FORT WORTH, Texas – Alex Tagliani had a two-lap average speed of 215.186 mph on the 1.5-mile, high-banked Texas Motor Speedway oval to earn the PEAK Performance Pole Award for the Firestone Twin 275s on June 11.
It’s the second consecutive pole for Tagliani, driving the No. 77 Bowers & Wilkins car for Sam Schmidt Motorsports. He started from the point in the 100th anniversary Indianapolis 500 on May 29 in the first oval race of the IZOD IndyCar Series season.
Reigning series champion Dario Franchitti (214.801) will start second for the second consecutive year.
Will Power, who started from the pole in each of the four road/street courses, will start third in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske car. He’ll be joined in Row 2 by Takuma Sato, driver of the No. 5 KV Racing Technology-Lotus car who starts a career-high fourth on an oval. He was the final qualifier (214.470).
“It was a good run out there Verizon car,” Power said. “I was flat and on the white line for both laps. We have some work to do tonight in practice to find a good race trim, but we should be good. We get two shots at it tomorrow and I’m definitely ready to race.”
FT. WORTH, Texas – Qualifying Friday for the Firestone Twin 275s IZOD IndyCar Series event on the 1.455-mile Texas Motor Speedway, with starting position, car number in parentheses, driver, chassis-engine, and speed:
1. (77) Alex Tagliani, Dallara-Honda, 215.186
2. (10) Dario Franchitti, Dallara-Honda, 214.801
3. (12) Will Power, Dallara-Honda, 214.716
4. (5) Takuma Sato, Dallara-Honda, 214.470
5. (67) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Honda, 214.373
6. (82) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Honda, 214.252
7. (9) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 214.021
8. (99) Wade Cunningham, Dallara-Honda, 214.013
9. (6) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Honda, 213.891
10. (7) Danica Patrick, Dallara-Honda, 213.850
11. (4) JR Hildebrand, Dallara-Honda, 213.458
12. (14) Vitor Meira, Dallara-Honda, 213.429
13. (3) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Honda, 213.232
14. (2) Oriol Servia, Dallara-Honda, 213.023
15. (06) James Hinchcliffe, Dallara-Honda, 212.970
16. (28) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Honda, 212.938
17. (83) Charlie Kimball, Dallara-Honda, 212.797
18. (11) Davey Hamilton, Dallara-Honda, 212.555
19. (59) EJ Viso, Dallara-Honda, 212.494
20. (38) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 212.404
21. (8) Paul Tracy, Dallara-Honda, 212.305
22. (27) Mike Conway, Dallara-Honda, 212.260
23. (26) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Honda, 212.223
24. (24) Ana Beatriz, Dallara-Honda, 212.221
25. (19) Alex Lloyd, Dallara-Honda, 212.091
26. (34) Sebastian Saavedra, Dallara-Honda, 212.033
27. (22) Justin Wilson, Dallara-Honda, 211.762
28. (88) Jay Howard, Dallara-Honda, 211.691
29. (78) Simona de Silvestro, Dallara-Honda, 210.855
30. (18) James Jakes, Dallara-Honda, no speed
