IRL: Qualifying times � Homestead-Miami Speedway

[Rory Phoulorie]

Saturday, 29th March 2008

Scott Dixon puts Ganassi on top in GAINSCO Indy 300 qualifying, but team-mate - and three-time HMS race winner - Dan Wheldon fails to post time.

1. Scott Dixon Ganassi 1m 40.2341s
2. Ed Carpenter Vision 1m 40.2482s
3. AJ Foyt IV Vision 1m 40.7676s
4. Danica Patrick AGR 1m 40.8066s
5. Ryan Briscoe Penske 1m 40.8166s
6. Marco Andretti AGR 1m 40.9452s
7. Helio Castroneves Penske 1m 41.0615s
8. Tony Kanaan AGR 1m 41.0683s
9. Hideki Mutoh AGR 1m 41.1024s
10. Marty Roth Roth 1m 41.1264s
11. Ryan Hunter-Reay Rahal Letterman 1m 41.4689s
12. Vitor Meira Panther 1m 41.6762s
13. Buddy Rice Dreyer & Reinbold 1m 42.0784s
14. Darren Manning Foyt 1m 42.1598s
15. Franck Perera Conquest 1m 42.2034s
16. Oriol Servia KVRT 1m 42.3056s
17. Justin Wilson NHLR 1m 42.4349s
18. Milka Duno Dreyer & Reinbold 1m 42.6559s
19. Enrique Bernoldi Conquest 1m 42.7433s
20. Ernesto Viso HVM 1m 42.7577s
21. Will Power KVRT/Team Australia 1m 42.7935s
22. Bruno Junqueira Coyne 1m 43.0882s
23. Mario Moraes Coyne 1m 43.2707s

Dnq Dan Wheldon Ganassi no time
Dnq Jay Howard Roth no time

Dns Graham Rahal NHLR accident damage from testing

qualifying times based on four-lap total

crash.net

[Rory Phoulorie]

Dixon secures Homestead pole.

Saturday, 29th March 2008

Ganassi man on top as �regulars' lead the way.

Scott Dixon secured the first pole of the new IndyCar Series campaign at Homestead Miami Speedwayas the American open-wheel scene entered a new era following the unification of IndyCar and Champ Carfor the 2008 season.

Running under the new qualifying format the required drivers to put together a four-lap qualifying run, Dixon posted a time of 1min 40.2341secs to secure his ninth IndyCar pole and his first at the Homestead venue.

The session itself was interrupted by two stoppages, one of which was caused by Dixon's Ganassi team-mate Dan Wheldon after the three-time defending race winner went into the wall. The Briton was taken to the infield medical centre but has been cleared to compete in the race. Jay Howard was another to crash during the session and having had x-rays taken of his right knee, h was be re-evaluated on Saturday prior to the race.

Behind Dixon, Ed Carpenter and AJ Foyt IV took second and third for the Vision Racing team, with Danica Patrick leading the challenge for Andretti Green Racing in fourth.

�What a crazy qualifying session,� Dixon said. �Two big crashes, four-lap average it was pretty interesting. I think the biggest thing was when it started cooling off. There were a bunch of guys who we didn't think we would have to worry about who ended up having some big laps. Kudos to the Vision team, second and third. That's a big deal.

�We will see about tomorrow. There could be plenty of interesting things tomorrow. The last couple of years at least on my side we haven't qualified real well. Dan has always been fast here.�

Ryan Briscoe and Marco Andretti will share row three for Penske and AGR in a session that saw the IndyCar teams have a noticeable advantage over those moving over from the Champ Car World Series.

Indeed, Franck Perera was the highest qualifying of the newcomers for Conquest Racing but he will start down in 15th place, just ahead of Oriol Servia and Justin Wilson.

crash.net

[Rory Phoulorie]

Let's see if this unification can draw larger crowds. It's really unfortunate that a ChampCar team like Forsthye could not come over with Paul Tracy. Tracy is ignorant, but he's a good driver.