rahal. "If that hadn't happened, I think we would have had pole."

After bruising several ribs in a violent Indy 500 crash, Andretti-Green's Tony Kanaan recorded the third-best average time. The Brazilian is a two-time winner of the event and will be looking to add a third tomorrow. Reigning champion Scott Dixon (Ganassi) joins TK on row two.

Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves hit the wall in turn two on his first qualifying lap and will start 20th and last. "We tried something different out there in qualifying from what we ran in practice," said Castroneves, who is only five points behind championship leader Franchitti. "I just went for it and the car wiggled a little bit. I thought I saved it, but unfortunately I ended up brushing the wall and couldn't qualify."

Qualifying order:

1. Ryan Briscoe Penske
2. Graham Rahal Newman/Haas/Lanigan
3. Tony Kanaan Andretti Green
4. Scott Dixon Ganassi
5. Mario Moraes KV
6. Hideki Mutoh Andretti Green
7. Danica Patrick Andretti Green
8. Dario Franchitti Ganassi
9. Raphael Matos Luczo Dragon
10. Tomas Scheckter Dreyer & Reinbold
11. Mike Conway Dreyer & Reinbold
12. Robert Doornbos Newman/Haas/Lanigan
13. Marco Andretti Andretti Green
14. Dan Wheldon Panther
15. Justin Wilson Coyne
16. Paul Tracy Foyt
17. EJ Viso HVM
18. Ryan Hunter-Reay Vision
19. Ed Carpenter Vision
20. Helio Castroneves Penske

(fc)

Written: Sun, 31 May 2009 11:33:29