Dario Franchitti on pole for Milwaukee IndyCar race
Dario Franchitti claimed pole position for this weekend's IndyCar race at Milwaukee and surprised even himself in the process
The British driver won at the one-mile oval last year, but struggled to find a workable set-up during the opening practice sessions. However changes made by the Ganassi team allowed him to post a best average across two laps of 168.737mph.
"I am very pleased as much as I am surprised," he said. "That's quite a turnaround from practice. Practice is one thing, qualifying is another and then there is the race. As warm as it is, people are fighting the car and everyone wants the same line"
Last weekend's Texas race-winner Justin Wilson (Dale Coyne Racing) was second quickest with 168.287mph, however the Brit is one of seven drivers to have been dealt a 10-place grid penalty for an unauthorised engine change, meaning that he will start from 12th.
Wilson's penalty promotes Andretti Autosport's Ryan Hunter-Reay onto the front row alongside Franchitti, although the American felt that he could have potentially gone quicker still had he not gone too short with his gears.
KV Racing's Rubens Barrichello will benefit from a similar penalty for Penske's Will Power to start from third alongside Helio Castroneves. Current points leader Power will line up 14th, although he can take some consolation from the fact that his closest rival Scott Dixon (Ganassi) was also penalised and will line up five places behind him.
Pos Driver Team/Car Speed 1. Dario Franchitti Ganassi DW12-Honda 168.737 2. Justin Wilson Coyne DW12-Honda 168.287 3. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti DW12-Chevy 167.911 4. Will Power Penske DW12-Chevy 167.361 5. Rubens Barrichello KV DW12-Chevy 166.899 6. Helio Castroneves Penske DW12-Chevy 166.763 7. Josef Newgarden Fisher DW12-Honda 166.699 8. EJ Viso KV DW12-Chevy 166.066 9. Ryan Briscoe Penske DW12-Chevy 166.031 10. Tony Kanaan KV DW12-Chevy 165.915 11. Scott Dixon Ganassi DW12-Honda 165.726 12. Simon Pagenaud Schmidt DW12-Honda 165.369 13. James Hinchcliffe Andretti DW12-Chevy 165.312 14. Takuma Sato Rahal DW12-Honda 165.285 15. Marco Andretti Andretti DW12-Chevy 164.893 16. JR Hildebrand Panther DW12-Chevy 164.321 17. Graham Rahal Ganassi DW12-Honda 164.198 18. Alex Tagliani Herta DW12-Honda 163.866 19. Katherine Legge Dragon DW12-Chevy 163.516 20. James Jakes Coyne DW12-Honda 162.020 21. Charlie Kimball Ganassi DW12-Honda 161.079 22. Oriol Servia Panther/DRR DW12-Chevy 160.375 23. Ed Carpenter Carpenter DW12-Chevy 160.308 24. Simona de Silvestro HVM DW12-Lotus 160.115 25. Mike Conway Foyt DW12-Honda 159.794
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