IRL: Sears Point: Vision Racing qualifying report

SONOMA, Calif. -- Vision Racing driver, Ed Carpenter, battles a shifting problem and a lack of road racing experience to notch a 20th starting position in qualifying for the Argent Mortgage Indy Grand Prix at Infineon Raceway. Competing in only his second road course event in his Indy Racing League IndyCar career, Carpenter has still managed to keep the car on track all weekend and his used that valuable time to acquire some much-needed experience.

The team had a decent day of practice on Friday, but took a turn for the worse when a shifting problem plagued the #20 Dallara/Toyota/Firestone machine today. Addressing that situation will be top priority for the final practice session of the day.

Carpenter starts on the outside of row 10 for tomorrow's race, just ahead of the final qualifier, Dario Franchitti who did not record a time or speed. Finishing the race and gaining road racing experience will be Carpenter's focus for tomorrow's affair as yet another road course race remains on the IndyCar schedule as one of the final three races.

Ed Carpenter, #20 Dallara/Toyota/Firestone:

On qualifying and weekend:: "Yesterday was a pretty good day. I left the track feeling better than I probably will today. We haven't really taken a step forward, but taken a small step back today. I think we made the car better and it will be quicker, but we're just having some problems shifting. I can't quite determine what that problem is though. All we did was change the motor and stuff like that and the problem with the shifting has been causing me to lose my rhythm and road racing is a lot about rhythm and timing and as soon as something like that happens it just messes it all up. We've been battling that all day, but I think once we get that sorted out the car will be pretty decent. I've kept it on the track for two days so far now and a lot of guys haven't made it off. So the same goal is intact that I wanted to accomplish and that is to finish the race and run as much as I can. I'm learning a lot and while I can't say I'm having the most fun that I've ever had today, I'm still taking it for what it is and learning from it."

-visionracing.net