Alex Tagliani celebrates with his team after putting his car on the pole for Saturday night's Firestone 550 Izod IndyCar event at Texas Motor Speedway. Photo courtesy INDYCAR/LAT USA
There’s been an emphasis of placing the car back in the drivers’ hands with the aerodynamic makeup of the new Dallara for the Firestone 550 on the 1.5-mile, high-banked Texas Motor Speedway oval.
The aero package changes weren’t necessarily set to deter speed, which Alex Tagliani proved in qualifications.
Tagliani, driving the No. 98 Team Barracuda-BHA Honda, recorded a two-lap average speed of 215.691 mph (48.5695 seconds) to claim the pole position for the 228-lap race June 9 for the second consecutive year. He topped last June’s speed (215.186 mph average) by half a mile-per-hour.
“Wow that is so great, back on the pole at Texas!” said Tagliani. “I told people after we sat out the race in Brazil that our season started in Indy and it did, with Honda power. It is an honor to be part of the Honda family, and I am so happy to win this pole for the team and for Honda. Some drivers had a problem with their second lap and we were very consistent, but loose with the low downforce on both of them.
“We are very happy to start up front and I’d like to think that we will be a threat in the race (Saturday) night. Bryan (Herta), Steve (Newey) and Todd (Malloy), the whole team won this pole – it is a great tribute to all the guys.”
“Alex (Tagliani) and Todd (Malloy) are a great combination,” said team co-owner Bryan Herta. “They proved that here last year, and they proved it again today. They’re doing a really good job right now and it’s a very proud time for our team to have this kind of success. The next stage for us now is that we have to convert the qualifying pace we’ve had the last couple of weeks into results.”
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It was the first IZOD IndyCar Series pole for Bryan Herta Autosport.
Dario Franchitti, driving the No. 10 Energizer car for Target Chip Ganassi Racing, was second (215.646) — 0.0102 of a second behind.
“We went actually quicker than I thought we would,” said Franchitti. “The Energizer car was a bit of handful in the first runs this morning, so we had a bit of work to do. The guys did a really good job of it and it’s definitely the most, the hardest qualifying that I’ve done here with that level of downforce and that level of grip. And that’s what we want, that’s what all the drivers have been talking about with the series and putting some of the control back in the drivers’ hands, and we definitely felt we had that in qualifying and I really think we’re going to have that in the race tomorrow night. So it felt pretty good, we’re going to do another practice tonight when it’s a little cooler and see what the track’s going to be like for tomorrow.”
Graham Rahal posted his highest starting position of the season (third, 215.544) in the No. 38 Service Central Chip Ganassi Racing car. He’ll be joined on Row 2 by Scott Dixon (215.331).
Separate tests were conducted in February and May at Texas to set the baseline and confirm the aero package for the high-banked oval. Scott Dixon was quickest of 11 car/driver combinations during the May Open Test at 24.6644 seconds (212.371 mph).
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