IRL: St. Pete: Scott Sharp qualifying report

Sharp in Row Eight for Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg It wasn't the result Scott Sharp was hoping for in qualifying this afternoon for Sunday's Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. The IndyCar Series veteran, who missed over an hour of practice time yesterday after being sidelined with a mechanical problem, claimed a 15th -place starting spot on the grid for tomorrow's 100-lap race.

Sharp, however, has been pleased with the progress of the #8 Delphi Panoz/Honda/Firestone in his limited track time on the challenging 14-turn, 1.81-mile street course. He will be looking towards the front tomorrow as he prepares for his 117 th IndyCar Series career start. Sharp overcame a qualifying penalty and last row starting position at St. Petersburg in 2005 to move up to sixth place in the race before becoming the victim of an on-track incident which ended his day early. He currently sits seventh in the championship standings.

Scott Sharp - #8 Delphi Panoz/Honda/Firestone:
"We are still trying to play catch up to the track time we lost yesterday. It is a matter of us trying to learn as much as we can about the car, and the Delphi guys don't quit. They keep working really hard. It is never easy when I'm in a Panoz and Kosuke [Matsuura] is in a Dallara because things don't exactly cross over. In a lot of ways we are here on our own but we are gaining on it every session, and I think we just need an extra session to get us where we want to be. No matter what, we are still in race mode and I think we will have a pretty good car for tomorrow. Hopefully, we will be able to take advantage of some opportunities and finish the race strongly."

-fr