Franchitti On Pole for Milwaukee IndyFest

Dario Franchitti stormed to pole at Milwaukee on Friday, averaging 168.737 miles perhour over his two-lap run. His second was actually the fastest of the session and the only lap to break the 169 mph barrier (169.150 mph). Justin Wilson qualified second, followed by Ryan Hunter-Reay, Will Power, and Rubens Barrichello.

It should be noted, though, that Wilson and Power, along with Josef Newgarden (seventh), Ryan Briscoe (ninth), Scott Dixon (11th), Takuma Sato (14th), and Mike Conway (25th) will all serve 10-spot grid penalties for unnapproved engine changes, which will drop them through the grid and alter the starting lineup.

For Franchitti, the pole comes as a bit of a shock after struggling through practice. "I am very pleased as much as I am surprised," he elaborated. "That's quite a turnaround from practice. Practice is one thing, qualifying is another and then there is the race. For as warm as it it people are fighting the car and everyone wants the same line. I expect tomorrow is going to be tough, especially at the end of a full - stint on those Firestone tires. It's going to be a long exciting day tomorrow and hopefully the Cottonelle car will be up front at the end of the afternoon. This is always an interesting track and we'll see if we can get it done."

Wilson, who will start 12th after the penalty, is very confident he cane work his way back to the front on race day. "It was great, the car was working really well,” said last week's winner. “I’ve just got to thank the team, it’s just a great car. It’s amazing what a little bit of confidence does for you, it really helps you out. You know, you’re able to find a little bit more speed with that momentum and we’re just really happy. Huge thanks to Honda, Sonny’s Bar-B-Q, and all the guys. We’re ready to back up our win last week. We want to prove to everyone that we can do great things on every type of track, even ovals. But it’s one step at a time, got to make sure we don’t make any mistakes, it’s going to be a long race tomorrow and I can’t wait.”

Hunter-Reay, who will start second, was very happy with his run, although he admitted it could have been good enough the pole. "We had a great run for the DHL/Sun Drop Chevy. The guys did a great job on the car - we were all over the sixth-gear limiter on our last lap or, I think, we would have been quick enough for pole. We couldn't have predicted we would be that quick though, it's the quickest we've been all weekend. It's tough for the crew, especially the engineers, trying to pick which gears to go with. It's like shooting with a blindfold on sometimes."

Power, who will start 14th after qualifying fourth, was also pleased with the effort and thinks he can also have a strong race on Saturday. "That was a good run for the No.12 Verizon Wireless team," said Power. "Obviously we will be starting well back in the pack at 14th, but there is a bunch of other teams dealing with the same issue. We are going to try and make the most of it and have a good day tomorrow."

However, none may be happier than Rubens Barrichello, who enjoyed his qualifying effort of the season and will start third. "I am extremely happy with today's qualifying," Barrichello explained. "As soon as we rolled the car out on track it felt good and it's a great feeling to be able to go flat. I have been to Milwaukee a few times as a spectator and tested here a couple of weeks ago, but everything felt much better today. I have to thank my engineers and crew guys for giving me a good car and hope we can have a good race tomorrow."


Saturday's Milwaukee IndyFest will go green at 1:00 EST.

Full results of the 1st qualifying session on Milwaukee Mile

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