Richmond: Kanaan narrowly ekes out pole

It looked for a while like Marco Andretti would be sitting in the sweet spot for Saturday's SunTrust Indy Challenge, but Andretti Green teammate Tony Kanaan had other plans, stealing away the top spot by just Three 10-thousanths of a second to win the PEAK Motor Oil Pole Award presented by Advance Auto Parts.

Kanaan recorded a four-lap qualifying average of 167.876 mph to capture his second pole start of the season and the 10th of his IndyCar Series career.

“If there was a place that I could choose to start on the pole, it’s this one," said the jubilant Kanaan. "I think we did a great job. I have to thank my teammates, Danica, Marco and Hideki. Danica and Hideki came and tested here a few weeks ago, and I think it helped us a lot.

Teammate, Marco Andretti's qualifying average was 167.795 mph and good enough to hold on to the second spot. He will line up along side Kanaan, making it the 7th time AGR teammates have shared the front row.

In a surprising effort late in the session, Rookie Graham Rahal jumped to the third spot on the charts. He will line up alongside series points leader Scott Dixon on Row 2.

“Everything really came together for us in qualifying," said Rahal. "We’ve been struggling here all weekend. Luckily if it was going to come together at one point, it’s good that it’s in qualifying. It would be even better if it came together tomorrow.

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Honorable Mention from the track:

Conquest's Jaime Camara and his wife Geovanna welcomed their first child yesterday. Baby Lucca weighed in at 7 1⁄2 lbs. and spent the night in intensive care after experiencing some breathing problems. Both were released this morning.

“He worried us a lot, but he was taken out of intensive care this morning. Everything is fine. (Being a dad) hit me as soon as I saw him. It’s a different feeling, hard to explain.”

Dishonorable Mention from the track:

Yet another crew member has suffered an injury at the hands of a driver.
AGR crew member Scott Lynch, the fueler on the #27 car driven by Hideki Mutoh, was injured in pit lane near the end of the first practice session when he was struck by Mutoh’s car. Lynch suffered a right toe fracture and a left ankle contusion.


TOP 10 - POST-QUALIFYING QUOTES:

TONY KANAAN (No. 11 Team 7-Eleven, qualified first): "Me and Marco worked really well together this morning trying to find a good setup, and it was really good. I’ve been in the front quite a lot, but I haven’t been able to accomplish things in the front. So we start all over again. The car was totally different than it was in the afternoon. But I think that with our experience, we knew what was going to happen. It helped that my teammates all qualified in front of me. It helped that I was one of the latest cars to qualify. The track is cooling off and getting better all the time. It’s a good lead for what I need in the race as well. Hopefully the luck is on my side this weekend."

MARCO ANDRETTI (No. 26 Blockbuster, second): “We really nailed the setup on the Blockbuster car today, especially when you consider that we didn’t get proper runs in practice because we caught traffic each time. It was a great day for Andretti Green Racing, though. It’s good to start up front, especially at this place. Tony (Kanaan) and I both have very good race cars, so I’m excited about tomorrow.”

GRAHAM RAHAL (No. 06 Hole in the Wall Camps, third):" Obviously it’s important to start up front here because it’s really hard to pass, so we’re pretty happy. We made a bunch of changes. The guys did a good job, because all weekend we’ve been struggling and struggling and just didn’t know what to do, so I didn’t know what to expect in qualifying. I figured we would be close to Justin’s time, but when I went out there, the car was really good. The only thing holding me back from going flat was that I couldn’t get the car to downshift mid-corner. I think that if our gearing was a little bit different, which we will know for next year because we didn’t expect to go this fast obviously, I think we would have had a shot at pole.”

SCOTT DIXON (No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing, fourth): “I think both of us in the Target cars left quite a bit on the line. We didn't get as much as we should have out of the car. Going earlier was a big problem for us tonight. As you can see, a lot of slower cars (in practice) went quicker than us at the end (of qualifying). It's tough but (the qualifying order) is drawn out of a hat, so maybe it will help us out later in the season. All in all, it looks pretty decent. The Target cars are quite far up, and the Penske cars are back a little bit, and we've got very good race cars.”

BUDDY RICE (No. 15 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, fifth): “We’ve been chasing that car all day. This is great for Dreyer and Reinbold, Roll Coater, Rigid, and all the guys right now. It’s disappointing that last weekend in Iowa we had a wheel bearing failure. We had a really strong car there. We wanted to come here and run strong. This is one of the places that’s kind of an equalizer. It’s good for us.”

DAN WHELDON (No. 10 Target Chip Ganassi Racing, sixth): “To be honest, it was a disappointing qualifying performance on my behalf. I somewhat struggled with the car in the first and second practice, and we definitely improved it a lot for qualifying. We definitely were affected by the draw that we got, but that’s part of the new system. I just left too much on the table, and that was disappointing. I’ve done that a couple of times now just because we haven’t had a perfect weekend yet, and that’s what we need to do to make sure that we’re sitting on the pole. Because if you don’t, you’re not going to be on the pole, and that was the case today.”

HIDEKI MUTOH (No. 27 Formula Dream, seventh): “Right before we went out, we made a small change on the car, and I think we shouldn’t have made the change. It would’ve been nice if we could start from a better position, but seventh starting position is not bad, so it is OK. I will concentrate on the race, and hopefully we will be able to move up to the front.

A.J. FOYT IV (No. 2 Lilly Diabetes/Vision Racing, eighth): “I’m happy with our qualifying after we were struggling quite a bit in practice today. The Lilly guys did a really great job making a bunch of changes and getting the car ready for qualifying. I’m happy for the team because we actually get a decent starting position for this race, and that’ll be important. I think we’re finally getting a bit of luck turning our way here, and every little bit helps. Qualifying later was definitely an advantage, but we’ll take it. It’s good to have the Lilly car and the Menards car both in two solid starting positions.”

BRUNO JUNQUEIRA (No. 18 Z-Line Designs, ninth): “I'm very pleased with how the No. 18 Z-Line Designs car qualified today. We were the fifth-fastest in the practice session before qualifying, so we knew we had a fast car and would do well in qualifying. I'm very proud of the hard work the team has put into the car all week. It should be an interesting race Saturday night as this track is sort of a one-groove track. Hopefully we can bring home a good finish. It should be a very exciting race.”

ORIOL SERVIA (No. 5 KV Racing Technology, 10th): “It was a lot of fun. These types of short ovals where you are so much on the edge, makes it always exciting. The KV Racing Technology car was really good. We just had the front a little too low, it was touching the ground. In Turn 4, I had a big moment. I almost lost it, which is why my hands are a little shaky right now, but it’s part of qualifying, part of the fun. Overall, I am quite happy with the result, and I want to thank the team for all their hard work. Hopefully, we can have a good race tomorrow, at least better than the last two, and move up a little in the standings.”

Additional quotes:

HELIO CASTRONEVES (No. 3 Team Penske): "We tried everything we could today, but we struggled a little bit out there. We're going to keep working, and the good news is tomorrow is the day that counts. Hopefully we'll be able to turn things around and bring the Team Penske car home near the front."

VITOR MEIRA (No. 4 Delphi National Guard): "Our speed doesn't look that great on the chart, but this was a great run for us. The Delphi National Guard crew spent the afternoon replacing the entire back end from the car because we had a mechanical issue. I feel like our first real laps of the day were our qualification laps. I'm proud of them and what they did for us today, and I want to pay them back with a good race tomorrow. Everybody at Panther enjoys racing at Richmond, and we expect some good things tomorrow."

WILL POWER (No. 8 Aussie Vineyards-Team Australia): "I thought the Aussie Vineyards- Team Australia car was loose during the qualifying run, which made it hard to get a good lap in. The biggest problem with where we qualified is that this oval is very difficult to pass on. Fortunately, the Aussie Vineyards crew does a great job in the pits, so hopefully they can give me some help tomorrow. Basically, I am hoping that I get a good start to the race, have a decent run and score some points."

RYAN BRISCOE (No. 6 Team Penske): "It was quite challenging out there today because the track and weather conditions seemed to be constantly changing. We had to make an educated guess in qualifying after the rain, and my car had a bit of understeer going into Turn 1, which cost us a bit on our first lap. However, I was able to work on the car during my run and recover well for the final three laps. We're not at the front of the field, but hopefully we'll be able to move up like we did in Milwaukee and bring home another win. The race is really going to be about how your car handles in traffic, and I think that Team Penske will come through once again in giving me a good car."

DARREN MANNING (No. 14 ABC Supply Co./AJ Foyt Racing): "The lack of track time really hurt us. We made some big changes to the car, which cost us time in the first session. Then we had a failure in the second session, which cost us more time, and then the rain came. We had to throw some things at it for qualifying, and I didn't know what the car was going to do the first couple of laps. From what I could tell, we're going in the right direction on the changes. I think we'll have a good car for the race, but we're starting in the back, so it's going to be a tough night."

ED CARPENTER (No. 20 Menards/Vision Racing): "We've been kind of chasing it all day. It was in the same situation in Milwaukee when we really weren't happy with the car heading into qualifying so we made a lot of changes. We did a much better job of it today than we did in Milwaukee. The track cooled down quickly, and guys qualifying later had an advantage, but I'm happy with our qualifying run. We were way quicker. All four laps were quicker than we have run all day in practice. It was a really nice improvement, and the Menards crew did a really good job. I love this place, which made it all the more disappointing early in practice when we found ourselves struggling. Qualifying is just so important here that I really just had to lay it out there and try to put in a good four laps.

TOWNSEND BELL (No. 23 Dreyer & Reinbold William Rast): "We just picked up a handling issue we haven't had all day on new tires. It's just so frustrating. I'm surprised at the time we ran. I'm disappointed. We made some tweaks for qualifying. The part of the car we fixed, it got better, but we made one end worse. It's just the way it is on these ovals. I was hoping for a lot more than that, but we just have to take what we got. That's all we can do. The guys have done a great job all weekend, and I'm sure we'll come back stronger on race day."

DANICA PATRICK (No. 7 Motorola): "The Motorola car had a very close call on the first lap. I almost spun out and hit the wall, but thankfully I didn't. I was extremely loose the entire run. It is going to be a challenging race tomorrow. I am happy for Tony (Kanaan) and Marco (Andretti) for starting on the front row."

MARTY ROTH (No. 25 Roth Racing): "We've just been chipping away at the car, and we made all the right moves at the end. It's always a guess when you get out here, and our last practice was cut a little short. The guys did a fabulous job, we made all the right moves and it's good to have a race car. We were a little worried there."

JOHN ANDRETTI (No. 24 Roth Racing): "Qualifying certainly is an experience. I like the four-lap average thing. You've got to make it happen four times, you can't hold your breath for one lap and make it in. Richmond International Raceway doesn't even look the same when you're going around in an IndyCar instead of a stock car. But we'll see how we race tomorrow night."

JUSTIN WILSON (No. 02 McDonald's Racing Team): "Being the first out in qualifying is never ideal. The thunderstorm and the different type of rubber from the cars before us made it difficult, and I was sliding around quite a bit. I was just trying to hang on. We have been a little bit off on our setups the whole weekend. I felt like we got somewhere in the last practice session, but it was hard to get the time out of the car in the laps available. The car was just starting to come on though, and we were getting quicker each lap. The grip was just coming up, and I'm not sure if that was because of the rain or the different type of rubber. It's frustrating. It has been a difficult weekend, but as usual the McDonald's team works through it and we get quicker, and we have a better race than we do qualifying."

JAIME CAMARA (No. 34 Sangari): "Qualifying didn't go very well. The car had a lot of understeer, and I struggled throughout my run. It will be a long race. We will need to be patient and just make our way through the field. We will have to keep battling until the end and hopefully finally finish in a competitive position."

ENRIQUE BERNOLDI (No. 36 Sangari Conquest Racing): (About the crash earlier today) "I was running in traffic, and the car got really loose on me in Turn 4, and it just snapped. The next thing I knew I was in the wall. I feel really bad for the guys. They tried very hard to get the car ready for qualifying, but we ran out of time to give the car a proper qualifying setup so we chose just to do an install lap without taking any more risks to make sure everything was OK heading into tomorrow's race."


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SATURDAY’S SCHEDULE (all times local):

Noon Garages open

7 p.m. SunTrust Indy Challenge pre-race

8 p.m. SunTrust Indy Challenge (300 laps/225 miles)

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The SunTrust Indy Challenge will be telecast live in High Definition at 8 p.m. (EDT) on ESPN as well it will air live on the IMS Radio Network which is also is carried on XM Satellite Radio and www.indycar.com.

Full results of the 1st qualifying session on Richmond Raceway

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