Diesel Power outlasts Penske; Kanaan Knockout Pole Winner
The picture above is Marco Werner (left) and Lucas Luhr (right), drivers of the Audi AG #2 R10 diesel. Luhr pulled past the Penske Racing Porsche of Romain Dumas and Timo Bernhard on the last restart, and won by .81 seconds. The heavier LMP1 prototypes (R10) were said to have a disadvantage to the lighter LMP2 prototypes (like the Porsche and Acuras). After a race where cars hit everything but the Florida Lottery...the Audi pulled to the lead.
Tony Kanaan starts on the pole for the IndyCar Grand Prix...with series newbies Will Power and Justin Wilson, starting 2nd and third. Defending and two time winner Helio Castroneves starts 4th. He and the 25 other cars have a 4 in 10 chance of dancing through the raindrops at St. Pete. The track has rubbered up from the American LeMans Race...IndyCar practice and qualifying...and Indy Lights practice and racing. Rain can spring up quickly and forcefully in Florida...but as Helio said after qualifying, "It (the weather) is the same for everybody." Kanaan said he hasn't gotten blisters on his hands in a qualifying session in a long time. What is surprising is that Scott Dixon is not in the top 10--the IndyCar series point leader starts 13th. The "knockout" qualifying will be in force for all road courses and street courses henceforth. It consists of two random draw sessions for half of the field...six from each session advance to round two. From Round Two, six go to the Fast 6 shootout, which ultimately decides the pole. Power ran 104 and change to advance to the Fast 6; Kanaan was fastest in the final 10 minute session...he notches pole number 9. Verdict--entertaining.
