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August 11, 2007 in Motorsport

Indypro - Mutoh on pole with record lap

Hideki Mutoh set a track record with a lap of 27.8551 seconds (191.276 mph) to claim the SWE Race Car Parts pole award for the Kentucky 100.

It is the second pole start for Mutoh, who capitalized with a victory in the first Liberty Challenge race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in June.

KENTUCKY 100 POST-QUALIFYING NOTES:

• This is Hideki Mutoh’s second SWE Pole Award this season and the second pole position of his Indy Pro Series career. His last pole came at the Indianapolis road course in June.

• This is Panther Racing’s sixth pole in the Indy Pro Series.

• Mutoh’s lap of 27.8551, 191.276 mph, broke Travis Gregg’s 2004 track record of 27.9835 (190.398.)

• Alex Lloyd qualified second, his 10th front-row starting position of the season.

• Logan Gomez qualified a career-best fourth.

• Leilani Münter qualified fifth for her Indy Pro Series debut.

KENTUCKY 100 POST-QUALIFYING QUOTES:

HIDEKI MUTOH (No. 55 Panther Racing, SWE Pole Award winner): (About the qualifying run): "It was perfect. I think I drove well. The Panther Racing team gave me a great car.” (About winning the pole on an oval): “Most of all I'm very happy to get the pole position on an oval track, because I always wanted to do that.” (About strategy for the race): “Just do my best and drive aggressive from the start to the finish.” (About winning a race on an oval): “That would mean a lot to me. I've always wanted to win on an oval more than a road course. I want to show the performance tomorrow.” (About racing at night): “I never raced at night before, but last week I tested the IndyCar Series car at night, so I think that will help me a lot."

ALEX LLOYD (No. 7 Lucas Oil/Isilon/Sam Schmidt Motorsports, qualified second): “I think the race should be pretty good. Qualifying went reasonably well. We were second quick. We didn't quite have the speed to get pole, but we did a quick time and one that I think that we're pleased with. In the race, we seem to have a good race car. We'll see how it goes tomorrow. Obviously with the night race it's going to be a bit of a new thing for everybody, but we should be in a pretty good position.”

LELANI MUNTER (No. 57 SMART Papers/Lucas Oil/Sam Schmidt Motorsports, qualified fifth): “I didn't draft at all in the first session, and we were 15th, so I was a little bit worried about that. But, they told me, 'Don't worry about your times. Actually, for running by yourself, you're not too far off.' It's hard to not get that number stuck in your head - 15, 15 - why am I so far off. A lot of the guys were drafting, and I didn't really do that. The second session I tried to keep in mind that we're all going to be running alone I'll have a better idea of where we're at. We were eighth. When we came in and looked at the data and talked to Jaques (Lazier), he told me places on the track where I was losing a little bit of time compared to my teammates. I tried to fix those things in qualifying, and I guess it worked.” (About the race): “I know I have a lot to learn about how these cars handle in traffic, so that will be the thing that I'll be learning the most. Start in the top !five, stay in the top five - that's obviously the goal.”

SPARTA, Ky. - Qualifying Friday for the Kentucky 100 Indy Pro Series event on the 1.5-mile Kentucky Speedway, with starting position, car number in parentheses, driver and speed:

1. (55) Hideki Mutoh, Dallara, 191.276

2. (7) Alex Lloyd, Dallara, 190.759

3. (27) Wade Cunningham, Dallara, 189.586

4. (23) Logan Gomez, Dallara, 189.166

5. (57) Leilani Münter, Dallara, 188.950

6. (9) Chris Festa, Dallara, 187.923

7. (5) Andrew Prendeville, Dallara, 187.547

8. (12) Sean Guthrie, Dallara, 187.527

9. (1) Bobby Wilson, Dallara, 187.469

10. (38) Ryan Justice, Dallara, 187.441

11. (15) Joey Scarallo, Dallara, 187.283

12. (24) Stephen Simpson, Dallara, 187.159