Bathgate’s Dario Franchitti started his build-up for the latest round of the IndyCar Championship in Toronto by clocking the fifth-fastest time in pre-qualifying.
The 36-year-old, who won the corresponding race last year on the Canadian street circuit and secured his first Champ Car pole position at the track in 1997, was only 0.4195secs behind the Penske of provisional polesitter, Ganassi team-mate Scott Dixon.
“We’ve certainly seen already that we have a car capable of winning this weekend,” Franchitti, who heads into the weekend second in the championship, said today.
“I made a slight mistake on my fastest lap and that was enough to drop me down to fifth. The gap’s not much, so we should be able to put ourselves in a great position for qualifying.”
Defending IndyCar champ Franchitti, who spent a few days back in Scotland following his third-place at Watkins Glen a fortnight ago, first won in Toronto in 1999 and currently holds the lap record.
Franchitti started from pole position last year and led for more than half of the race on his way to a dominant win. Aussie Will Power, who leads Franchitti by 32 points, was eighth quickest, 0.5295s behind Dixon who lapped the 1.7-mile track in 1min 03.9149secs.
JM