Ryan Hunter-Reay posted a lap of 1 minute, 05.3519 seconds in the Chevrolet-powered No. 1 DHL car for Andretti Autosport to earn the Verizon P1 Award for the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio on Aug. 4.
The reigning IZOD IndyCar Series champion came tantalizing close to the track record of 1:05.347 shared by Dario Franchitti (August 1999) and Gil de Ferran (August 2000) in the Firestone Fast Six to claim his third pole of the season and first in eight starts at the 2.258-mile, 13-turn Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
There are six races left in the season and Hunter-Reay is third in the standings (68 points behind front-runner Helio Castroneves).
"Last year we clawed back from bigger deficits," he said. "Being late in the season, we need to go like we did last year at the end of the season, which is go for broke. We're not interested in banking results right now and going for second or third in the championship because nobody really remembers who finishes second a couple of years from now.
"We're going for it. Hopefully this is the first step in it. But we have a long way to go, including tomorrow's fight for the win. It's going to be a long, hard race going up against the Ganassi, Penske boys and my teammates as well."
Will Power, the 2012 pole sitter in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske car, was .1840 of a second back for his fourth front-row start of the season. Scott Dixon, who has won the past two races at Mid-Ohio and four of the past six, will be on Row 2 with Marco Andretti, who made his first appearance of the season in the Firestone Fast Six.
Dixon's teammate Charlie Kimball tied his career-best qualifying effort of fifth and Franchitti checked in sixth. Castroneves, who enters the 90-lap race with a 29-point lead over Dixon, will start 15th in the No. 3 PPG Team Penske car. It's his fourth non-top 10 qualifying result of the season and the first since Milwaukee in mid-June. He finished second in that 250-lap race on the one-mile oval.
Also on Aug. 3, Gabby Chaves earned his first Firestone Indy Lights Sunoco Pole Award in qualifying for the Mid-Ohio 100 on Aug. 4.
Chaves, driving the No. 7 Schmidt Peterson with Curb-Agajanian car, recorded a lap of 1 minute, 13.3306 seconds. Peter Dempsey recorded his first front-row start of the season in the No. 5 Belardi Auto Racing car.
Jack Hawksworth and series championship points leader Carlos Munoz will start on Row 2 for the 40-lap race.
DAY 2 NOTEBOOK:
The new Acura NSX, which is being developed for 2015 at Honda R&D Americas in Ohio, will make its public debut Aug. 4 before the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio.
The prototype model will be driven by Honda engineer Jason Widmer on the 2.258-mile, 13-turn road course. The 2013 Honda Accord Safety Car driven by three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Johnny Rutherford was built at the facility in Marysville, Ohiio.
In addition to the R&D facility, Honda operates multiple manufacturing plants, which employ more than 10,500 associates, in the state. Honda also is a major sponsor of the Mid-Ohio School, providing a fleet of Honda and Acura vehicles for the school's teen safe driving and high-performance driving programs.
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The accessible Ford Explorer presented to wounded U.S. Marine Corps Lance Cpl Mike Delancey in July will be featured on "West Coast Customs" on the Fox Sports Network on Aug. 4. Schmidt Hamilton Motorsports, HP and Environmental Rail Solutions helped fund the vehicle that was constructed by BraunAbility (the largest manufacturer of wheelchair accessible vans, ramps, and wheelchair lifts worldwide).
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Angie's List, the national consumer review company, will be the primary sponsor of the No. 55 Schmidt Peterson Motorsports car driven by Tristan Vautier's for five of the final six races of the season.
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The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio is the first race that optional road course aluminum steering arms provided by Dallara are available for use by IZOD IndyCar Series teams.
The steering arms apply pressure from the steering rack to the uprights and allow the front tires to turn left and right. Steel steering arms are standard on the 2012 Dallara chassis.
Aluminum steering arms, designed to fail just above the track rod buckling load, could aid in reducing the transfer of energy to the steering rack and into the car upon impact. The steel steering arms have a tolerance 2.5 times the track rod buckling load.
"The aluminum steering arms can help reduce the likelihood of driver hand and wrist injuries in certain circumstances," said Will Phillips, vice president, technology, INDYCAR. "Dallara continues to try to improve all safety aspects of the car with input from INDYCAR and IZOD IndyCar Series drivers. Currently, the components remain optional for the teams as we continue to collate any incident data."
Six teams placed an order for the aluminum steering arms.
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Ohio native and Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing co-owner Sarah Fisher met with the media following the first practice.
SARAH FISHER (Co-owner Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing): (About her car leading the practice session: "The kid (Josef Newgarden) really has it together. We made some changes overnight and reacted really well to a green track. He's getting everything out of it he can. It was nice to see that. We're just looking forward to qualifying and go through the day."
(About adding a second car for Lucas Luhr at Sonoma): "The decision stemmed from our decision with Steve Weirich and RW Motorsports. Steve came on to partner with us to run Bryan Clauson at Indianapolis in 2012. As part of that relationship, we needed to run his car - the third car that we rotate through our stable - at some point during the season. Indianapolis didn't really look to be the best for that this year for us. As we were talking to Honda and some of the opportunities, Sonoma seemed to fit very well into what we were trying to accomplish. That's is where we targeted to start the program at."
(Do you miss being in a car?): "Not here. (Laughing) Some days, yeah. But I think the older you get as a driver, the more tolerance really shows. You have to tolerate a bad race car on days to get to the good race car days. As a driver, I was getting to the point where I didn't really want to do that anymore. It worked out well for me. To see Josef doing extremely well and know we have a good car, that we hired the right staff and so forth. That's rewarding to me because that's something, at times, I didn't have. To be able to put that together and see that grow and develop is very rewarding in itself."
(About young drivers getting time to develop): "It's not easy to be thrown in a seat and to be the only driver on a team. I've been there and I know how hard it is. Lucky for me, between Derrick Walker and Dennis Reinbold, I had people who believed in me and stuck by me. Having that background, working with Josef and seeing where a teammate would be incredibly helpful for him and seeing him develop so well without a teammate, I know the time and the time amount we have on track and the testing. All that is adding together and we can see, everyone can see the numbers improving. Whether Race Day this year was a team issue, or a Josef issue or whatever, the numbers are getting better. That's rewarding in itself. As we continue to exponentially get better throughout the field, we can see a lot of the things that we invested in paying off. As far as an exact answer for how many years it can take, it depends on the individual, but for Josef, if we all get along and everything executes the way it would be, his contact is five years. We look towards longer term to be able to develop a new guy like that. Absolutely."
(About expanding to a full-time two-car team): "We've wanted to be two cars from day one and we've explored it here and there. It absolutely has to be the right program. For us, (Sonoma) is one more of those weekends to explore what is it going to take. What do we need when we align it and make it happen. It's really an exploratory venture for us as well as satisfying what we need to do for Steve Weirich and RW Motorsports. Certainly having two cars is very valuable, especially with the changing metrics, changing tires, changing things that are ever evolving in our sport."
(About Greg Pickett involvement in second car): "Yet another guy who is partnering (laughter). I've not spoken with Greg (Pickett) a whole, whole lot, but this is sort of an introduction to him and what he does. I'd admire extremely a lot what he's done in the ALMS and I know he's a championship-winning owner and driver, too. He put together a great race team. For me, it's having him on board supporting it, more from a sponsorship standpoint. The ability to give him a headset and see what INDYCAR is all about, rather than coming as a race fan. He has an interest in what INDYCAR does. What the (IZOD) IndyCar Series is overall and who knows where it will go. It's exploratory on that end as well. We're just really happy to see more and more partners and more and more people have an interest in our sport. We feel a responsibility to expand the IndyCar Series as owners."
(Do you have the urge to get back in a car?): "I don't think Honda would want me at Mid-Ohio (laughter). I think the urge is there when Josef has a really good race car. When every individual on our team does their job the very best and you come away with a P1 or something very exciting. Or you qualify in the top-nine shootout at Indy. That's when you say, "It would be so much fun to jump in there." But I didn't work hard to get there, so I don't deserve to be there. It's sort of rewarding to see that come together but certainly on the days that are really good, and even sometimes when it's bad, I think, maybe I can jump in there and help Josef or at least give him someone to talk to about what he's dealing with, on an oval."
(How different is the excitement as an owner?): "It's a completely different experience. Just being an athlete and having that different mindset. Granted I've done all three - the driving, the driving and owning, which Ed (Carpenter) is dealing with right now and then the owning part. Just being the athlete is a lot of work, and I don't think people realize how much work that just that part of it is. It's hard to remember, nowadays. It was a lot of fun and having individuals to your assign yourself is even more fun. It just keeps getting better and better. When I go back to the motorhome at night and spend time with my 2-year-old daughter, who likes to go fast in anything, I know that I'm in trouble. As a total package it's a lot of fun."
(How do you keep taking the job home with you): "You don't. But on the other side of that I guarantee you that when Scott Dixon goes back to the coach and talks to (wife) Emma that he doesn't leave work on the track either. If I were just myself and didn't have (husband) Andy (O'Gara) as team manager, I would still talk to him about it. To have family as part of the team is excellent. You go home and talk about it and you're actually strategizing about the next move. And how you're going to accomplish whatever adversity you're facing."
(Where did you see yourself 10 years ago. And where do you see yourself in 10 years): "10 years ago, I was just an athlete and at 22 years old, my only focus was winning races and how I was going to accomplish that. I didn't really care about the next day and I don't think a lot of 22 year olds think that way, which is why young athletes do an excellent job like we saw today. For me, where I'm at now, sort of evolved and I'm very lucky to be part of racing and still have a family, which is a tough decision to do as a female athlete. To be part of the sport that I love and can't live without - I tried for a year and went insane. I dyed my hair three different colors and whatever, it's a long story but I'm back. Towards the future, we have to be a multi-car team and we have to have a feeder series to bring drivers in, to bring crew members in and bring engineers in and develop them to be where we want to be. We're very lucky. We've been able to handpick the individuals that we have and they fit in automatically. They weren't part of a system growing into the job they have right now. We're extremely lucky and I'd like to see that support series come into the shop. We've built a shop that can support that long term. That's where we've got to go. We just need to make the budget to make it happen."
AWARD:
Qualifying for the Verizon P1 Award consists of three segments. In Segment One of qualifying, each group receives 10 minutes of track time. The fastest six cars from each group advance to Segment Two, while the remaining cars are assigned positions 13-26. Group One drivers will occupy the odd-numbered positions (13, 15, 17...) while Group Two drivers will occupy the even-numbered positions (14, 16, 18...) based on their fastest lap times.
During Segment Two, the 12 advancing cars receive 10 minutes of track time. The fastest six advance to the Firestone Fast Six Shootout while the remaining six cars are ranked in positions 7-12 based on their fastest laps.
During the Firestone Fast Six, the six cars receive 10 minutes of track time, with a guarantee of five minutes of green flag time. At the end of the session, the cars are ranked 1-6 based on their fastest laps.
Any driver who causes a red flag during any segment will lose their two quickest laps.
VERIZON P1 AWARD QUALIFYING #1 SEGMENT ONE:
Segment One of qualifying is divided into two groups of 12 drivers each.
Qualifying laps will continue to be timed during local yellow conditions.
Competitors must exercise caution during a local yellow condition. Violators may be penalized; and there is no passing in a local yellow area.
A red condition will be declared when a car is in need of immediate assistance.
At 2 p.m., the ambient temperature was 74 degrees with a relative humidity of 56 percent and winds from the northeast at 8 mph. Skies were mostly cloudy. The track temperature was 107 degrees, according to Firestone engineers.
Track record: Gil de Ferran,1:05.347 (August 2000); Dario Franchitti (August 1999).
Quickest lap this weekend: #12 Will Power, 1:05.4342
2 p.m. - GREEN. First group on track.
2:10 p.m. - CHECKERED for first group. Top six cars: #10 Franchitti, #83 Kimball, #9 Dixon, #78 De Silvestro, #19 Wilson, #5 Viso. Cars failing to advance: #27 Hinchcliffe, #3 Castroneves, #18 Davison, #67 Newgarden, #6 Saavedra, #20 Carpenter.
Top time from first group: #10 Franchitti, 1:05.7004
No. 6 time from first group: #5 Viso, 1:07.5107
No. 7 time from first group: #27 Hinchcliffe, 1:07.5708
2:15 p.m. - GREEN. Second group on track.
2:17 p.m. - RED FLAG. #98 Filippi off course and makes contact with the tire barrier in Turn 12. He will lose his two quickest laps for causing the red flag.
2:20 p.m. - GREEN.
2:25 p.m. - CHECKERED for second group. Top six cars: #1 Hunter-Reay, #77 Pagenaud, #12 Power, #55 Vautier, #25 Andretti, #16 Jakes. Cars failing to advance: #7 Bourdais, #14 Sato, #4 Servia, #11 Kanaan, #15 Rahal, #98 Filippi
Top time from first group: #1 Ryan Hunter-Reay, 1:05.662
No. 6 time from first group: #16 James Jakes, 1:06.118
No. 7 time from first group: #7 Sebastien Bourdais, 1:06.185
VERIZON P1 AWARD QUALIFYING SEGMENT TWO:
At 2:30 p.m., the ambient temperature was 74 degrees with a relative humidity of 56 percent and winds from the northeast at 8 mph. Skies were mostly cloudy. The track temperature was 106 degrees, according to Firestone engineers.
2:35 p.m. - GREEN. Track open to all 12 participants in second segment.
2:45 p.m. - CHECKERED. End of segment two. Top six cars: #12 Power, #25 Andretti, #1 Hunter-Reay, #9 Dixon, #10 Franchitti and #83 Kimball. Cars failing to advance: #19 Wilson, #77 Pagenaud, #78 De Silvestro, #16 Jakes #55 Vautier and #5 Viso. All 12 cars turned laps on Firestone red "alternate" tires.
Top time from segment two: #12 Will Power, 1:05.459
No. 6 time from segment two: #83 Charlie Kimball, 1:05.887
No. 7 time from segment two: #19 Justin Wilson, 1:06.320
VERIZON P1 AWARD QUALIFYING FIRESTONE FAST SIX SHOOTOUT:
Engines in Firestone Fast Six: Honda 3 (#9 Dixon, #10 Franchitti, #83 Kimball), Chevrolet 3 (#1 Hunter-Reay, #12 Power, #25 Andretti)
2:55 p.m. - GREEN. #1 Hunter-Reay, #10 Franchitti, #83 Kimball on track on Firestone primary "black" tires.
3 p.m. - All cars on the pit lane.
3:01 p.m. - #25 Andretti and #12 Power on track on Firestone alternate "red" tires.
3:02 p.m. - All six Firestone Fast Six participants on Firestone alternate "red" tires.
3:04 p.m. - #1 Hunter-Reay quickest at 1:05.653.
3:05 p.m. - CHECKERED. #1 Hunter-Reay wins Verizon P1 Award for capturing pole with lap of 1:05.3519, the third fastest lap turned at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. #12 Power will start second, joining Hunter-Reay on front row.
VERIZON P1 AWARD QUALIFYING NOTES
This is Ryan Hunter-Reay's fifth career Indy car pole and third pole of the season. He won the Verizon P1 Award at Barber and Sao Paulo this season.
This is Hunter-Reay's first pole at Mid-Ohio and second front row start at the track. Hutner-Reay started on the front row at Mid-Ohio in 2003.
Hunter-Reay was five thousandths of a second off the track record.
Will Power qualified second. He has started in the first two rows in his last four starts at Mid-Ohio
Scott Dixon qualified third. He has started in the top-six at Mid-Ohio in last seven starts at the track
Marco Andretti qualified fourth in his first appearance in the Firestone Fast Six this season.
Andretti's best start at Mid-Ohio was third in 2008
Charlie Kimball qualified fifth, matching his career-best start which was at Barber earlier this year. Kimball qualified 10th in only previous start at Mid-Ohio (2011)
