Veteran driver
gives Ganassi team a pole in its first event
By Dave
Lewandowski
indycar.com
HOMESTEAD, Fla. - Spirited competition started in the
second practice session and carried over to
qualifications under the lights. It definitely was a
flavorful forecast for the Miami 100.
Veteran Chris Festa
presented Target Chip Ganassi Racing the pole position
in its first Indy Pro Series event, posting a
blistering lap of 187.280 mph (28.5455 seconds) on the
1.5-mile Homestead-Miami Speedway oval on a breezy
evening. It will be Festa's first pole start in 24
career races. Last year, with Cheever Racing, he
started sixth and finished 16th.
A record 25 cars will
compete in the 67-lap race -- the first of 16 that
includes nine on road/street courses. Alex Lloyd
(186.556 mph) will start second in the No. 7 Lucas
Oil/Isilon Systems car for Sam Schmidt Motorsports.
The penultimate qualifier, Lloyd displaced Hideki
Mutoh from the front row. Bobby Wilson, driving the
No. 1 Brian Stewart Racing car, will join Mutoh on Row
2 after a quick lap of 184.864 mph.
Chip Ganassi Racing
fields Dan Wheldon and Scott Dixon in the IndyCar
Series and also is competing in the Rolex Grand-Am
Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. It was a
pleasant start to the season.
"It's a great thing,"
said Festa, who qualifying lap was 2 mph quicker than
his best in two practice sessions. "The team is
starting out for the first time, so to come out and
get a pole is just a really good thing. They've worked
so hard over the winter. I'm just so proud to be a
part of this team. When somebody like Chip Ganassi
hires you to drive his car, it definitely builds your
ego a little bit, but I don't want it to get too big
because that's when things start happening.
"We're feeling pretty
good. We ran race setup in the session this morning,
and we can put the car anywhere we wanted, so we're
feeling very confident. We're looking forward to
tomorrow."
Television broadcast of the race will be Wednesday,
March 28, 2007 at 5:00 PM on ESPN2
For more information visit:
www.chrisfestaracing.com;
;
