AT WATKINS GLEN WATKINS GLEN
James Davison earned his firstpole start of the season and second of his Firestone Indy Lights career July 3 with a quick lap of 1 minute, 37.1780 seconds (124.843 mph) on the3.37-mile, 11-turn Watkins Glen International course for the Corning 100 onJuly 4.
The Vision Racing driver will be joined on the front row by Sebastian Saavedra, who posted a quick lap of 1:37.2694 (124.726) in the No. 27Automatic Fire Sprinklers Inc. car for AFS Racing/Andretti Green Racing. James Hinchcliffe (1:37.3383) in the No. 7 Hinchtown/Sam Schmidt Motorsports car will share Row two with series points leader J.R. Hildebrand(1:37.3384), driving the No. 26 ARPRO car for ARPRO Andretti GreenRacing/AFS Racing. Charlie Kimball, driving the No. 35 Team PBIR entry, recorded a season-high fifth starting spot. Felipe Guimaraes, making his series debut for BryanHerta Autosport, will start sixth (1:37.7849).
The Corning 100 will be televised at 11 p.m. (ET) Monday, July 6 on VERSUS. IndyCar Series practice and qualifying for the Camping World Grand Prix atThe Glen takes place Saturday, July 4. *** Firestone Racing brings three types of tires to Watkins Glen this weekend.IndyCar Series teams have six sets of primary dry racing slicks, five setsof rain tires and three sets of alternate "red" tires. Each entry must declare to the Indy Racing League within one hour after qualifying on which dry-condition tire spec it intends to start the race.All cars must use at least one primary set and one new alternate set during the race, each for a minimum of two green-flag laps.
Firestone Racing is bringing a new primary tire specification to Watkins Glen, while alternate tires will be used here for the first time. The rain tire is the more durable, "road course rain" specification. The primary specis a durable road course compound and construction, designed to withstand the high speeds encountered on the IndyCar Series' longest permanent road course.
The alternate tires are identical in construction to the primaries but contain a softer tread compound, which will provide more grip and faster lap times, yet will trade off compound durability in exchange for those shorter- term advantages.
AL SPEYER (Executive Director, Firestone Racing): "After nearly three months of racing on ovals, Firestone Racing is looking forward to a few consecutive road and street course races. Not only does the move from ovals to road courses like Watkins Glen showcase the talent of the IndyCar Series drivers through the differing demands of the diverse track lineup, it also givesFirestone Racing an opportunity to once again feature our alternate tire concept. Last year's event in Watkins Glen was one of the more exciting road/street course events of the season, and with alternate tires in the mix this year, I anticipate that this year's race will be as good or better.There is a significant gap between the primary and alternate tire specifications for this event, so tire management and strategy will no doubt come into play. And with ever-changing weather forecasts, it remains to be seen whether our wet tire will be necessary, as well!"
The Indy Racing League, the sanctioning body for Firestone Indy Lights, has penalized driver Ana Beatriz for on-track actions during the race June 20 at Iowa Speedway. Beatriz has been penalized five grid positions for this weekend's event atWatkins Glen for failing to respond to yellow flag conditions, which is a violation of rules involving caution periods as listed in the Firestone IndyLights Rule Book. She is starting 17th. Beatriz may appeal the penalty as prescribed in the Firestone Indy Lights Rule Book. An appeal may result in an increase, decrease or no change to the penalty.
2005 Firestone Indy Lights champion Wade Cunningham has a strong record at Watkins Glen, with podium finishes in each of his four starts here. He wonthe first race of a double-header in 2007, finished second in the second race of the double-header in 2007, second in 2006 and third in 2005.Cunningham also won two poles here, in 2005 and 2007. Cunningham will drive the No. 11 Lucas Oil/Sam Schmidt Motorsports car this weekend.
WADE CUNNINGHAM: "Because Watkins Glen is such a fast-running track, you're not forcing the car around like a street course. But because of the high speed corners and long straights here, you can't run a lot of downforce. Sothe track requires a lot of confidence and commitment from the driver inorder to be quick. If you can get it all right, you're rewarded as adriver."
When the United States men's soccer team lost, 3-2, in the final of the FIFAConfederations Cup June 28, Firestone Indy Lights team owner Sam Schmidtlost a friendly bet with one of his team's drivers, Brazilian Ana Beatriz.
SAM SCHMIDT: "First off, I want to congratulate USA Soccer for its tremendous performance in the FIFA international tournament recentlycompleted, beating Spain and almost winning the title. However, I am quite bummed they didn't beat Brazil in the finals as Bia would have had to wear aTeam USA jersey all weekend per our bet."
Vitor Meira isn't exceptionally flexible at the moment, so "I'm just not going to be very good changing tires and fueling," he said. But the veteran IndyCar Series driver is attending the race weekend at TheGlen to support the A.J. Foyt Racing team and driver Ryan Hunter-Reay. It will be the first race Meira has attended since suffering two broken lower vertebrae during the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday, May 24, but histhoughts have been with the team while recuperating and rehabilitating.Meira is wearing a torso brace in lieu of surgery.
VITOR MEIRA: "They've been giving me a lot of support since the accident,and most of all, they're all my friends and I want to be with them. Second of all, to be at the racetrack, that's where I always want to be, and that's where I love to be. I don't want to be at home if I can be at the racetrack.I'll probably go around the track and watch some cars with a stopwatch and take some times and take notes on some different lines so I can keep Ryan updated on what people are doing out there."
Ali Jackson, the driver of the #6 Moyvalley Hotel & Golf Resort/Allied carin Firestone Indy Lights, did not participate in this morning's practice session or this afternoon's qualifying session due to travel delays from his native Northern Ireland.
Defending Camping World at the Glen winner Ryan Hunter-Reay, driver of theNo. 14 ABC Supply Co. AJ Foyt Racing car, took some good-natured teasingf rom members of the Buffalo media Thursday during a media tour in the city.Florida resident Hunter-Reay is an avid fan of the Miami Dolphins of theNFL, the archrival of the Buffalo Bills.
Firestone Indy Lights veteran Richard Antinucci will make his IndyCar Seriesdebut this weekend in the No. 98 CURB/Agajanian/Team 3G car. Antinucci, fromSan Diego, finished second in the Firestone Indy Lights standings in 2008,32 points behind champion Raphael Matos. He won the second race of theFirestone Indy Lights double-header in 2008 at The Glen. Antinucci is the nephew of 1998 Indianapolis 500 winner Eddie Cheever Jr.,who raced in the 1980 United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen. ***
FIRESTONE INDY LIGHTS POST-QUALIFYING NOTES: . James Davison won the pole in the No. 21 People*s Liberation/VisionRacing entry. Davison, 22, is from Melbourne, Australia. This is his firstpole of the season and his second career pole. He also won the pole in 2008at Nashville Superspeedway. Davison did not start the first race of thedouble-header last season at Watkins Glen and was credited with 21st place.In the second race, he started 21st - based on his finishing position in thefirst race - and finished 11th.. James Davison is the fifth different pole winner in eight FirestoneIndy Lights races this season.. Sebastian Saavedra qualified second in the No. 27 Automatic FireSprinklers entry, his fourth front-row qualifying position of the season. Hewon the pole for the second race at St. Petersburg and qualified second atKansas and Indianapolis.. James Hinchcliffe qualified third in the No. 7 Hinchtown/Sam SchmidtMotorsports entry, his second top-three start of the season. He qualifiedsecond at Long Beach.. Points leader J.R. Hildebrand qualified fourth in the No. 26 ARPROentry, continuing his streak of earning a top-four qualifying spot at alleight Firestone Indy Lights races this season.. Charlie Kimball qualified a season-best fifth in the No. 35 PalmBeach International Raceway entry. His previous best was seventh at Kansasand Indianapolis, both ovals. His previous best road-course start thisseason was 12th in the first race of the St. Petersburg double-header.. Felipe Guimaraes qualified sixth in the No. 29 Bryan Herta Autosportentry in his Firestone Indy Lights debut.
*** FIRESTONE INDY LIGHTS POST-QUALIFYING QUOTES:
JAMES DAVISON (No. 21 People*s Liberation/Vision Racing, pole): "It was amatter of time before we secured the results we deserved as a team. I put inthree solid laps on the tires, and I knew it was going to be a tough time tobeat. I came in with about five minutes to go, and I was biting myfingernails and we stayed on top. It's a great result we've secured. Nowit's about trying to get the race victory. I'll be doing everything I can toget that tomorrow."
SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA (No. 27 Automatic Fire Sprinklers, Inc, second): "I thinkwe still have some time missing by myself, not because of the car. I thinkthe car was perfect. I made a small mistake in the last corner going to intowhat is the (finishing) turn for us (Turn 9). I think there's at leastone-tenth that I lose there. Still I'm very happy. Now it's time to showwhat we've got. It's time to start getting points back that we've missed inthe last few races. There are so many points we could have had from thoseraces. I'm pretty confident we can have a good weekend."
JAMES HINCHCLIFFE (No. 7 Hinchtown/Sam Schmidt Motorsports, third): "I thinkgiven the amount of track time we got, P3 is a pretty respectable position.We struggled a bit in a practice this morning and, to be fair, even thefirst part of qualifying was a little bit nail-biting because we didn'tquite have the balance we needed or the speed. The car felt fine. We justdidn't have the speed. On our second set of tires, we managed to find a bigchunk of time, a nice rhythm, and we pumped out a lot of laps in that 1:37.3bracket, but we just couldn't put together that extra tenth and a half weneeded for pole. We're starting on the inside for tomorrow, which I'm reallypleased about, and we're still learning. I know the AGR guys tested hereearlier this year, so they pretty much know where their cars are at. I knowof a couple of places where we can make ours a bit better. We'll usetomorrow morning's practice session to tune it a bit and just hope for areally strong race car."
J.R. HILDEBRAND (No. 26 ARPRO, fourth): "We had a pretty good car forqualifying. We weren't going full throttle, and we are still starting on thesecond row. I got caught up in some traffic on the last stint of the run, soI think we could've picked up some time there, which is frustrating. But wehave a really good car. We'll focus on the race setup tomorrow morning andmake any last-minute changes. I hope we can make our way through traffic andhave a strong finish." *** IndyCar Series drivers Tony Kanaan and Raphael Matos met with the media thisafternoon.
TONY KANAAN (No. 11 Team 7-Eleven): (How do your injured ribs feel?):"Better. I was really concerned that day when I was here testing because ithurt me a lot. But I think we will be good for this weekend. Still feelingit a little bit, so we're going to manage with the IndyCar Safety Team andthe doctors. I've been taking a shot before every race that makes me not tohurt a lot in the ribs. Hopefully I won't to do that this weekend. But I'm alot better than I was, for sure." (What's tougher on your ribs, a high-speedoval or a road course?): "Here, for sure. We're turning left and right.Especially at this track, it's a fast track. The long-radius corners. Theroad course is a lot worse than the ovals for my ribs. This is the first onesince the accident, so hopefully we'll be OK."
RAPHAEL MATOS (No. 2 US Marines Luczo Dragon Racing): "Everything is comingtogether pretty good. Obviously, we've had a season full of ups and downs.Good performances at Long Beach and at Indy, but the crash at Indy wassomething we're not looking for. I think the team has been improving everyrace, every time we go to the track, every test. The team, as a whole, iscoming together with time. Performance-wise, we have what it takes to getpodium finishes. It's just a matter of putting everything together and beingin the right place at the right time."
