Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Sonoma IndyCar: Dario Franchitti heads Ganassi qualifying one-two

Dario Franchitti will lead an all-Ganassi front row on the starting grid for IndyCar's race at Sonoma after triumphing in qualifying

The Scot had a new set of red tyres saved for the final qualifying phase and he made the most of them, posting a 1m17.5271s that proved strong enough to withstand Scott Dixon's best time by 0.19s.

"In Q1 we just did the one lap on the reds, and it was a pretty good time," said Franchitti.

"So they brought me in and we thought there was a lot of good still left in the tyres, so we put them on again for the second run and the car was good again.

"I made a couple of mistakes, so I was surprised to be so close to the guys on the new reds.

"Then we had the new reds on for the Fast Six - which is just as well, because I totally screwed up Turn 6 on both laps."

Will Power will start from third alongside Ryan Hunter-Reay, leaving Helio Castroneves and Charlie Kimball to complete row three.

Aside from Franchitti's tyre gamble, the story of the afternoon was the wind, which had completely changed direction from the earlier practice session. According to Hunter-Reay, the effect was enormous.

"It's massive," he said. "It surprised me. It's more like the wind effect at an oval.

"Here, the wind goes one way and the car's hooked up; it goes the other way, and you're out to lunch.

"It's a different race track - different turning points, different braking points ... it's amazing how much it changes."

Castroneves, meanwhile, was in danger of not making the Fast Six in the first place; the Brazilian only bumping Justin Wilson from sixth in the final seconds of the second segment.

Pos  Driver               Team/Engine      Time        Gap
 1.  Dario Franchitti     Ganassi/Honda    1m17.5271s
 2.  Scott Dixon          Ganassi/Honda    1m17.7196s  +0.1925s
 3.  Will Power           Penske/Chevy     1m17.9735s  +0.4464s
 4.  Ryan Hunter-Reay     Andretti/Chevy   1m18.1314s  +0.6043s
 5.  Helio Castroneves    Penske/Chevy     1m18.1766s  +0.6495s
 6.  Charlie Kimball      Ganassi/Honda    1m18.2009s  +0.6738s
 7.  Justin Wilson        Coyne/Honda      1m18.2138s  Round 2
 8.  Graham Rahal         Rahal/Honda      1m18.3051s  Round 2
 9.  James Hinchcliffe    Andretti/Chevy   1m18.3135s  Round 2
10.  Simon Pagenaud       Schmidt/Honda    1m18.3787s  Round 2
11.  Marco Andretti       Andretti/Chevy   1m18.6230s  Round 2
12.  Sebastien Bourdais   Dragon/Chevy     1m26.7515s  Round 2
13.  Takuma Sato          Foyt/Honda       1m18.9164s  Group 1
14.  Tristan Vautier      Schmidt/Honda    1m18.3141s  Group 2
15.  EJ Viso              Andretti/Chevy   1m18.9344s  Group 1
16.  Tony Kanaan          KV/Chevy         1m18.3318s  Group 2
17.  Josef Newgarden      Fisher/Honda     1m19.0094s  Group 1
18.  JR Hildebrand        Herta/Honda      1m18.7114s  Group 2
19.  James Jakes          Rahal/Honda      1m19.1563s  Group 1
20.  Sebastian Saavedra   Dragon/Chevy     1m18.8967s  Group 2
21.  James Davison        Coyne/Honda      1m19.5285s  Group 1
22.  Ryan Briscoe         Panther/Chevy    1m18.9743s  Group 2
23.  Simona de Silvestro  KV/Chevy         1m19.5298s  Group 1
24.  Ed Carpenter         Carpenter/Chevy  1m19.2376s  Group 2
25.  Lucas Luhr           Fisher/Honda     1m19.9805s  Group 2

All drivers use Dallara DW12 chassis

Be part of the Autosport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Sonoma IndyCar: Dario Franchitti fastest in final practice
Next article Sonoma IndyCar: Will Power finally wins again in contentious race

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe