IndyCar
IRL: Firestone Texas qualifying report
Mark Dismore and Scott Sharp of Kelley Racing swept qualifying honors Thursday evening and the front row for Saturday's race. Dismore clocked a best lap of 215.508 mph to capture the fourth pole position of his Indy Racing League career, and second ...
Edited: Mar 27, 2008, 5:47 AM
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Mark Dismore and Scott Sharp of Kelley Racing swept qualifying honors Thursday evening and the front row for Saturday's race. Dismore clocked a best lap of 215.508 mph to capture the fourth pole position of his Indy Racing League career, and second on Firestone tires. Sharp was second fastest (215.065), with the teammates the only drivers among the 23 qualifiers to exceed 215 mph.
Dismore won the top starting spot despite being limited to 10 laps in the first practice session because of engine problems. The second scheduled IRL practice session was canceled following a brief rain shower.
"All the teams performed well in qualifying despite limited practice time," said Dwayne Joyner, Firestone Senior Project Engineer. "They obviously had confidence in their tires to push them that hard on a green track, and that is directly attributable to their familiarity with the Firestone Firehawks. We came here with the same tire spec as last year, so most everyone had run on these tires before. It's certainly a reason the Kelley Racing drivers were quick out of the box and why we believe we're in for another Texas thriller Saturday night."
Driver/Team MemberQuotes Mark Dismore, Kelley Racing Dallara/Olds/Firestone: "We came here with the set-up we knew worked well and were really close right off. After not getting much practice time, we had to guess a little on the gearing (for qualifying), but I guess we made the best guess. The tire wear is incredible with the Firestones. We did 10 laps this afternoon, five or six of them hot laps, and the tires still had the mold markers on when I came in."
Jim Freudenberg, general manager, Kelley Racing: "We love Texas! We've had good success here. The guys know what they want in the cars and this group's been together enough to know how to set up the cars to give it to them. We love those Firestone tires. We just wish we could have been on them two years earlier."
-Firestone
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