IndyCar
IRL: Sears Point: Panoz qualifying report
Briscoe breaks through with Panoz for first IndyCar Series pole SONOMA, CA - Ryan Briscoe fulfilled the promise shown on Friday by taking his clearly superior ...
Edited: Mar 27, 2008, 5:32 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Briscoe breaks through with Panoz for first IndyCar Series pole
SONOMA, CA - Ryan Briscoe fulfilled the promise shown on Friday by taking his clearly superior #33 Target/Pioneer Panoz/Toyota/Firestone Indy car to the Marlboro Pole Award this afternoon. Best in single car time trials, rookie Briscoe led the top three drivers - of six total - improving on his earlier speed (107.606mph) to run the fastest lap of the session at 108.248mph.
The Australian turned eight laps total and seven in the 10-minute Fast Six Shootout. He will lead a 21-car field to the green flags tomorrow in the Argent Mortgage Indy Grand Prix on the 2.26-mile, 12-turn Infineon Raceway Sears Point road course, the first natural road course contest for the Indy Racing League's premier series in its ten years of existence.
"My Panoz has been working really well since we got here and we having been making small improvements all the time," Briscoe advised. "It will be a long race tomorrow and we'll all have to pay attention to strategies as we go along." Briscoe credited consistent tire performance aiding his car's balance as he would first cool and then heat his Firestone Firehawks. "The grip was still there," he said.
For the ten minutes of additional qualifying to set the top six slots, Briscoe's team "added some front from the one-lapper and that was it. We were confident from Friday," when he was fastest, "and we knew we'd be strong."
Panoz designer Richard Wilks declared, "Ganassi's boys deserved what they earned here today with all of their hard work. They've clearly shown the value of the Panoz chassis this afternoon."
2004 Indianapolis 500 champion Buddy Rice starts sixth - the final driver in the shootout - but was unable to improve on his single-car qualifying lap of 106.594mph in the #15 Argent Mortgage/Pioneer Panoz/Honda. "We learned a little bit in qualifying and tried some new things in the ten-minute shootout," Rice said. "In the shootout, we were running a 'top-three' time but it didn't get the car to stick well coming down the hill. With the heat we lost some grip in qualifying; it wasn't terrible but it wasn't great either."
Scott Dixon earned ninth on the grid in his #9 Target Panoz/Toyota, putting up a lap of 106.365mph yet believing his Panoz performed better in the cooler morning practice. "I had a big moment in the Carousel (turn 6) and got sideways," he said.
-panoz
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 IPS: IRL: Indy Racing League News & Notes 2005-08-23
Next article CHAMPCAR/CART: Montreal Friday practice 1 times
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Scott Dixon
Arrow McLaren signs multi-year engine extension with Chevrolet
IndyCar
IndyCar
Arrow McLaren signs multi-year engine extension with Chevrolet
Ganassi on Lundgaard signing: “When is the last time a guy who finished third was available"
IndyCar
IndyCar
Ganassi on Lundgaard signing: “When is the last time a guy who finished third was available"
McLaren Racing and Edward Jones join forces in multi-year F1 and IndyCar partnership
IndyCar
IndyCar
McLaren Racing and Edward Jones join forces in multi-year F1 and IndyCar partnership
Latest news
Kaden Honeycutt wins incident-free Phoenix NASCAR Truck race, extends points lead
NASCAR Truck
NSTR NASCAR Truck
Phoenix
1 h
Kaden Honeycutt wins incident-free Phoenix NASCAR Truck race, extends points lead
GTA VI 'Vice City' blimp to appear at NASCAR championship weekend
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Phoenix II
6 h
GTA VI 'Vice City' blimp to appear at NASCAR championship weekend
Verstappen Racing struggles to 15th as Porsche takes emotional Portimao pole
GT World Challenge Europe Endurance
WCEE GT World Challenge Europe Endurance 7 h
Verstappen Racing struggles to 15th as Porsche takes emotional Portimao pole
Franco Colapinto urges fans to stop the abuse: “You’re not helping me or my future”
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Singapore GP
11 h
Franco Colapinto urges fans to stop the abuse: “You’re not helping me or my future”
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