Sam Hornish Jr Sets Fast Pace as TMS Qualifying Moves Near
Written by Allan Brewer · June 8, 2007
Team Penske Driver Leads Twenty Cars and Drivers to Texas Practice Best
by Allan Brewer
allan@fastmachines.com
Team Penske’s Sam Hornish Jr showed the way for twenty cars and drivers at Texas Motor Speedway this Friday (June 8th) afternoon as practice for the Bombardier Learjet 550 K (342 mile) race continued toward this evening’s qualifying session at 7 PM EDT.
The 2006 Indy Racing League champion sped around the TMS circuit at a best speed of 214.316 mph to pace the field as threatening skies cleared over the North Texas area for the two hour session that began at 2:30 PM CST local time.
Panther Racing’s Vitor Meira was second-quickest with a speed of 214.105 mph in the Delphi Dallara/Honda.
IndyCar.com: Practice Session Three Results
Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon found the wall coming out of turn one after setting the third-best time of the session at 214.040 mph.
The accident crushed the right side of the car, substantially damaging suspension and wings fore and aft.
Dixon went into the turn in a higher groove than normal, got into the marbles, and slapped the wall while running in a pack of six cars that included teammate Dan Wheldon, Andretti/Green Racing’s Marco Andretti and Tony Kanaan.
Indy 500 winner Dario Franchitti was satisfied with a 213.888 mph clocking in the orange and black Canadian Club machine for the fourth spot.
Scott Sharp, in the lime-green Patron Tequila Rahal/Letterman Racing car, continued to show well with a speedy tour over the 1.5 mile oval at 213.737 mph for the fifth place on the timesheets.
The racers took turns drafting and being drafted through much of the session, creating aero-assisted laps that leap-frogged into the 214 mph range by the end of the divided-car two-part practice.
Danica Patrick was sixth-best, followed by Kanaan, Andretti, Dan Wheldon and AJ Foyt Racing’s Darren Manning.
In followup of yesterday’s incident involving rookie Milka Duno, the SAMAX Motorsports team reported telemetry evidence of mechanical/structural failure as the source of lost downforce that sent her spinning into the wall. An analysis of the malfunction is currently underway.
Duno was slowest today on the track, failing to break the 25 second per lap barrier into the 210 mph-plus bracket, and remaining the only driver not to better that mark.
The temperature was seventy-eight degrees with winds ten miles per hour from the northeast at 2 PM Texas time (3 PM EDT).
The grandstands showed scant evidence of fan interest on this Friday afternoon in Dallas/Ft. Worth as a large expanse of empty aluminum greeted the cars and drivers’ return for their eighteenth engagement at this southwestern mecca of motorsports.
The unusually-distanced race itself will go off on Saturday evening at 10 PM EDT (9 PM local time) with a live broadcast to air on ESPN2; Marty Reid, Rusty Wallace and Scott Goodyear will be in the booth to provide the play-by-play, color and analysis.
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So excited about Scott “Lookin’” Sharp…you’d think the car was running on Patron.
Oh, and as long as Milka is sponsored by Hugo Chavez / CITGO, I shall lose no sleep over wall-hitting…harsh, I know, but still…