Helio Castroneves runs one of three 103-mph laps to win the pole position for Sunday's Detroit Indy Grand Prix...
While there were only three laps above 103-mph, I didn't expect any, you never know what to expect from a Firestone Fast Six run when all six drivers are in a nothing-to-lose situation (except for some parts and pieces and a dropping to a possible 6th starting spot). So what do I know, I claimed that "I'd be surprised if Dario's speed doesn't hold up for the 2nd weekend in succession," and not only did Franchitti beat his own "Q" speed, but Helio did as well. After that Castroneves even bested Dario when the fastest part of the course was under a "local" yellow flag condition. Franchitti, in a post-qualifying interview appeared miffed that "there wasn't a full course caution," but it wouldn't be IndyCar without a little whining and b****ing once in a while. Tony Kanaan and Marco Andretti were unable to improve on their speeds and although Ryan Hunter Ray did, and was slotted in 5th on the grid temporarily, he will have to start the race in 6th because he was the cause for the "local yellow" with a couple of minutes remaining in the session. Here's the Fast Six T&S chart

Pos

Driver

 

Best Time

Best Speed

Best Lap

Last Lap

 

1

Helio Castroneves (3)

 

1:12.0688

103.401

6

6

 

2

Dario Franchitti (27)

 

1:12.1430

103.295

3

5

 

3

Scott Dixon (9)

 

1:12.5830

102.669

6

7

 

4

Tony Kanaan (11)

 

1:12.8451

102.299

1

7

 

5

Ryan Hunter-Reay (17)

 

1:13.3434

101.604

5

6

 

6

Marco Andretti (26)

 

1:13.3840

101.548

1

6

 

I think the stories of the  qualifying session so far have been;
1. Ryan Hunter-Reay putting the RLR/Ethanol car in the Firestone Fast Six session.
2. Dario Franchitti setting provisional fast speed in a repaired and untested car, running faster than he has all weekend. Besides, I'd be surprised if Dario's speed doesn't hold up for the 2nd weekend in succession.
3. Darren Manning running top-ten (8th) on talent alone in what I suspect is a very used up car.
4. Vision Racing, with two oval-centric, young drivers qualifying 9th, 12th and 13th, faster than several drivers who SHOULD have done better but didn't.
5. How poorly Dan Wheldon is running lately, I wonder if he is in a snit about Chip not taking him to NASCAR, and I also wonder if his seat is safe next season. TCGR doesn't hang very long with underachievers.

Pos

Driver

 

Best Time

Best Speed

 

1

Dario Franchitti (27)

 

1:12.6015

102.643

 

2

Tony Kanaan (11)

 

1:12.8451

102.299

 

3

Helio Castroneves (3)

 

1:12.8854

102.243

 

4

Scott Dixon (9)

 

1:13.1405

101.886

 

5

Marco Andretti (26)

 

1:13.3840

101.548

 

6

Ryan Hunter-Reay (17)

 

1:13.5488

101.320

 

7

Sam Hornish Jr (6)

 

1:13.6224

101.219

 

8

Darren Manning (14)

 

1:14.1814

100.456

 

9

Tomas Scheckter (2)

 

1:14.2015

100.429

 

10

Vitor Meira (4)

 

1:14.2889

100.311

 

11

Danica Patrick (7)

 

1:14.4061

100.153

 

12

Ed Carpenter (20)

 

1:15.1738

99.130

 

13

AJ Foyt IV (22)

 

1:15.5708

98.610

 

14

Kosuke Matsuura (55)

 

1:15.5998

98.572

 

15

Buddy Rice (15)

 

1:15.7886

98.326

 

16

Dan Wheldon (10)

 

1:15.8588

98.235

 

17

Scott Sharp (8)

 

1:16.2611

97.717

 

18

Sarah Fisher (5)

 

1:20.8682

92.150

 

Qualifying is about to begin, I'm going to sit and watch the stream on a brand new laptop with great video quality, back later to comment on the results. If there is one thing I do admire and appreciate about streets and roads in the meaningful and exciting qualifying that we see from the Firestone Fast Six concept. A driver must be fast enough for the Fast Six to get a good "Q" result and starting spot, without risking making a mistake that will result in a 7th place start at best. Any spin or hard contact will relegate him or her to starting far back in the pack on venues where passing is almost non-existent.

***

(9:45) Dario Franchitti made two-wall contact in the waning minutes of the group two session, probably trying for a final lap flyer as he had slipped back to 4th on the chart, now topped by Tony Kanaan, Helio Castroneves and Scott Dixon, ALL above 202-mph. It appears Franchitti nosed into the tire barrier on the outside of turn six, then spun around and hit the inside wall with the left rear corner of the car, bending the suspension wishbones. Franchitti will go into qualifying with a repaired and untested car. Sam Hornish will end the session with a hit into another tire barrier, this one in turn 7. Dallara must love this road and street racing, it keeps the parts department and autoclave folks busy, just building and selling nose gear. I, on the other hand, would rather the road and street portion of the schedule END after St. Pete and Watkins Glen. Unfortunately, because of the investment made by Roger Penske and the City of Detroit, it hard to imagine this event to be a one-off happening. The only positive that could possibly see coming from what should be a single file run-around in the shadows of Detroit's "big three" automakers, would be to attract Ford back to IndyCar racing. With Ford getting it handed to them in NASCAR, and short on team talent, I think whatever racing budget they have goes South, and will continue to do so. While Belle Isle is an attractive race setting, it's not as easy on the eyes as St. Pete in the winter.

The session is over, qualifying will begin at 11:45 EDT, less than two hours from now. Here's the final T&S results, as it turned out, it was Scott Dixon getting in the final lap flyer, and running very close to 103-mph. Except for another dismal road/street result from Sarah Fisher, the speed differential between Dixon and Scott Sharp in 17th would be a respectable 4.096-mph. While I realize that common practice is to talk "time" rather than speed at road and street happenings, I'm not that adaptable, nor do I choose to be. From the looks of the 3rd-tier "Dr. This" and "Attorney That" Porsche rolling chicanes on the streaming video, it appears the ALMS Series cars are on the track now.

Here's a link to ALMS qualifying, where they are running closer than usual to IndyCar speeds, at least at the top of the chart. There is a story making the rounds that dario Franchitti will run at least as much ALMS as possible next year, if not switch to ALMS entirely. Honda doesn't appear to be getting the results they hoped for from their ALMS efforts. As the defending Indy 500 winner, I hope Franchitti remains in IndyCar, I don't put much stock in him going to NASCAR in a 4th RCR car.

Pos

Driver

 

Best Time

Best Speed

Best Lap

Last Lap

 

1

Scott Dixon (9)

 

1:12.4039

102.923

21

22

 

2

Helio Castroneves (3)

 

1:12.6383

102.591

12

13

 

3

Tony Kanaan (11)

 

1:12.7931

102.372

7

8

 

4

Dario Franchitti (27)

 

1:13.1287

101.903

3

9

 

5

Marco Andretti (26)

 

1:13.7561

101.036

11

12

 

6

Ryan Hunter-Reay (17)

 

1:13.8221

100.945

12

13

 

7

Danica Patrick (7)

 

1:13.9995

100.703

12

13

 

8

Vitor Meira (4)

 

1:14.0590

100.622

14

14

 

9

Tomas Scheckter (2)

 

1:14.1172

100.543

10

14

 

10

Sam Hornish Jr (6)

 

1:14.3800

100.188

7

10

 

11

Darren Manning (14)

 

1:14.6163

99.871

10

10

 

12

Buddy Rice (15)

 

1:14.6678

99.802

22

22

 

13

AJ Foyt IV (22)

 

1:14.7440

99.700

27

27

 

14

Ed Carpenter (20)

 

1:14.8694

99.533

7

13

 

15

Kosuke M