---Lined up to run 21st out of 26 qualifiers, Dario Franchitti nearly broke the 171 mph barrier at Milwaukee today to claim pole on the historic one-mile oval for Sunday's 225-lap race.
After a week spent grumbling about the starting procedure for the second of the Texas Twin 275 races where he drew the 28th position (and watched as championship rival Will Power drew third and won the race), Franchitti sent a not-so-subtle reminder to Power and Team Penske that when it comes to ovals, the 38-year-old is now on a mission.
The Scot's first pole of the season and first at Milwaukee came with a two-lap average speed of 170.841 mph, and after completing his harrowing run, the defending series champion said he left nothing on the table.
“That was a combination of the Target team’s skill at setting the car up, and I don’t know if it was my skill or bravery. The car was so loose for both laps. That was the best qualifying run I’ve done here. I’m happy with that. If someone goes out and beats that, good luck to them.”
The closest anyone would come was a 169.999 average, set by Penske's Helio Castroneves. One of the Captain's cars was fast on Friday, with Will Power leading the field, but in the two practice session on Saturday prior to qualifying, the three Team Penske drivers struggled to varying degrees as the Ganassi duo of Franchitti and Scott Dixon hit their stride.
Castroneves' team opted for light downforce in qualifying, but as the Brazilian shares, a bigger change was needed to move past Franchitti. “It took a little gamble. In the end of the day, one of the guys has to take a gamble and in this situation, it was me. I was very low on downforce, but not enough to be P1. I’ll take it.”
Castroneves' teammates will have work to do in the race, as Ryan Briscoe improved to qualify eighth--his best run of the weekend--while Will Power, Franchitti's closest rival, had a disastrous qualifying session, ending up 17th. “I felt pretty solid out there," said Briscoe. "We’ve been struggling to find the balance. The car felt better than it had all weekend."
Power, who had his worst qualifying result of the year after fighting an ill-handling car, did his best to mask the obvious disappointment of starting so far away from the pole. “That’s a tough qualifying result for Verizon Team Penske,” he said. “We were flat through turns one and two but we had a big moment there in turn three when we got loose and that cost us. It’s certainly not where wanted to start the race, but we know we have a good race car and we’ll put our heads down and try to make up ground tomorrow.”
Behind Castroneves, Dixon qualified third, and had a Ganassi 1-2 going until the three-time Indy 500 split the pair. “It’s a pretty decent qualifying effort by us," said the Kiwi. "Hopefully we can have a good weekend for both [Target Chip Ganassi] cars this weekend.”
KV Racing-Lotus has maintained the pace and performance it displayed at Texas last weekend, as Tony Kanaan led the three-car team in qualifying with a strong run to fourth. Teammates Takuma Sato (fifth) and E.J. Viso (sixth) gave the team its best overall qualifying performance of the year.
The cagey Brazilian, however, wanted more from his qualifying run, but was still pleased to be starting from the second row. "The car is pretty decent this weekend," said Kanaan. "I have to say that I am so happy to be back at Milwaukee, I have missed the butterfly in my stomach feeling and getting out of the car shaking a little after qualifying...it's a real race track. I'll tell you, not bad today for an old man and a young team.”
Viso thanked his team for his third-row qualifying result. “We’ve done a great progression with the car," said the Venezuelan. "We, as a team, have created great cars so far. Give the credit to the KV Racing team. They’ve worked very hard.”
Ryan Hunter-Reay expected to start closer to the front, and will start seventh, the first of Andretti Autosport's four entries. “It was pretty good," he said. "I thought it was going to be a lot quicker than that, though. I’m looking forward to being back at Milwaukee. It’s excellent for the IndyCar Series.”
With his teammate Marco Andretti in ninth, Danica Patrick in 15th and Mike Conway--who has been completely off the mark on the ovals this year--in 20th, the group still has a lot of improving to do if it hopes to challenge Ganassi or Penske away from the road and street courses. "I'm disappointed we didn't have the speed we were looking for today," said Patrick. "I was hopeful that after our solid practice sessions that the GoDaddy.com car would have qualified better. We will have to work hard tomorrow to work our way through the field."
Oriol Servia qualified 10th in his Newman/Haas Racing entry using a race setup. “Those were the only two laps I have ever done completely flat at this place," he said. "We did a great job with the setup and the car felt good but that is all we had. We didn’t trim the car for qualifying and it looks like everyone else did so we probably should have. I am very happy with the Telemundo car though; I think it will be good in the race."
Servia's rookie teammate, James Hinchcliffe, used the Catalonian's setup to try and find more pace in the No. 06 Sprott-sponsored car. "We had a little bit of a rough last practice," said the young Canadian, who will start 16th. "It's a big improvement over what we did this morning. We can be pleased with that."
Dreyer & Reinbold maintained its place from practice, earning 11th on the grid, but it was Ana Beatriz who led the team's efforts, rather than veteran Justin Wilson, who will start 13th.
Of the remaining qualifiers, Alex Lloyd impressed in 14th in his Dale Coyne Racing entry, while a few drivers continued to have a miserable experience at Milwaukee. Alex Tagliani, who crashed on Friday, could only muster enough speed to earn 19th on the grid.
“It’s been a pretty difficult weekend so far," said the French-Canadian who earned pole position at the last two rounds. "Obviously we’re struggling a bit with the car. The car seems a little better than it has been all weekend. We’ll go back to the trailer and regroup.”
Ed Carpenter, who starred in the No. 67 Sarah Fisher Racing car at Indy, has been mired at the bottom of the time sheets all weekend, and his fortunes didn't change in qualifying. "Our qualifying run wasn't good," he said. "We're just not having a very good weekend. It's been a discouraging one. We've been chasing the car all weekend, and it was the best it's been during my qualifying run, but we've still got a lot of work to do." Carpenter will start on the last row in 25th.
The only driver to crash during qualifying was HVM Racing's Simona De Silvestro whose tough post-Indy run continued as she hit fairly hard in Turn 4, and then came across the track to strike the inside wall from behind. De Silvestro was transported to a local hospital, complaining of stiffness.
"She's OK," HVM team owner Keith Wiggins told SPEED.com early Saturday evening. "They took her to the hospital for cautionary reasons and took X-Rays and she's OK. She should be on her way back to the circuit now. The car's not that bad. It's repairable. It's not what she needed and she's trying to rebuild her confidence, but we'll be ready to race tomorrow." The next step for De Silvestro will be to seek clearance to drive from the IndyCar medical team.
Results of qualifying Saturday for the Milwaukee 225 IZOD IndyCar Series event on the 1.015-mile Milwaukee Mile, with starting position, car number in parentheses, driver, chassis-engine, and speed:
1. (10) Dario Franchitti, Dallara-Honda, 170.841
2. (3) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Honda, 169.999
3. (9) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 169.582
4. (82) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Honda, 169.365
5. (5) Takuma Sato, Dallara-Honda, 169.308
6. (59) EJ Viso, Dallara-Honda, 169.082
7. [28] Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Honda, 169.014
8. (6) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Honda, 168.598
9. (26) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Honda, 168.456
10. (2) Oriol Servia, Dallara-Honda, 168.320
11. (24) Ana Beatriz, Dallara-Honda, 167.863
12. [38] Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 167.674
13. (22) Justin Wilson, Dallara-Honda, 167.621
14. (19) Alex Lloyd, Dallara-Honda, 167.162
15. (7) Danica Patrick, Dallara-Honda, 166.779
16. (06) James Hinchcliffe, Dallara-Honda, 166.558
17. (12) Will Power, Dallara-Honda, 166.248
18. (4) JR Hildebrand, Dallara-Honda, 166.070
19. (77) Alex Tagliani, Dallara-Honda, 166.031
20. (27) Mike Conway, Dallara-Honda, 166.003
21. (83) Charlie Kimball, Dallara-Honda, 165.592
22. (14) Vitor Meira, Dallara-Honda, 165.375
23. [18] James Jakes, Dallara-Honda, 164.814
24. (34) Sebastian Saavedra, Dallara-Honda, 164.440
25. (67) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Honda, 163.304
26. (78) Simona de Silvestro, Dallara-Honda, no speed