Team 7-Eleven's Kanaan to Start From Pole at Pikes Peak
If the following text-only file is not easily readable, particularly any tables of numbers, try enlarging this window since every line has a forced end and there is no word-wrap. Otherwise, this report will look and print better from the following PDF file: http://www.sportssystems.com/applib/PDFload.cfm?file=/email/filehost/GJ124.pdf&id=BC124GJ9EC574 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For Immediate Release Team 7-Eleven's Kanaan To Start From Pole Position At Pikes Peak FOUNTAIN, Colo. (Aug. 21, 2004) - Team 7-Eleven driver Tony Kanaan will start Sunday afternoon's running of the Indy Racing League® IndyCar® Series Honda Indy 225 from the pole position after rain cancelled qualifying and the field was set based on practice times turned earlier in the day. Kanaan recorded his best speed of 174.311 miles per hour during the day's second practice session. This is the second pole position for Kanaan this season and the fifth of his IndyCar Series career. He earned three MBNA Pole Awards in 2003 at Homestead-Miami, Phoenix and Pikes Peak, as well as one earlier this season at Michigan. Kanaan, who currently leads the IndyCar Series point standings by 50 over Buddy Rice and 87 over Klein Tools/Jim Beam driver Dan Wheldon, will be making his fourth consecutive front row starting appearance and his sixth such start of the year. Kanaan, who has led 783 laps this season, needs to lead just 30 additional laps to surpass Tony Stewart as the IRL IndyCar Series' single-season lap leader. Joining Kanaan on the front row is Wheldon (173.588 miles per hour), while Vitor Meira (173.149 miles per hour) will start third and ArcaEx driver Dario Franchitti (172.916 miles per hour) will start from the fourth position. Kanaan's pole gave Andretti Green Racing its fifth pole of the 2004 season and eighth pole since joining the IRL in 2003. Kanaan has five of those poles, Dan Wheldon has two and Dario Franchitti one. The team has won six of the 11 races run this season. The Honda Indy 225, Round 12 of the 2004 IRL IndyCar Series, is set to go green at 3:45 p.m. (EDT) Sunday, with ABC Sports providing live broadcast coverage of the 225-lap event beginning at 3:30 p.m. (EDT). Tony Kanaan, #11 Team 7-Eleven Dallara/Honda/Firestone: "It's a shame that we didn't get to qualify, but I'm happy. We had a good car during the practice sessions and had worked hard to get a good qualifying car. Let's wait and see what happens in the race. It's going to be a long race, you have to consider the altitude; the track can change a lot, especially with the rain washing away all the rubber. I'm happy, though, it's one more pole for Team 7-Eleven" Kim Green, President, Andretti Green Racing: "We ran well at Pikes Peak last year and we won at the last one-mile oval. We had good baseline setups and came in here with pretty good race cars. It's going to be a long race, you have to look after your car, get good pit stops and make sure you're there at the end, obviously. I feel pretty good about all four Andretti Green Racing drivers being up at the front of the field." -AGR- Contact: Kent Johnson, (317) 872-2700 ext. 241, kent.johnson@andrettigreenracing.com Al Larsen, (317) 872-2700 ext. 239, alan.larsen@andrettigreenracing.com