Defending champ Dario Franchitti will start a disappointing 13th on the grid for tomorrow’s second round of the IndyCar Championship in Florida.
The 36-year-old from Bathgate failed to make it through to the final qualifying session in his Target Ganassi car. His team-mate, Kiwi Scott Dixon, lines up third behind the Penske of polesitter Will Power and Tony Kanaan’s Andretti.
“Frustrating, but I guess that’s just the way it goes sometimes,” Franchitti said after clocking a best time of 1min 02.1944secs on the 1.8-mile street circuit at St Petersburg. “Now we just have to make sure we get the strategy right for the race.”
Aussie Power, winner of the opening race in Brazil a fortnight ago, topped the timesheets with a best lap of 1:01.6026s with Brazilian Kanaan 0.2771s further back.
JM