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Ganassi trio tops speed chart in pre-quals session

Tony Kanaan

Juan Pablo Montoya made 17 NASCAR starts at Texas Motor Speedway, but he’s a newcomer to the speed on the 1.455-mile, high-banked Texas Motor Speedway oval in a Verizon IndyCar Series car.

 

Montoya was sixth fast in the lone practice session preceding single-car qualifications for the Firestone 600 (217.092 mph, 24.1482 seconds) in the No. 2 Verizon Team Penske car. Target Chip Ganassi Racing’s Tony Kanaan (219.382 mph, 23.8762 seconds), Scott Dixon (218.321 mph) and 2010 pole sitter Ryan Briscoe (217.763) were atop the speed chart.

 

Keep track of qualifications at 2 p.m. (Central) with the IMS Radio Network broadcast complemented by real-time Timing & Scoring www.indycar.com and the INDYCAR 14 app. The race broadcast also will be on IMS Radio Network affiliates, XM 209 and Sirius 213. Paul Page is the chief announcer.

 

NBCSN telecasts the race live (7 p.m. local/Central on June 7) and qualifications taped at 5:30 p.m. (local/Central). Brian Till is the chief announcer, with Townsend Bell and Paul Tracy the analysts.

 

With two top-five finishes, Montoya is seventh in the championship standings.

 

“Obviously, these are the types of tracks where I have the most experience over the last seven years in NASCAR,” he said. “We tested there back in April and it went really well. I was very comfortable in the Verizon Chevrolet and we were up to speed quickly. Will (Power) and Helio (Castroneves) have both won there so we have a good pool of information to pull from.

 

“The speed in the Verizon car is there, no doubt, but there are so many things that go into winning a Verizon IndyCar Series race. But I feel like I can go into any race and get a win. None of us would be here if we didn’t think that way. But yes, based on our test at Texas, I think this is one of our better opportunities.”

 

Marco Andretti (217.575) was fourth in the No. 25 Snapple Andretti Autosport entry. Montoya’s Team Penske teammate Helio Castroneves, the 2013 race winner at Texas, was fifth (217.529) in the No. 3 AAA Insurance entry.

 

Will Power holds the record for two-lap average speed in qualifications (219.182 mph) set in 2013.

 

Final Results:

 

Pos. Car Driver Car Laps Time Gap
1 10 Tony Kanaan BRA Target Chip Ganassi Racing 53 23,876
2 9 Scott Dixon AUS Target Chip Ganassi Racing 43 23,992 + 0,116
3 8 Ryan Briscoe AUS NTT Data Chip Ganassi Racing 38 24,053 + 0,177
4 25 Marco Andretti USA Andretti Autosport 33 24,079 + 0,203
5 3 Helio Castroneves BRA Team Penske 55 24,128 + 0,252
6 2 Juan Pablo Montoya COL Team Penske 42 24,214 + 0,338
7 18 Carlos Huertas COL Dale Coyne Racing 76 24,235 + 0,359
8 20 Mike Conway GBR Ed Carpenter Racing 49 24,240 + 0,364
9 19 Justin Wilson GBR Dale Coyne Racing 53 24,258 + 0,382
10 12 Will Power AUS Team Penske 53 24,288 + 0,412
11 15 Graham Rahal USA Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 58 24,297 + 0,421
12 28 Ryan Hunter-Reay USA Andretti Autosport 59 24,325 + 0,449
13 34 Carlos Muñoz COL Andretti Autosport – HVM Racing 42 24,297 + 0,421
14 27 James Hinchcliffe CAN Andretti Autosport 47 24,325 + 0,449
15 98 Jack Hawksworth GBR BHA / BBM with Curb-Agajanian 54 24,413 + 0,537
16 77 Simon Pagenaud FRA Schmidt Peterson Motorsports 53 24,456 + 0,580
17 14 Takuma Sato JAP A.J. Foyt Enterprises 63 24,467 + 0,591
18 11 Sebastien Bourdais FRA KVSH Racing 40 24,495 + 0,619
19 83 Charlie Kimball USA Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing 54 24,544 + 0,668
20 67 Josef Newgarden USA Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing 56 24,573 + 0,697
21 17 Sebastien Saavedra COL KV AFS Racing 50 24,602 + 0,726
22 7 Mikhail Aleshin RUS Schmidt Peterson Motorsports 73 24,704 + 0,828

Indycar.com