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The cars of Target
Chip Ganassi Racing and Marlboro Team Penske all finished in the
combined top ten practice results yesterday, with Ryan Briscoe and
Helio Castroneves setting the pace at above 108 mph. Tony Kanaan
in one of the Dallara Honda's of Andretti Green Racing was also
above 108 mph as well; as nine of the top ten cars were above 107
mph. There were numerous spins yesterday, but such is road racing,
with 12 "turns" on the Infineon Raceway road course, and
plenty of run off room, each driver will test the limits of their
car, and they never know how fast it will go until they go too far
and spin it out. Friday's
combined practice results can be found here...
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| The IndyCar street and road
course qualifying procedure is designed to promote "Q"
run excitement. Starting with single car runs with the
fastest car in the combined Friday sessions (Ryan Briscoe in this
case) choosing to either run first or last, and culminating with a
6-car dash for the pole position. At St Pete, the rules provided a
stunning result, with Bryan Herta pacing himself and best managing
his tires to win the pole position. Read more about the qualifying
procedure here...
For a first look at the IndyCars at speed at Infineon Raceway, be
sure to watch Speed News Saturday on SPEED today. |
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Note that the
IndyCars are using tire warmers so that the tires will be up to
temperature on the out laps. While it may be close to 90 degrees
at Sears Point, the warmers will get the tires up to around 160
degrees, or so I was told by a Firestone engineer at the Homestead
road race test.
The qualifying
session is over, and Ryan Briscoe has won the pole position as a
result of setting both fast time in the single car runs and the
Firestone Fast Six runoff. Morning practice pace setter Dario
Franchitti spun on his warm up lap and didn't complete a
"Q" run, Franchitti will start 21st.
Giorgio Pantano
may have had the best run of the day but had a bad trip through
the chicane and will start 13th. Buddy Rice got the most out of a
slower car while others like Dan Wheldon, Bryan Herta and Scott
Dixon were coming up short and gained the last spot in the
Firestone runoff. Rice only lost .9 mph from his morning practice
speed, while Wheldon was 1.6 mph off, and Herta missed his
practice mark by 1.2 mph, Dixon missed his mark by a full mph. The
other surprise was Sam Hornish Jr., an oval tract specialist that
will start 5th.
Toyota powered
cars will hold the front row, and position's 5, 9 and 10 as well,
placing 5 cars in the top ten, along with four Honda's and Enge's
Chevy. Here are the final "Q" run results. |
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Argent Mortgage Indy Grand Prix
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Pos
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Driver
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B Time
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B Speed
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1
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Ryan Briscoe (33)
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1:16.4913
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108.248
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2
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Helio Castroneves (3)
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1:16.9057
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107.664
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3
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Tony Kanaan (11)
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1:17.1336
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107.346
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4
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Tomas Enge (2)
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1:17.4534
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106.903
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5
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Sam Hornish Jr. (6)
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1:17.6236
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106.669
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6
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Buddy Rice (15)
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1:17.6778
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106.594
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7
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Dan Wheldon (26)
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1:17.7804
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106.454
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8
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Bryan Herta (7)
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1:17.8099
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106.413
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9
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Scott Dixon (9)
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1:17.8452
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106.365
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10
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Alex Barron (51)
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1:17.8679
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106.334
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11
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Vitor Meira (17)
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1:17.9738
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106.190
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12
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Patrick Carpentier (83)
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1:18.0621
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106.069
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13
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Giorgio Pantano (10)
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1:18.4477
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105.548
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14
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Tomas Scheckter (4)
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1:18.7626
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105.126
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15
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Kosuke Matsuura (55)
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1:18.8987
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104.945
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16
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Danica Patrick (16)
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1:19.2495
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104.480
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17
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Jeff Bucknum (14)
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1:19.4114
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104.267
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18
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Roger Yasukawa (24)
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1:19.8319
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103.718
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19
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Scott Sharp (8)
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1:19.9138
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103.612
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20
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Ed Carpenter (20)
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1:22.3532
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100.543
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Please note that
Dario Franchitti spun the car out on his out lap and the resulting
"no time" will cause him to start the race in the 21st
and last position.
In the Firestone
Fast Six runoff, only three drivers were able to better their time
trial speed, Briscoe, Castroneves and Kanaan. Tony Kanaan was able
to momentarily gain a position on Castroneves, but Helio made a
wing adjustment in a mid-session pit stop and gained the
other front row starting position back. |
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Note that the
IndyCars are using tire warmers so that the tires will be up to
temperature on the out laps. While it may be close to 90 degrees
at Sears Point, the warmers will get the tires up to around 160
degrees, or so I was told by a Firestone engineer at the
Homestead road race test.
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***
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Argent
Mortgage Indy Grand Prix Starting Grid.
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Car
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Driver
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***
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**Firestone
Fast Six Runoff**
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33
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Ryan Briscoe,
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***
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***************************
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3
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Helio Castroneves,
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***
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***************************
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11
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Tony Kanaan,
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***
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***************************
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2
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Tomas Enge,
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***
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***************************
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6
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Sam Hornish Jr.,
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***
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***************************
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15
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Buddy Rice,
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_____
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___________________________
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26
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Dan Wheldon, 106.454,
Wheldon misses the runoff
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***
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***************************
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7
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Bryan Herta, 106.413,
won't repeat as a pole sitter today, he'll be out of the
fast six.
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***
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***************************
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9
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Scott Dixon, 106.365
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***
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***************************
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51
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Alex Barron, 106.334
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***
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***************************
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17
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Vitor Meira, 106.190
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***
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***************************
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83
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Patrick Carpentier,
106.069, he practiced at 106. 386 this AM.
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***
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***************************
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10
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Giorgio Pantano, 105.548,
Pantano may have been on the best run of the day and blew
the chicane.
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***
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***************************
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4
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Tomas Scheckter, 105.126,
more than 1-mph of his best practice speed.
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***
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55
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Kosuke Matsuura, 104.945,
closest to his best practice speed so far.
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***
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***************************
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16
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Danica Patrick, 104.480,
every driver has run much slower than their morning
practice times, probably heat related.
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***
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***************************
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14
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Jeff Bucknum, 104.267
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***
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***************************
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24
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Roger Yasukawa, 103.718
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***
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***************************
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8
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Scott Sharp, 103.612,
Sharp off the course on his out lap, a very disappointing
"Q" run, 2 mph off his practice speed.
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***
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20
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Ed Carpenter, 100.543
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***
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27
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Dario Franchitti has spun
on his out lap and brings out the yellow flag. NO TIME,
Dario will start
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***
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***************************
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The "Q"
runs are about to begin, Ryan Briscoe had the option to start
the qualifying run in first or last position based on his
"winning" Friday practice, and opted to run last,
which makes sense to me. Briscoe figures to be one of the six
fastest qualifiers that will have a 10-minute dash for the pole
position, and in opting to run last, his crew will have the
latest track conditions fresh in their mind as they setup for
the 10-minute run. Ed carpenter will be the first to qualify
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(1:30 EDT) The
session ended with Dario Franchitti finding additional speed,
finally posting a best of the weekend lap of 108.851 mph. Ryan
Briscoe, was the Friday pacesetter couldn't overtake Dario as 5
drivers exceeded the 108 mph mark. Tomas Enge, a solid road
racer that ran with "slow" group held onto the 6th
spot on the chart. There were only 4 Toyota cars in the top ten
today, one Chevy and 5 Honda's. Only 3 Panoz cars made it to the
top ten, and Buddy Rice was able to again backup his solid
Friday result, fastest of the three RLR cars. "Q" runs
are slated to begin at 3:30 PM EDT, with
a live webcast from the IMS Radio Network scheduled to begin at
3:15.
Here is the
morning practice session chart as posted by IndyCar T&S.
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Argent Mortgage Indy Grand Prix
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Pos
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Driver
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B Time
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B Speed
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1
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Dario Franchitti (27)
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76.0676
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108.851
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2
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Ryan Briscoe (33)
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76.3002
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108.519
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3
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Helio Castroneves (3)
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76.3880
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108.394
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4
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Dan Wheldon (26)
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76.5530
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108.160
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5
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Tony Kanaan (11)
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76.5979
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108.097
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6
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Tomas Enge (2)
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76.9212
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107.643
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7
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Bryan Herta (7)
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76.9283
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107.633
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8
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Sam Hornish Jr. (6)
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76.9642
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107.582
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9
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Buddy Rice (15)
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77.0426
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107.473
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10
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Giorgio Pantano (10)
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77.0433
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107.472
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11
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Scott Dixon (9)
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77.1148
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107.372
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12
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Alex Barron (51)
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77.1378
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107.340
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13
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Tomas Scheckter (4)
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77.5553
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106.763
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14
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Vitor Meira (17)
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77.5934
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106.710
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15
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Patrick Carpentier (83)
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77.8298
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106.386
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16
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Scott Sharp (8)
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