TOYOTA INDY 400: FRANCHITTI IS FASTEST ROOKIE PATRICK TO START ON ROW 2.Byline: Louis Brewster Staff Writer FONTANA - Battling a troublesome wind, 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. put together his finest qualifying effort in seven races at California Speedway The California Speedway is a two-mile, low-banked, D-shaped oval superspeedway in Fontana, California, similar to that of "sister track" Michigan International Speedway. It is located approximately 40 miles east of Los Angeles on the site of the former Kaiser Steel mill. and will be on the pole for today's Toyota Indy 400. Franchitti zipped around the two-mile track in 32.8171 seconds, 219.398 mph, to edge Tomas Scheckter's 218.92 mph. It was Franchitti's first pole of the season and just his second in his four-year Indy Racing League The Indy Racing League, better known as IRL, is the sanctioning body of a predominantly American based open-wheel racing series. The League consists of two series, the premiere IndyCar Series career, and enough to set an IndyCar Series The IndyCar Series is the premier series of the Indy Racing League. Due to the legal settlement with CART, the IRL was unable to utilize the name until the beginning of the 2003 season. record of 16 top-10 starts this season. Today's race - set for a 12:50 p.m. green flag start on ESPN ESPN Entertainment and Sports Programming Network - is the season finale for the series. It also is the final IRL 1. (jargon, chat) IRL - In real life. Generally synonymous with f2f. 2. (language, robotics) IRL - Industrial Robot Language. race scheduled at the speedway and the last race in which Chevrolet will supply engines to IndyCar teams  This article or section contains information about a sporting event or team. . ``We're happy with the car and that run,'' said Franchitti, a member of the four-car Andretti Green Racing Andretti Green Racing is an auto racing team that competes in the IRL IndyCar Series and the American Le Mans Series. Early years in CART Founded in 1993 by Barry Green and Gerry Forsythe as Forsythe Green Racing team. ``Qualifying on these types of tracks is more to do with the engine guys and our engineers; they hit it right and the engine was really, really strong. ``It would mean a lot to win this one.'' As it would for Scheckter. ``I'm almost in tears here with Chevrolet going,'' said Scheckter, ``especially with how much power we've got. If we could get a win in their last race, it would be really good.'' That could be said for the other 20 drivers in the field. Although Dan Wheldon has the championship locked up, there are other battles for position in the points race. Wheldon, who has won six races this season, is seventh on the grid. ``We just don't seem to be very quick,'' said Wheldon, also part of the AGR AGR advanced gas-cooled reactor team. ``I'm sure our team is good enough to make sure we have a reasonable car in the race, I'm just not sure how good the car will be.'' Franchitti's other AGR teammate Tony Kanaan, the 2004 series champ, is 26 points ahead of Sam Hornish Jr. in the scrap for second. A total of 36 points separate Franchitti, Helio Castroneves and Scott Sharp for fourth while Vitor Meira, Bryan Herta (Hart High of Newhall), Scheckter and Patrick Carpentier are within 26 points of each other in the fight for seventh. Kanaan is seven spots behind Hornish on the grid. ``We really struggle in qualifying as a team,'' said Kanaan, ``but we are all on different setups, that's why you see all of us quick at different times. If you look at our qualifying setups, they are all different. Nothing is similar. We know we have a good race car, so we're not too worried.'' But the real story line centers around rookie Danica Patrick, who will sit outside Hornish on the second row. Hornish posted a speed of 218.602 while Patrick was fourth fastest at 218.199. Louis Brewster, (909) 483-9363 l-brewster(at)dailybulletin.com CAPTION(S): photo, box Photo: Dario Franchitti earned his first pole of the season, cruising 219.398 mph at the Fontana track. Matt Sayles/Associated Press Box: TOYOTA INDY 400 |
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