EVENTFUL SATURDAY SETS UP UNPREDICTABLE MILWAUKEE ROUND FOR RICHARD ANTINUCCI, WHO IS TO START FROM ROW 6
Points leader and closest rivals in 2008 title chase share troubles throghout morning practices and qualfying at storied 1-mile oval track.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
INDIANAPOLIS — The Saturday spent at the Monster Mile took a toll on Firestone Indy Lights front runners : each of the drivers who are currently occupying one of the Top 3 spots had some kind of hinderance thrown at him, and no one escaped at least a bad break as underdog rookie Pablo Donoso posted his first career pole position. The average speed for the Team Moore Racing driver was 145.699 mph, and the rookie from Chile will start today at 11:30AM (local time) with homeboy Bobby Wilson alongside him. Points leader Richard Antinucci qualifyed 11th: the total time elapsed during two laps of the 1-mile oval under the clock was 51.8168, setting an average speed of 141.035 mph. The best moment at Milwaukee for the San Diegan luckily took place during qualifying, as both his practice sessions were spoiled by mechanical gremlins, with engine concerns hindering his final practice in the morning. Archrival Dillon Battistini of Panther Racing — who's trailing Antinucci by three points — suffered an electrical failure that prevented him from qualifying, putting him at the rear of the field for today's race. Third man J.R. Hildebrand had to make do in qualifying with a car that had just been repaired after hitting the wall in first practice.
The Sam Schmidt Motorsports driver is therefore the best-placed man among those at the top of the charts, but this obviously wasn't enough to make him call Milwaukee's Saturday a positive day : "We desperately needed track time, as we did not tested here and all's been pretty new to me. Of course spending precious time trying to sort out things doesn't help, but that's the way it is, one has to take it to the chin and move on. A championship is very long and it's in the books that you have to face up and downs. If you're not consistent, always there at the finish you take yourself out of contention. It is quite possible that this round will open up the title chase even more, therefore today each point available will be precious."
FIRESTONE INDY LIGHTS - MILWAUKEE 100 QUALIFYING - Saturday, June 31 2008 :
1. Pablo
Donoso 50.1582 145.699 mph
2. Bobby Wilson
50.3087 145.263 mph
3.
Jeff
Simmons 50.3592 145.117
mph
4. James
Davison
50.4481 144.862 mph
5. Arie Luyendyk
Jr. 50.7501 144.000
mph
6. Andrew Prendeville 50.9460
143.446 mph
7. Raphael Matos
51.3103 142.428 mph
8. Wade
Cunningham 51.4979 141.909
mph
9. Brent
Sherman 51.5315
141.816 mph
10. Logan Gomez
51.6575 141.470
mph
11. Richard Antinucci
51.8168 141.035 mph
12. Sean
Guthrie
51.8946 140.824 mph
13. Jonny Reid
52.0022 140.533 mph
14. J.R. Hildebrand
52.0577 140.383
mph
15. Marc
Williams
52.2639 139.829 mph
16. Chris
Festa 53.2659 137.198
mph
17. Mark Olson
53.6845 136.129 mph
18. Cyndie
Allemann 54.1561 134.943
mph
19. Micky
Gilbert 54.7286 133.532
mph
20. Dillon Battistini no
time no speed
21. Ana Beatriz
no time
no speed
22. Jon
Brownson no
time no speed