IndyCar
IRL: Chicagoland: Chevy qualifying report
Chevy powers Hornish to Chicago pole. JOLIET, Ill., Sept. 7, 2002 -- Locked in a battle for the Indy Racing League championship, Sam Hornish Jr. struck the first blow today when he put Pennzoil Panther Racing's Chevrolet Dallara on the pole for ...
Edited: Mar 27, 2008, 5:32 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Chevy powers Hornish to Chicago pole.
JOLIET, Ill., Sept. 7, 2002 -- Locked in a battle for the Indy Racing League championship, Sam Hornish Jr. struck the first blow today when he put Pennzoil Panther Racing's Chevrolet Dallara on the pole for Sunday's Delphi Indy 300 at Chicagoland Speedway. A Chevy Indy V8 powered Hornish to a track record speed of 222.867 mph on the 1.5-mile oval and secured his second pole of the season. It was the eighth pole this year for Chevrolet's Indy car engine.
"We actually went a little faster than we thought we'd run," said Hornish, who won the last race in which he started on the pole, the season-opening event in Miami. "We thought we had missed the gearing, but the Chevy motor pulled up the rev limiter in sixth gear and we went even faster than we had planned."
Hornish's chief rivals for the title, points leader Helio Castroneves and second-ranked Gil de Ferran, both struggled in qualifying. Castroneves will start 21st in the 25-car field after taking only one qualifying lap when his car had to go back through technical inspection. De Ferran, who trails his Penske teammate by one point, will start 11th. The IRL does not award championship points for poles, so Hornish will start the 200-lap race eight points behind Castroneves. A maximum of 52 points are available.
Hornish avoided disaster in the first practice session when he drove around the spinning car of Felipe Giaffone. Debris from the accident damaged the Panther Racing Dallara's front suspension and tub -- but after repairs, Hornish put the car on the pole.
"Hopefully we have our bad luck behind us," said Hornish. "The team as worked really hard to keep us competitive. Chevrolet and Firestone have provided us with good products and made sure that we're up toward the front."
Al Unser Jr. duplicated his best qualifying performance of the season, putting Kelley Racing's Chevrolet Dallara on the inside of the second row with a 222.111 mph lap.
"It was a great performance today from the Corteco Bryant Special," said Unser. "It's just a lot of hard work from the team, working together to come up with some good setups. We hit it today, but tomorrow is a different story. The draft is going to play a major part in tomorrow's race."
Rookie Vitor Meira flexed Team Menard's muscles as he qualified the Johns Manville Chevrolet Dallara fifth on the grid. Driving in place of last year's winner Jaques Lazier, who is still recuperating from an injury, Meira ran 221.297 mph in qualifying for his third IRL event.
"I want to do a good job for Team Menard and give them a good result," said the young Brazilian. "They were quick here last year, and I hope to do well for them. (Team manager) Butch Meyer is a very intelligent guy and I feel good with him taking care of everything. He was working with race engines even before I was born. I'm confident."
Hornish will have a teammate for the first time as rookie Dan Wheldon will drive Panther Racing's second Chevrolet Dallara. Wheldon put the yellow car seventh on the grid at 220.950 mph in his first IRL qualifying run.
"It's gone very well," said Wheldon. "The Pennzoil Panther team has put a great car under me and obviously the Chevrolet motor is running very well. I think we're going to be very good in the race; we've worked on the setup and I'm looking forward to my first IRL start. I think we had a good, solid qualifying run, and I'm looking for a podium finish if everything goes our way."
Felipe Giaffone, fourth in the championship points, recovered from his thrill ride on Friday to earn a top-10 qualifying spot in Mo Nunn Racing's Chevrolet G-Force.
"We had a problem with an oil line and unfortunately I hit the wall," he reported. "The car is gone, but my spare car is as good as the other one. I know my car is good for the race. All you're trying to do here is have less downforce and more power. You need to have a good engine for tomorrow, which I think I have."
Airton Dare will try to repeat his victory in July at Kansas Speedway, a twin to the Chicagoland track. He qualified A.J. Foyt's Chevy-powered Dallara 15th.
"We thought we could be faster, so I'm a bit disappointed," Dare conceded. "The same as Kansas, I have an easy car to drive. I can go low and I can go high. We were missing a little speed for qualifying, but with all the drafting in the race, we'll be fine."
The Delphi Indy 300 will start at 1 p.m. EDT (noon local time) on Sunday, Sept. 8. The 300-mile, 200-lap race will be televised live on ABC and broadcast live on the IMS Radio Network.
-gm racing-
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article CHAMPCAR/CART: Patrick Racing signs Servia for rest of season
Next article IPS: IRL: Priestley, Hallisky medical update 2002-09-07
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Helio Castroneves
Team Penske and Chevrolet announce multi-year extension of IndyCar partnership
IndyCar
IndyCar
Team Penske and Chevrolet announce multi-year extension of IndyCar partnership
Where will Kevin Magnussen rank among the Project 91 NASCAR drivers?
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
San Diego
Where will Kevin Magnussen rank among the Project 91 NASCAR drivers?
The five closest Indy 500 finishes in history
IndyCar
IndyCar
110th Running of the Indianapolis 500
The five closest Indy 500 finishes in history
More from
Panther Racing
Veteran Technical Director Kevin ‘Rocket’ Blanch retires from IndyCar, IndyCar Officiating
IndyCar
IndyCar
Veteran Technical Director Kevin ‘Rocket’ Blanch retires from IndyCar, IndyCar Officiating
Ovals ... A dying breed in IndyCar
IndyCar
IndyCar
Ovals ... A dying breed in IndyCar
Sam Hornish Jr ... Wasn't he that IndyCar driver?
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Sam Hornish Jr ... Wasn't he that IndyCar driver?
Latest news
NASCAR explains why they penalized Zane Smith after latest clash with Carson Hocevar
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Phoenix II
7 h
NASCAR explains why they penalized Zane Smith after latest clash with Carson Hocevar
Porsche boss Laudenbach says he is "not happy" with how things were handled by IMSA in 2026
IMSA
IMSA IMSA 8 h
Porsche boss Laudenbach says he is "not happy" with how things were handled by IMSA in 2026
Five things to watch out for at the F1 United States GP
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
8 h
Five things to watch out for at the F1 United States GP
KTM sees MotoGP 2027 as a fresh start: “We never had the chance to build a new bike”
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP 9 h
KTM sees MotoGP 2027 as a fresh start: “We never had the chance to build a new bike”
Feature
Discover prime content
Inside AJ Foyt Racing’s transition: Hauger’s arrival, Ferrucci’s future, and the Pierson waiting game
Feature
IndyCar
Feature
IndyCar
By Joey Barnes
Inside AJ Foyt Racing’s transition: Hauger’s arrival, Ferrucci’s future, and the Pierson waiting game
You Ask The Questions: David Malukas
IndyCar
By Joey Barnes
You Ask The Questions: David Malukas
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe