Sam Schmidt's James Davison Wins Sunbelt Rentals 100 Pole
Aussie Shoe Bests Brazilian Teammate with Last-Second Run Over the Oval
by Allan Brewer
allan@indyproracer.com
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James Davison receives congratulatory embrace from teammate Ana Beatriz after winning pole. Photo: DanHelrigelIRL |
Sam Schmidt Motorsports' driver James Davison bounced back with purpose in winning the pole for Saturday's (July 12th) Firestone Indy Lights Sunbelt Rentals 100 at sun-baked Nashville SuperSpeedway on Friday afternoon. His mark of 180.401 mph was the last one recorded on the hot, humid Tennessee plains this afternoon while besting everyone in the twenty-car field for the top spot on the grid.
Davison recovered from a lackluster weekend at Watkins Glen International only one week before to pedal his No. 11 LifeLock Dallara to the top of the scoring pylon after teammate Ana Beatriz looked a sure bet to win the top spot for herself with an official speed of 180.366 mph (average over two laps).
Not to be outdone, Davison's crew made a few last-minutes changes to his car (some of them recommended by the speedy Brazilian--whose position two spots earlier in the qualifying order made her a willing accomplice to James' pursuit of pole).
The result was the twenty-one year old Melbourne, Australia driver's first Firestone Indy Lights SWE Pole Qualifying trophy--a beautiful, pyramidal crystal given the fastest driver at each race's qualifications.
"I must thank my team for persevering along with me," said the emotional Davison afterwards. "Here we are starting on the front row." (MP3 audio interview available below)
It's Davison's second roll-off from the front, having put his car on the outside of the first row at the Freedom 100 in Indianapolis earlier this year.
Beatriz will start second, her best Indy Lights grid position (oval or road course) in ten races in the series.
"The No. 20 Healthy Choice car was really, really good," she said. "I am happy. Unfortunately, James just did a better job than us, there were no mistakes on my laps."
"Now I will go over with my engineer what we can change in the setup for the race. I think we'll be able to contend for the win."
Panther Rebounds with Nashville Run
Panther Racing's Dillon Battistini also put a dismal result at The Glen behind, taking the third spot in qualifying with a two-lap average speed of 180.278 mph.
"Last week, we got behind and things just snowballed out of control," he said. "This week we were on top of our game from the outset and it shows. We'll be ready for tomorrow," and the 66-lap feature race over the 1.33 mile concrete oval in ex-urban Lebanon, Tennessee.
AFS Andretti Green Racing's Raphael Matos qualified fourth on an average speed of 180.252 mph; followed by teammate Arie Luyendyk Jr in the fifth spot at 179.726 mph.
"The car is very, very good," said Rafa. "We didn't get a chance to try some of the things in configuration that we had in mind, but we will have a strong race car on Saturday."
Team Moore's Jeff Simmons, Battistini teammate Brent Sherman, Team E's Bobby Wilson, Guthrie Racing driver Logan Gomez and RLR Andersen's J R Hildebrand round out the top ten qualifiers for the 3:30 PM CDT event at Nashville SuperSpeedway.
It was a long day for SSM teammate Richard Antinucci, who climbed from his No. 7 car and headed immediately to the garages to figure out what went wrong on this southern sojourn.
The Indy Lights championship points leader was clearly dissatisfied with his result, grumbling afterwards about a disappointing 14th-best spot from which he'll start another crucial round of racing in the 2008 season.
Last year's Nashville 100 winner, Robbie Pecorari (now driving for SWE Racing), qualified sixteenth.
Firestone Indy LIghts Sunbelt Rentals 100 Qualifying Results
James Davison Pole Position Interview (click to download MP3)
Ana Beatriz Front Row Interview (click to download MP3)
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