FRANCHITTI CLAIMS PROVISIONAL POLE; TOP TIME OF 61.185 BEATS DEFENDING POLE SITTER HERTA.Byline: Steve Irvine Dario Franchitti Dario Franchitti (b. 19 May, 1973 in Bathgate, West Lothian) is a Scottish racing driver of Italian descent. He is the 2007 IndyCar Series champion. He used to compete in the IndyCar Series, formerly drove in the CART series, and won the rain-shortened 2007 Indianapolis 500. didn't exactly learn his early lessons on maneuvering through a street circuit by driving on the race tracks in his home country of Scotland. Instead, the 26-year-old Scotsman learned by driving to the race track in Scotland. ``You make your own street circuits in Scotland,'' Franchitti said with a grin. Franchitti on Friday mastered the latest CART FedEx Championship street course in provisional qualifying for Sunday's 25th running of the Toyota Grand Prix Grand Prix n. pl. Grand Prix Any of several competitive international road races for sports cars of specific engine size over an exacting, usually risky course. of Long Beach. His top effort of 61.185 seconds at an average speed of 106.244 miles per hour on the newly configured 11-turn, 1.842-mile circuit was good enough to hold off Target/Chip Ganassi Racing rookie Juan Montoya (61.956 at 105.985 mph), defending Long Beach pole sitter Bryan Herta Bryan Herta (b. May 23 1970, Warren, Michigan) is an American race car driver. He currently drives for Andretti Green Racing, which is co-owned by former CART and IRL driver Michael Andretti, in the ALMS, although his career has primarily been spent in open-wheel cars (62.189 at 105.588 mph), Tony Kanaan Antoine Rizkallah Kanaan Filho (born December 31, 1974) is a Brazilian race car driver of Lebanese Christian heritage from Salvador, Brazil. Kanaan is an IndyCar driver who holds the unique distinction of being the only driver in the long and storied history of the Indianapolis (62.332 at 105.346 mph) and Max Papis Massimiliano "Max" Papis (born October 3, 1969[1]) is a racing driver from Italy who has competed in several top-level motorsports series such as Formula One and Champ Car. (62.363 at 105.293 mph) for the provisional pole. Franchitti has won five consecutive front-row starts dating back to late last season in CART events held on temporary street circuits. Included in that string are pole positions at Toronto, Vancouver and Australia. ``I seem to like driving (on the streets) between the walls,'' Franchitti said. However, Franchitti wasn't always between the walls. ``I hit the wall on my quick lap,'' Franchitti said. ``But I didn't realize until somebody told me. (Afterward) I was asked where I hit the wall and I said `I don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. .' I think maybe I brushed it coming off the hairpin hairpin a secondary structure that occurs in single-strand RNA during protein synthesis in which the strand turns back on itself. The structure is the result of base pairing and hydrogen bond formation. (Turn 11).'' In the Friday morning practice session, Franchitti wasn't overly impressive posting the 10th quickest time of the 90-minute session. ``I think we just took it easy and worked on the car,'' Franchitti said. ``We were working on the setup, trying to get that together.'' The drivers will be back on the streets again today in two groups to participate in final qualifying for the 80-lap race Sunday. The first group, which consists of the quickest drivers from Friday, begins at 12:45 p.m. and the second group is scheduled to start at 1:30 p.m. Chances are the guy sitting on the pole Sunday will be in the quickest car during one of the two sessions today. ``Last year, it rained (on Saturday) which was to my benefit,'' said Shell Team Rahal driver Herta, who won the 1998 Long Beach pole position by turning the quickest lap in a dry provisional pole session on Friday and holding the lead when the competitors couldn't improve on his time in a rainy final qualifying run. ``Hopefully it will be dry today.'' All of the teams have had a day of experience on the newly-configured track. There were plenty of times during Friday's sessions that the drivers looked lost on the new section. Veteran Scott Pruett  This article or section needs copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone and/or spelling.You can assist by [ editing it] now. , who has been running on the streets of Long Beach since racing karts in the early 1980s, made contact with Turn 1 and spun the car leaving the following turn before stalling in the middle of the track. The other cars entering Turn 2 had to come to a near-halt before slipping past Pruett. As a result, the final 10 minutes of the first session were called off as Pruett's car, which suffered damage to the right front wheel and a broken suspension, was towed back to the pits. CART SCHEDULE Marlboro Grand Prix, Homestead, Fla. (Greg Moore Greg Moore may refer to:
Firestone Firehawk 500, Motegi, Japan. (Adrian Fernandez). Sunday - Toyota Grand Prix, Long Beach May 2 - Bosch Spark Plug spark plug: see ignition. spark plug Device that fits into the cylinder head of an internal-combustion engine and carries two electrodes separated by an air gap, across which current from a high-tension ignition system discharges, creating a spark Grand Prix, Nazareth, Pa. May 15 - Rio 400, Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, city, Brazil Rio de Janeiro (rē`ō də zhänā`rō, Port. rē`  thĭ zhənĕē`r , Brazil.
May 29 - Motorola 300, Madison, Ill. June 6 - Miller Lite Miller Lite is the name of a popular pilsner beer sold by Miller Brewing Company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin with a 4.2% ABV. Sibling beers include Miller Genuine Draft and Miller High Life. 200, West Allis, Wis. June 20 - Budweiser-G.I. Joe's 200, Portland, Ore. June 27 - Medic Drug Grand Prix, Cleveland. July 11 - Texaco-Havoline 200, Elkhart Lake, Wis. July 18 - Molson Indy, Toronto. July 25 - U.S. 500, Brooklyn, Mich. Aug. 8 - Tenneco Automotive Grand Prix, Detroit. Aug. 15 - Miller Lite 200, Lexington Ohio. Aug. 22 - Target Grand Prix, Chicago. Sept. 5 - Molson Indy, Vancouver, British Columbia. Sept. 12 - Texaco-Havoline 300, Monterey, Calif. Sept. 26 - Texaco Grand Prix, Houston. Oct. 17 - Honda Indy, Surfers Paradise, Australia. Oct. 31 - Marlboro 500, Fontana, Calif. DRIVER STANDINGS 1. Greg Moore, 34. 2. Michael Andretti, 26. 3. Gil de Ferran Gil de Ferran (born November 11, 1967) in Paris, France to Brazilian parents, is a former racing driver. De Ferran was the 2000 and 2001 Champ Car champion driving for the Penske Honda Team and the winner of the 2003 Indianapolis 500. , 25. 4. Adrian Fernandez, 21. 5. Christian Fittipaldi, 18. 6. Dario Franchitti, 14. 7. Jimmy Vasser, 13. 8. Max Papis, 10. 9. Tony Kanaan, 8. 10. Mauricio Gugelmin, 8. 11. Patrick Carpentier, 6. 12. Mark Blundell, 5. 13. Robby Gordon, 5. 14. Helio Castro-Neves, 4. 15. Juan Montoya, 3. 16. Richie Hearn, 3. 17. Paul Tracy, 2. 18. Bryan Herta, 1. CAPTION(S): Photo, Box Photo: Scotland's Dario Franchitti leads after the first qualifying day of the Long Beach Grand Prix
The Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach is the premier circuit in the Champ Car World Series. It is an open-wheel race held on a temporary road course in Long Beach, California. . Michael Caulfield/Associated Press Box: CART SCHEDULE (See text) |
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