Much like yesterday, a Target Chip Ganassi Racing was fastest in qualifying for Sunday’s race at Toronto. The only difference being the driver-Scott Dixon. Dixon knocked teammate Dario Franchitti off the top spot with the fastest lap of the weekend at 58.9686 late in his session to take his first pole of the season. It is also his first front row start of the season, his best qualifying result this year was 4th at Barber. He was also the only man under 59 seconds.
“I saw the first or second lap time, and I said, ‘Wow, that’s a lot quicker than I thought,’ said Dixon. “Yesterday was more my issue. I gave up a ton of time. It’s nice to reward ourselves today with the pole.”
It marks the first time that Target Chip Ganassi Racing has swept the front row since the 2010 season finale at Homestead.
Trailing the Ganassi Pair in the second row is points leader Helio Castroneves and Ryan Hunter-Reay. Hunter-Reay’s 4th place effort is a recovery from being caught out of the Firestone Fast Six yesterday due to a late caution during the session. Will Power will roll off 5th despite catching a sponsor banner late in the session. The banner stayed attached to Power’s #12 Verizon machine for 1/3 of a lap until it became detached and was picked up by Sebastien Bourdais. The incident did not bring out a yellow and the 2 drivers will keep their respective positions.
Joining Power on the 3rd row is Tony Kanaan. Bourdais will start from 7th and Ryan Briscoe with start 8th, his best start with Panther Racing. The 5th row consists of Alex Tagliani, who is in dire need of a good run to turn his season around. Simona de Silvestro rounds out the top 10.
The only incident between the 2 sessions was James Jakes hitting the wall in turn 5 late in group 2, ending the session a few minutes early.
The track was much faster in today’s qualifying session, as every driver bettered their times from yesterday’s race 1 qualifying session.
Starting Grid:
Driver, Engine, Time
- Scott Dixon- Honda, 58.9686
- Dario Franchitti- Honda, 59.1905
- Helio Castroneves- Chevy, 59.1953
- Ryan Hunter-Reay- Chevy, 59.3915
- Will Power- Chevy, 59.2503
- Tony Kanaan- Chevy, 59.5360
- Sebastien Bourdais- Chevy, 59.5421
- Ryan Briscoe- Chevy, 59.5473
- Alex Tagliani- Honda, 59.7601
- Simona de Silvestro- Chevy, 59.6489
- EJ Viso- Chevy, 59.7821
- James Hinchcliffe- Chevy, 59.6750
- James Jakes- Honda- Chevy, 59.8103
- Justin Wilson- Honda, 59.7155
- Simon Pagenaud- Honda, 59.8326
- Charlie Kimball- Honda, 59.7871
- Takuma Sato- Honda, 1:00.0874
- Marco Andretti- Chevy, 59.8207
- Tristan Vautier- Honda, 1:00.3204
- Graham Rahal- Honda, 59.9469
- Josef Newgarden- Honda, 1:00.6174
- Sebastian Saavedra- Chevy, 1:00.1913
- Ed Carpenter- Chevy, 1:00.9519
- Mike Conway- Honda, 1:00.3919
Race 1 from Toronto comes on later today at 3 pm EST on the NBC Sports Network.
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