IndyCar Series 2012
Mike Conway and Scott Dixon led the Honda-powered field Saturday in IZOD IndyCar Series qualifying for the Grand Prix of Baltimore, posting the second- and third-quickest times in the final-round Firestone “Fast Six” shootout.
Conway’s qualifying effort was his best of 2012, and equaled his IndyCar Series career-best qualifying at the Honda Grand Prix of Alabama in 2010. But the A.J. Foyt Racing driver will have a 10-spot grid penalty assessed for an unapproved engine change between the Sonoma and Baltimore races, which will result in a 12th-place race start.
That will move Dixon, the third-fastest qualifier and one of the few remaining championship challengers to pole winner Will Power, to second on the starting grid. Dixon’s Target Chip Ganassi Racing teammate, Dario Franchitti, made it three Hondas in the top five qualifying positions; followed by Charlie Kimball, seventh, Justin Wilson in ninth and Bruno Junqueira, substituting for the injured Josef Newgarden, rounding out the top 10. IZOD IndyCar Series Rookie of the Year Simon Pagenaud starts 12th.
Sunday’s Grand Prix of Baltimore starts at 2:30 p.m. EDT, with live television coverage on the NBC Sports Network.
| Rank | Driver (Team) |
|---|---|
| 1 | Will Power (Team Penske) |
| 2 | Mike Conway (A.J. Foyt Racing) |
| 3 | Scott Dixon (Target Chip Ganassi Racing) |
| 4 | Sebastien Bourdais (Dragon Racing) |
| 5 | Dario Franchitti (Target Chip Ganassi Racing) |
| 6 | James Hinchcliffe (Andretti Autosport) |
| 7 | Charlie Kimball (Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing) |
| 8 | Tony Kanaan (KV Racing Technology w/ SH) |
| 9 | Justin Wilson (Dale Coyne Racing) |
| 10 | Bruno Junqueira (Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing) |
| 11 | Ed Carpenter (Ed Carpenter Racing) |
| 12 | Simon Pagenaud-R (Schmidt Hamilton Racing) |
| 13 | Ryan Hunter-Reay (Andretti Autosport) |
| 14 | Ryan Briscoe (Team Penske) |
| 15 | Alex Tagliani (Bryan Herta Autosport w/Curb-Agajanian) |
| 16 | Helio Castroneves (Team Penske) |
| 17 | Rubens Barrichello (KV Racing Technology) |
| 18 | Oriol Servia (Lotus-DRR) |
| 19 | Takuma Sato (Rahal Letterman Lanigan) |
| 20 | Marco Andretti (Andretti Autosport) |
| 21 | Simona de Silvestro (Lotus-HVM Racing) |
| 22 | James Jakes (Dale Coyne Racing) |
| 23 | Graham Rahal (Service Central Chip Ganassi Racing) |
| 24 | E.J. Viso (KV Racing Technology) |
| 25 | JR Hildebrand (Panther Racing) |