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

Qualifying: Hornish Jr on pole

Sam Hornish Jr gave his bid for a second straight Indy Racing League championship a good boost by winning the pole position for Sunday's Delphi Indy 300 at Chicagoland Speedway. The Pennzoil Panther Racing driver upset the favored Infiniti-powered Red Bull Team Cheever entries with his Chevy-powered Dallara

Surprising as it sounds, this is only Hornish's second career pole - and he won the race the other time he scored one, at Homestead to open the 2002 season.

Hornish's lap of 24.5528 seconds (222.867mph) bested that of Team Cheever rookie Buddy Rice, fastest in practice on Friday. Rice clocked in at 24.6100s (222.349mph). An on-form Al Unser Jr, who also topped the early morning practice session, will start third after qualifying at 24.6363s/222.111mph in his Dallara-Chevrolet.

Hornish's title hopes werer further bolstered by the disappointing showings of his Team Penske rivals. Gil de Ferran will start 11th in his Dallara-Chevy, while teammate Helio Castroneves was a distant 21st, a full 4mph slower than Hornish on the 1.5-mile tri-oval.

British ace Daniel Wheldon qualified an excellent seventh for his IRL debut at the wheel of a Panther Dallara-Chevrolet.

Sam Hornish Jr Dallara-Chevrolet 24.5528s 222.867mph
Buddy Rice Dallara-Infiniti 24.6100s 222.349mph
Al Unser Jr Dallara-Chevrolet 24.6363s 222.111mph
Billy Boat Dallara-Infiniti 24.6811s 221.708mph
Vitor Meira Dallara-Chevrolet 24.7269s 221.297mph
Eddie Cheever Dallara-Infiniti 24.7287s 221.281mph
Dan Wheldon Dallara-Chevrolet 24.7658s 220.950mph
Laurent Redon Dallara-Infiniti 24.7660s 220.948mph
Robbie Buhl G-Force-Infiniti 24.7663s 220.945mph
Felipe Giaffone G-Force-Chevrolet 24.8056s 220.595mph

Be part of the Autosport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Practice: Red Bull cars on song
Next article Chicagoland: Hornish wins closest finish

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