Strong start
By Dave Lewandowski - Indycar.com
Friday, July 3, 2009
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. - James Davison and Sebastian Saavedra were 1-2 on the time chart in the lone practice session before qualifications for the Corning 100. They’ll start the 30-lap race July 4 in that order.
Davison earned his first pole start of the season and second of his Firestone Indy Lights career with a quick lap of 1 minute, 37.1780 seconds (124.843 mph) on the 3.37-mile, 11-turn Watkins Glen International course.
Click it: Corning 100 starting lineup
“It was a matter of time before we secured the results we deserved as a team,” said Davison, who provided the first pole for Vision Racing (Firestone Indy Lights or IndyCar Series). “For a team coming into a series that races on ovals in addition to road courses, the most difficult thing is to get the car competitive on the ovals. In the last two races at Milwaukee and Iowa, we’ve been at the top of the time sheet - whether it was in practice at Milwaukee or in qualifying at Iowa, besides spinning off on the second lap because of the weeper.
“We got punted out of a podium at St. Pete and the car died on us at Long Beach, so it’s been a bit frustrating at times not to get the results I knew we would get. I didn’t panic; it’s just a matter of getting it done on paper.”
Davison, who’s posted five consecutive top-10 finishes on ovals, moved to the top of the chart in the 45-minute qualifying session with 21:30 left and bettered the time with nine minutes (1:37.2774) and then 7:20 left. Pitting with about 5 minutes remaining, the 22-year-old Australian watched to see if Saavedra or any of the 18 other competitors could bump him from the top.
“I put in three solid laps on the tires and I knew it was going to be a tough time to beat,” said Davison, driving the No. 21 People*s Liberation entry. “When I came in with about five minutes to go, I was biting my fingernails. It’s a great result we’ve secured. Now it’s about trying to get the race victory. I’ll be doing everything I can to get that (July 4).”
Saavedra improved his time to 1.37.2694 (124.726) with 2:30 left in the session and notched his fourth front-row start.
“I think the car was perfect. I made a small mistake in the last corner going to into what is the (finishing) turn for us (Turn 9),” he said. “I think there’s at least one-tenth that I lost there. Still I’m very happy. Now it’s time to show what we’ve got. It’s time to start getting points back that we’ve missed in the last few races. There are so many points we could have had from those races. I’m pretty confident we can have a good weekend.”
James Hinchcliffe (1:37.3383) in the No. 7 Hinchtown/Sam Schmidt Motorsports car will share Row 2 with series points leader J.R. Hildebrand (1:37.3384), driving the No. 26 ARPRO car for ARPRO Andretti Green Racing/AFS Racing.
“I think given the amount of track time we got, P3 is a pretty respectable position,” Hinchcliffe said. “I know the AGR guys tested here earlier this year so they pretty much know where their cars are at. I know of a couple of places where we can make ours a bit better. We’ll use tomorrow morning’s practice session (9 a.m. EDT; watch it on indycar.com) to tune it a bit and just hope for a really strong race car.”
Charlie Kimball, driving the No. 35 Team PBIR entry, recorded a season-high fifth starting spot. Felipe Guimaraes, making his series debut for Bryan Herta Autosport, will start sixth (1:37.7849). Daniel Herrington (1:38.0530) in the No. 28 LeBleu/Bryan Herta Autosport car and Wade Cunningham, who’s 19 points out of the championship lead, will share Row 4. Cunningham, the qualifying lap record holder (2007) and rae winner at Watkins Glen, is driving the No. 7 Lucas Oil/Sam Schmidt Motorsports car.
Philippe, driving the No. 37 Team PBIR car and making his first start since April, will be on Row 5 with Mario Romancini, who’s second in the standings in the No. 5 RLR/Andersen Racing car.
Ana Beatriz, who won at Iowa Speedway two weeks ago in the No. 20 Healthy Choice/Sam Schmidt Motorsports car, was penalized five positions on the grid (to 17th) by the sanctioning Indy Racing League for failing to respond to yellow flag conditions late in that race.
