JIMMY VASSER QUALIFIES SIXTH FOR THE 500 AT FONTANA

VASSER TO MAKE 11TH TOP-10 START OF THE SEASON – Team Rahal driver Jimmy Vasser was the fastest of the Ford-powered entries, and the sixth-fastest overall, during qualifying at the California Speedway. Vasser lapped the two-mile super speedway in 31.736 seconds and an average speed of 230.161 miles per hour. Tony Kanaan claimed pole position with his lap of 31.483 seconds (232.001 mph), while Bruno Junquiera was second (31.601 seconds; 231.145 mph) and Cristiano da Matta was third (31.679 seconds; 230.575 mph).

JIMMY VASSER (#8 Shell Ford) – Qualified 6th – "We took everything off that we could and the car felt really good. That’s just all there was. We’ve got a good setup for the race tomorrow but it’s 500 miles and reliability comes into play. The Ford engine has done well here in the past so I think we’re looking good for tomorrow. The car felt good and we couldn’t trim it out any more than that. It’s just a matter of holding your foot flat on the floor and seeing what you get. We’re not up front so we’re not completely happy with it but I think we’ll be fine tomorrow."

ALEX TAGLIANI (#33 Player’s/Indeck Ford) – Qualified 7th – "The team did a great job all weekend long and the car is really fast. I guess we have a good car for the race so I’m not so disappointed, but it’s really difficult. We did what we had to do and I don’t know how we can get more speed than that. I was flat out for three laps in a row and that’s the lap we did." THE REYNARD SHOULD BE A GOOD CHASSIS FOR YOU TOMORROW. "The car is good and everything has run perfectly this weekend. We did some heavy fuel runs yesterday and I cannot complain about what I have. I guess it’s difficult to predict what’s going to happen in a 500-mile race but we’ll have a very good car."

PATRICK CARPENTIER (#32 Player’s/Indeck Ford) – Qualified 8th – "We took some downforce off from this morning but we should’ve taken off a lot more. The car was stuck and just needed a little bit less downforce." TALK ABOUT HOW THE HANDFORD DEVICE WORKS AND HOW IT AFFECTS YOU AS A DRIVER. "It’s really tough. Your car has downforce as you follow the car in front of you and as soon as you start to get close it’s like there’s a cushion that’s lifting you off the track and the car slides in both the front and the rear. Sometimes it makes it very difficult while you’re exiting the corners but we’ll see how things go."

MICHEL JOURDAIN, JR. (#9 Gigante Ford) – Qualified 11th – "The car was okay and the balance was okay but I was flat out and the car was sliding around a little bit. I don’t know whether we could’ve trimmed it out a little bit more but I know we’ll be fine tomorrow. We have a very good car in traffic and that’s the most important thing here. As long as you can stay on the lead lap you can make your move in the last 20 laps and hope for the best."

MARIO DOMINGUEZ (#55 Herdez Ford) – Qualified 17th – "I wasn’t as fast as we had hoped for and we were definitely faster in practice. It would’ve been nice to have a better starting position here but in the end it’s all about the race. We’ll see what happens. I was flat out but the car wasn’t fast enough."