IPS: Indianapolis II: Marco Andretti Friday notes

MARCO ANDRETTI SECURES POLE POSITION FOR LIBERTY CHALLENGE AT INDIANAPOLIS

SPEEDWAY, Ind. (June 17, 2005) Vonage driver Marco Andretti turned a best lap of 108.539 miles per hour during today's second practice session to grab the pole position for tomorrow's running of the Menards Infiniti Pro Series Liberty Challenge on the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Andretti, who won the pole and race at the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg earlier this year in his first Pro Series start, lapped the 2.605-mile course in 1:26.2360 seconds to grab the top starting position. He will start alongside series regular Nick Bussell, who recorded a lap of 107.871.

Tomorrow's 25-lap event, which begins at 5:45 p.m. (EDT), will mark Andretti's third Pro Series start of the year. In addition to his win at the Honda Grand Prix, Andretti also ran the Futaba Freedom 100 on the oval at Indianapolis last month, where he finished 16th.

Marco Andretti, #26 Vonage Dallara/Infiniti/Firestone:

"I didn't think it (winning the pole) was going to happen midway through that session because we made a bad change and we were going backwards. But, then we went back on that change, did a few other little things, put on new Firestone tires and went out and did it.

"I feel pretty awesome about my chances tomorrow because I know I'm a road course driver and I have a good long-distance car."

-AGR-