RICHARD ANTINUCCI IS JOINT LEADER IN THE FIRESTONE INDY LIGHTS CHAMPIONSHIP, ALONGSIDE RAPHAEL MATOS AFTER KENTUCKY QUALIFYING
AFS/Andretti Green Brazilian grabs 4th 2008 pole position, picking up lone point that ties Antinucci's 376 total. But Italian-American driver is confident and geared up for tight "under the lights" battle
Saturday, August 9, 2008
FRIDAY'S NOTES
SPARTA, Ky. — Richard Antinucci will start from the outside of Row 5 this evening, with Daniel Herrington on the inside, in the 67-lap Kentucky 100, the first 2008 Firestone Indy Ligths round to be run under lights. The San Diego resident was 18th in the qualification order, and during his attempt he clocked a 28.2155 Lap 1 and 28.3024 on Lap 2, for an average speed of 188.542 mph that at the time was good enough for a spot on Row 4. After Brent Sherman and Antinucci's team mate James Davison attempts, the series' leader slipped to P10. Pole Position was claimed early on by Brazilian Matos, who posted a cumulative time of 55.9064 seconds (190.604 mph). He'll be joined on Row 1 by Brazilian female driver Ana Beatriz, who's currently trailing Antinucci and Matos in the standings by 44 points.
RICHARD'S TAKE
"Today the guys — well, actually the guys and the young lady — in the Top 3 were kind of flying, however our Friday has been a real turnaround compared to the two previous outings on ovals. I worked pretty well with my new engineer [Ray Leto]: we mostly concentrated on work for the race. The early morning session was quite encouraging [13th place], we went kind of backwards in the second [18th place], but in qualifying we went back in the right direction to put in place a very solid car for Saturday. P10 is far from bad, since my warm up lap was far from being perfect. I don't wanna say too much because I think it's better to let the race do the talking but, yes, I am fairly optimistic."
FIRESTONE INDY LIGHTS – Kentucky 100 Qualifying – Friday, 8 August, 2008: | |||
|
1. |
Raphael Matos |
55.9064 |
190.604 mph (306.747 kph) |
|
2. |
Ana Beatriz |
56.0219 |
190.211 |
|
3. |
Arie Luyendyk Jr |
56.1725 |
189.701 |
|
4. |
Dillon Battistini |
56.1937 |
189.630 |
|
5. |
James Davison |
56.2052 |
189.591 |
|
6. |
Brent Sherman |
56.2995 |
189.273 |
|
7. |
Travis Gregg |
56.3533 |
189.093 |
|
8.. |
Logan Gomez |
56.3578 |
189.078 |
|
9. |
Daniel Herrington |
56.4021 |
188.929 |
|
10. |
Richard Antinucci |
56.5179 |
188.542 |
|
11. |
Jonathan Klein |
56.5258 |
188.516 |
|
12. |
Jeff Simmons |
56.5534 |
188.424 |
|
13. |
JR Hildebrand |
56.5793 |
188.337 |
|
14. |
Mike Potekhen |
56.5877 |
188.309 |
|
15. |
Pablo Donoso |
56.6831 |
187.993 |
|
16. |
Sean Guthrie |
56.7304 |
187.836 |
|
17. |
Bobby Wilson |
56.8310 |
187.503 |
|
18. |
CR Crews |
56.8430 |
187.464 |
|
19. |
PJ Abbott |
56.9546 |
187.096 |
|
20. |
Micky Gilbert |
57.1538 |
186.444 |
|
21. |
Franck Perera |
57.3596 |
185.775 |
|
22. |
Robbie Pecorari |
57.3832 |
185.699 |
|
23. |
Cyndie Allemann |
57.4123 |
185.605 |
|
24. |
Christina Orr |
57.4705 |
185.417 |