Qualifying: Penske duo dominate
Team Penske duo Gil de Ferran and Helio Castroneves dominated qualifying for Saturday night's Sun Trust Indy Challenge at Richmond International Raceway.
Castroneves set the early target, with an extraordinary lap of 16.0702sec (168.013mph) in his Dallara-Chevrolet, and no one came close until team-mate de Ferran came out late in the session.
De Ferran's first lap was an agonizingly near-miss - just 0.003sec off Castroneves pole time - but his second lap rendered that irrelevant, as the Pikes Peak winner reeled off a lap at 16.0043sec (168.705mph), a relatively massive 0.7mph faster than Castroneves' best and a staggering 8mph quicker than Jaques Lazier's pole of last year, which set the previous IRL track record.
Sam Hornish shook off a minor clash with the wall earlier in the day to once again take the third spot behind the Penskes, albeit 3mph off the pole pace.
George Mack, whose 310 Racing GForce was involved in a heavy crash during practice, skipped qualifying while repairs were made to his car, but the rookie is expected to start the race tomorrow at the back of the pack.
Gil de Ferran Dallara-Chevrolet 16.0043s 168.705mph
Helio Castroneves Dallara-Chevrolet 16.0702s 168.013mph
Sam Hornish Jr Dallara-Chevrolet 16.2840s 165.807mph
Laurent Redon Dallara-Infiniti 16.3456s 165.182mph
Buddy Lazier Dallara-Chevrolet 16.3744s 164.892mph
Scott Sharp Dallara-Chevrolet 16.3845s 164.790mph
Jeff Ward G-Force-Chevrolet 16.4083s 164.551mph
Alex Barron Dallara-Chevrolet 16.4265s 164.369mph
Richie Hearn Dallara-Chevrolet 16.4551s 164.083mph
Felipe Giaffone G-Force-Chevrolet 16.4722s 163.913mph
Billy Boat Dallara-Chevrolet 16.5724s 162.921mph
Mark Dismore Dallara-Chevrolet 16.5841s 162.807mph
Al Unser Jr Dallara-Chevrolet 16.5913s 162.736mph
Greg Ray Dallara-Chevrolet 16.6409s 162.251mph
Sarah Fisher G-Force-Infiniti 16.6521s 162.142mph
Robby McGehee Dallara-Chevrolet 16.7501s 161.193mph
Eddie Cheever Dallara-Infiniti 16.7507s 161.187mph
Tomas Scheckter Dallara-Infiniti 16.7894s 160.816mph
Airton Dare Dallara-Chevrolet 16.8055s 160.662mph
Robbie Buhl G-Force-Infiniti 16.8761s 159.990mph
Jon Herb G-Force-Chevrolet 17.4573s 154.663mph
George Mack G-Force-Chevrolet no time
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