Ryan Briscoe fastest in Long Beach IndyCar qualifying, Dario Franchitti gets pole
Ryan Briscoe secured the bonus point for topping qualifying for Sunday's IndyCar race in Long Beach, although the grid penalties that have been incurred by all Chevrolet teams mean that Dario Franchitti will start from pole
Franchitti was the only driver in the final round of qualifying not to be carrying a 10-place penalty, meaning that pole was already guaranteed for the Ganassi driver. But the session remained hard-fought nonetheless, with Briscoe producing a 1m08.6089s in the final seconds to put himself 0.0984 seconds ahead of Penske team-mate Will Power.
Andretti's Ryan Hunter-Reay was third-fastest in the session ahead of Franchitti, EJ Viso (KV Racing) and James Hinchcliffe (Andretti).
Sarah Fisher Hartman rookie Josef Newgarden was knocked out of the running at the end of the second phase of qualifying, but he still managed to be the second highest-placed of the non-penalised cars and will share the front row with Franchitti.
Dale Coyne Racing's Justin Wilson will be moved up to third on the grid once the penalties are assessed, with Briscoe to line up in 11th place.
All of the three phases of qualifying were eventful, although the most bizarre incident involved Franchitti's team-mate Scott Dixon. Flame erupted from the rear of the New Zealander's car early in the second phase, forcing him into the pits to have the flare-up extinguished. He quickly rejoined, only for the flames to reappear as soon as he rejoined the track, prompting another flurry of black flags. Fortunately the gearbox-related fire did not cause any engine damage.
All 11 of the Chevrolet-powered cars and three Lotus-powered cars were hit with 10 place grid penalties going into the session after making unauthorised engine changes.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Ryan Briscoe* Penske DW12-Chevy 1m08.6089s 2. Will Power* Penske DW12-Chevy 1m08.7073s + 0.0984s 3. Ryan Hunter-Reay* Andretti DW12-Chevy 1m08.7163s + 0.1074s 4. Dario Franchitti Ganassi DW12-Honda 1m09.0327s + 0.4238s 5. EJ Viso* KV DW12-Chevy 1m09.0634s + 0.4545s 6. James Hinchcliffe* Andretti DW12-Chevy 1m09.2109s + 0.6020s 7. Josef Newgarden Fisher DW12-Honda 1m09.0697s Round 2 8. Helio Castroneves* Penske DW12-Chevy 1m09.0846s Round 2 9. Justin Wilson Coyne DW12-Honda 1m09.0910s Round 2 10. Tony Kanaan* KV DW12-Chevy 1m09.1987s Round 2 11. Simon Pagenaud Schmidt DW12-Honda 1m09.2078s Round 2 12. Scott Dixon Ganassi DW12-Honda 1m09.3658s Round 2 13. Takuma Sato Rahal DW12-Honda 1m09.9000s Group 1 14. Mike Conway Foyt DW12-Honda 1m09.8868s Group 2 15. Graham Rahal Ganassi DW12-Honda 1m09.9796s Group 1 16. JR Hildebrand* Panther DW12-Chevy 1m10.3794s Group 2 17. Charlie Kimball Ganassi DW12-Honda 1m10.0188s Group 1 18. Marco Andretti* Andretti DW12-Chevy 1m10.5939s Group 2 19. Rubens Barrichello* KV DW12-Chevy 1m10.0651s Group 1 20. Oriol Servia* Dreyer & Reinbold DW12-Lotus 1m10.6835s Group 2 21. Alex Tagliani BHA DW12-Lotus 1m10.8168s Group 1 22. James Jakes Coyne DW12-Honda 1m10.7579s Group 2 23. Ed Carpenter* Carpenter DW12-Chevy 1m11.4519s Group 1 24. Sebastien Bourdais* Dragon DW12-Lotus 1m10.8154s Group 2 25. Katherine Legge* Dragon DW12-Lotus 1m12.1142s Group 1 26. Simona de Silvestro HVM DW12-Lotus 1m12.0590s Group 2 * = Will be given 10-place engine change penalty
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