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Indy Car Qualifying Notes: Dario obliterates the field

Written by Scott Keller · June 27, 2009

Dario Franchitti posted four huge laps at Richmond on Friday evening to take the pole position for the 300 lap SunTrust Indy Challenge. Franchitti is coming off a win at Iowa, and seems to have the hot foot right now in the series, especially on the small ovals.

Dixon-the new bridesmaid: Scott Dixon was *the man* last year in Indy Car. Dario’s performance has been stiff competition, and somewhat overshadowed the champ.

Helio’s wild ride:   Helio Castroneves had a couple of laps on his four-lap qualifying run that were a little too exciting.  He must have been watching the Silver Crown drivers earlier in the day, because he had some quick hands and dirt tracked his Dallara through turn four near the end of his run.

Jaques Lazier:  Poor Jaques.  He’s driving the abysmal car that Stanton Barrett vacated, and was about 14 mph off the pace with a four lap average of 153 mph.   Indy44 summed up Lazier’s qualifying effort on his twitter feed:

Did Lazier accidentally get in a Lights car? Seems like it!

The two top teams dominate the top four spots:  Indy Car continues to be a fight between Franchitti, Castroneves, Dixon, and Briscoe.   Diversity lacking.

Can Graham Rahal keep it off the wall:  Graham is the fastest fo the non-super-team drivers, and will start in the fifth position.  The kid can qualify, but will he last beyong lap 80?  Graham needs to stay on the lead lap and out of the fence this weekend.   Ditto what I said about EJ Viso who starts seventh.

AGR brings up the rear:  Hideki Mutoh paced the AGR gang and starts eighth ahead of Danica in 10th.   Marco and Tony are deep in the field, starting 16th and 17th in a 20 car field.

VERSUS covers it all:  VERSUS has three hours of coverage tonight starting at 8 p.m. ET. Check you local listings or tune to channel 603 if you are DirecTV subscriber.

San Francisco Chronicle:  Franchitti claims pole in Richmond

Curt Cavin: Franchitti’s return to open-wheel racing hitting high gear

Pos 	 Speed 	 Driver
1	167.315	Dario Franchitti
2	166.638	Scott Dixon
3	165.931	Helio Castroneves
4	165.749	Ryan Briscoe
5	165.218	Graham Rahal
6	164.928	Raphael Matos
7	164.629	EJ Viso
8	164.575	Hideki Mutoh
9	164.441	Tomas Scheckter
10	164.197	Danica Patrick
11	164.129	Mike Conway
12	164.071	Robert Doornbos
13	163.843	Dan Wheldon
14	163.824	Ed Carpenter
15	163.506	Justin Wilson
16	162.78	Marco Andretti
17	162.634	Tony Kanaan
18	162.506	Ryan Hunter-Reay
19	160.895	Mario Moraes
20	153.176	Jaques Lazier

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