Kanaan angry about disallowed lap
Tony Kanaan claims the Indy Racing League officials denied him a top six qualifying position at Surfers Paradise
The Andretti Green Racing was eliminated in the second part of qualifying and will start eighth. However Kanaan recorded the third fastest time in the top 12 session, so expected to progress to the Fast Six shoot-out for pole.
The officials ruled that Kanaan's lap had been set after the chequered flag, but the Brazilian disputed this - arguing that Dario Franchitti was credited with a lap at the same time.
"The Team 7-Eleven car should have been in the Firestone Fast Six but the league said I crossed the finish line and took the chequered flag, so my last lap didn't count," said Kanaan.
"It is completely unfair because I was right behind Dario and they gave him the lap so I don't know what to say. We'll take eighth but we're not happy about it."
Kanaan's frustrations continued Andretti Green's difficult weekend, with his teammates Marco Andretti, Hideki Mutoh and Danica Patrick starting back in 14th, 16th and 23rd respectively.
Patrick failed to set a qualifying time after crashing on slicks at the start of the damp first segment.
"As soon as we went out the rain came and I spun out on the first lap," she said. "I was hoping that I would be able to come in and get rain tyres and get back out, but my car stalled so we lost quite a bit of time. Long story short, I was unable to get a full lap completed so I'm starting 23rd."
Both Patrick and Andretti had struggled to get up to speed on their first visit to the Surfers Paradise street track and had been off the pace throughout practice, but Andretti was only knocked out of a potential top 12 position in the final seconds of first qualifying.
"I'm sure I'm speaking for a lot of drivers but I wish we would have gone to a new set of wets before our last lap because maybe then we could have advanced to the second round," he said.
"I can't really complain, though, because I'm not sure we would have been a whole lot better in the dry."
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments