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Saturday, 11 June 2011 03:00 |
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Page 1 of 2  Alex Tagliani had a two lap average speed of 215.186 mph on the 1.5 mile, high banked Texas Motor Speedway oval to earn the PEAK Performance Pole Award for the Firestone Twin 275s on June 11.
It's the second consecutive pole for Tagliani, driving the #77 Bowers & Wilkins car for Sam Schmidt Motorsports, he started from the point in the 100th anniversary Indianapolis 500 on May 29 in the first oval race of the IZOD IndyCar Series season.
Reigning series champion Dario Franchitti (214.801) will start second for the second consecutive year.
Will Power, who started from the pole in each of the four road/street courses, will start third in the #12 Verizon Team Penske car and will be joined in Row 2 by the final qualifier (214.470), Takuma Sato, driver of the #5 KV Racing Technology-Lotus car who starts a career high fourth on an oval.
"It was a good run out there Verizon car. I was flat and on the white line for both laps. We have some work to do tonight in practice to find a good race trim, but we should be good. We get two shots at it tomorrow and I'm definitely ready to race," Power said.
The IZOD IndyCar Series will compete in the Firestone Twin 275s, a doubleheader of 114 lap races at 19h45 (CT) Saturday, the second race will follow approximately an hour after the first race concludes.
This is the 22nd IZOD IndyCar Series event at Texas Motor Speedway. Ryan Briscoe won the race in 2010. Gil de Ferran holds the single lap qualifying record with a lap of 23.5031 seconds, 222.864 mph set in October 2003.
Scott Dixon holds the four lap qualifying record of 214.878 mph set in 2009. Past winners Ryan Briscoe (2010), Scott Dixon (2008), Helio Castroneves (2009, 2006 and October 2004) and Tony Kanaan (June 2004) are entered in the event.
Drivers will have 12 total pushes of the Honda overtake assist, an ECU software alteration employed by Honda Performance Development, each lasting 20 seconds during both Firestone Twin 275s.
It is activated by the driver via a button on the steering wheel and provides an extra 200 rpm (about 10 horsepower) to the Honda Indy V8 engine.
Parameters are updated before each race weekend to meet the circuit layout.
There is a 10 second recovery period between pushes. One overtake assist push is available for the final practice session on tonight.
Each entry for the Firestone Twin 275s receives nine sets (36 total) of Firestone Firehawks for the race weekend, the same formula used last year at Kentucky, Chicagoland and Homestead.
PEAK PERFORMANCE POLE QUALIFYING NOTES:
- This is Alex Tagliani's second pole of 2011 and the seventh pole of his Indy car career. He also won the pole for the 100th Anniversary Indianapolis 500 in May.
- This is Sam Schmidt Motorsports' third pole position in the IZOD IndyCar Series and its first pole at Texas Motor Speedway. Its previous best start was 15th in June 2002 with Richie Hearn.
- Dario Franchitti qualified second, his second front row start of 2011 and his fourth front row start at Texas.
- Will Power qualified third. He has qualified in the top five in every race this season
- Takuma Sato qualified fourth, his best starting position of 2011 and his best qualifying position on an oval.
- Ed Carpenter qualified fifth, his best qualifying position at Texas.
- Wade Cunningham qualified eighth for his IZOD IndyCar Series debut.
PEAK PERFORMANCE POLE QUALIFYING RESULTS:
| Pos. |
N° |
Driver |
Car |
Speed |
| 1. |
77 |
Alex Tagliani |
Dallara-Honda |
215.186 |
| 2. |
10 |
Dario Franchitti |
Dallara-Honda |
214.801 |
| 3. |
12 |
Will Power |
Dallara-Honda |
214.716 |
| 4. |
5 |
Takuma Sato |
Dallara-Honda |
214.470 |
| 5. |
67 |
Ed Carpenter |
Dallara-Honda |
214.373 |
| 6. |
82 |
Tony Kanaan |
Dallara-Honda |
214.252 |
| 7. |
9 |
Scott Dixon |
Dallara-Honda |
214.021 |
| 8. |
99 |
Wade Cunningham |
Dallara-Honda |
214.013 |
| 9. |
6 |
Ryan Briscoe |
Dallara-Honda |
213.891 |
| 10. |
7 |
Danica Patrick |
Dallara-Honda |
213.850 |
| 11. |
4 |
JR Hildebrand |
Dallara-Honda |
213.458 |
| 12. |
14 |
Vitor Meira |
Dallara-Honda |
213.429 |
| 13. |
3 |
Helio Castroneves |
Dallara-Honda |
213.232 |
| 14. |
2 |
Oriol Servia |
Dallara-Honda |
213.023 |
| 15. |
06 |
James Hinchcliffe |
Dallara-Honda |
212.970 |
| 16. |
28 |
Ryan Hunter-Reay |
Dallara-Honda |
212.938 |
| 17. |
83 |
Charlie Kimball |
Dallara-Honda |
212.797 |
| 18. |
11 |
Davey Hamilton |
Dallara-Honda |
212.555 |
| 19. |
59 |
EJ Viso |
Dallara-Honda |
212.494 |
| 20. |
38 |
Graham Rahal |
Dallara-Honda |
212.404 |
| 21. |
8 |
Paul Tracy |
Dallara-Honda |
212.305 |
| 22. |
27 |
Mike Conway |
Dallara-Honda |
212.260 |
| 23. |
26 |
Marco Andretti |
Dallara-Honda |
212.223 |
| 24. |
24 |
Ana Beatriz |
Dallara-Honda |
212.221 |
| 25. |
19 |
Alex Lloyd |
Dallara-Honda |
212.091 |
| 26. |
34 |
Sebastian Saavedra |
Dallara-Honda |
212.033 |
| 27. |
22 |
Justin Wilson |
Dallara-Honda |
211.762 |
| 28. |
88 |
Jay Howard |
Dallara-Honda |
211.691 |
| 29. |
78 |
Simona de Silvestro |
Dallara-Honda |
210.855 |
| 30. |
18 |
James Jakes |
Dallara-Honda |
no speed |
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