IndyCar Series 2012
Round 10: Toronto
- Toronto
- July 7, 2012
Franchitti Continues Pole Streak in Toronto
Defending Honda Indy Toronto race victor Dario Franchitti scored his third consecutive pole of the 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series season Saturday on the grounds of Exhibition Place in Toronto, and will lead the field to the green flag on Sunday as he seeks his fourth Toronto win and second victory of the season.
Franchitti edged championship points leader Will Power to record Honda’s fifth pole in 10 events this year. Three other Honda-powered drivers also made it through the first two rounds of knockout qualifying to the final “Fast Six” round, led by Texas race winner Justin Wilson, who will start third in his Dale Coyne Racing Honda Dallara.
Franchitti’s Target Chip Ganassi Racing teammate and Detroit race winner, Scott Dixon, will be starting fifth. Alex Tagliani rounded out the top six qualifiers for Bryan Herta Autosport.
Sunday’s 85-lap race starts at 12:30 p.m. EDT, with live television coverage on ABC.
- Dario Franchitti (#10 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) pole qualifier, his 3rd consecutive pole of 2012 and 27th career pole; Honda’s 5th IndyCar pole of 2012:
- “It was a great job today from the entire Target team and Honda. We’ve certainly been on a bit of a roll of late, at least in qualifying. But beating guys of this caliber [in the top six final qualifying] is always satisfying. All the qualifying sessions in this series are just so competitive. Looking at the ‘Fast Six’, any one of these guys is perfectly capable of qualifying on the pole. It takes a complete team effort to find that last little bit of speed that makes the difference.”
| Rank | Driver (Team) |
|---|---|
| 1 | Dario Franchitti (Target Chip Ganassi) |
| 2 | Will Power (Team Penske) |
| 3 | Justin Wilson (Dale Coyne Racing) |
| 4 | Sebastien Bourdais (Dragon Racing) |
| 5 | Scott Dixon (Target Chip Ganassi) |
| 6 | Alex Tagliani (Bryan Herta Autosport) |
| 7 | Ryan Hunter-Reay (Andretti Autosport) |
| 8 | Helio Castroneves (Team Penske) |
| 9 | James Hinchcliffe (Andretti Autosport) |
| 10 | Simon Pagenaud-R (Sam Schmidt Motorsports) |
| 11 | Takuma Sato (Rahal Letterman Lanigan) |
| 12 | Graham Rahal (Chip Ganassi Racing) |
| 13 | Mike Conway (A.J. Foyt Racing) |
| 15 | Charlie Kimball (Chip Ganassi Racing) |
| 19 | James Jakes (Dale Coyne Racing) |
| 22 | Josef Newgarden-R (Sarah Fisher Hartman) |
