CART: Franchitti closes more ground on Montoya by winning pole for Honda Indy 300
16 October 1999
Posted By Terry CallahanMotorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
SURFERS PARADISE, Queensland, Australia - Dario Franchitti of Team KOOL Green set a track record Saturday while trimming a crucial point from his deficit to FedEx Championship Series leader Juan Montoya as he earned the pole for the Honda Indy 300 before a crowd of 69,081 on Australia's Gold Coast (midnight ET Saturday, live, ESPN).
Franchitti (KOOL Honda Reynard) topped his own track record established last season with a lap of 109.724 mph (1 minute, 31.703 seconds) on the 2.794-mile temporary street circuit. He was nearly a second faster than the closest of the remaining 26 qualifiers while earning his second pole position of the season and eighth of his career.
The effort brought Franchitti a PPG Cup point, which closed his deficit to Montoya to 12 (200-188) entering Sunday's 19th of 20 rounds in the championship. Montoya, who qualified sixth at 108.173 mph (1:33.018) needs to outscore Franchitti by 10 points and exit Sunday's event with a 22-point advantage in order to become the first rookie to win the FedEx Championship Series championship since Nigel Mansell in 1993.
Franchitti became the second driver to win back-to-back poles in the Honda Indy's nine-year history. Mansell captured consecutive poles at Surfers Paradise in 1993 and '94.
Bryan Herta (Shell Ford Reynard) qualified on the outside pole at 108.667 mph (1:32.595). It is his third consecutive front-row start of the season, following a pole at Laguna Seca and an outside pole at Houston, as well as a career-best starting position at this event.
Scott Pruett (Pioneer/MCI WorldCom Toyota Reynard) rounded out the top three qualifiers with a lap of 108.642 mph (1:32.616). The effort stands as a season best for Pruett, but is also the best qualifying performance for a Toyota-powered driver in the engine manufacturer's four years of FedEx Championship Series competition.
Provisional polesitter Paul Tracy (KOOL Honda Reynard) qualified fourth at 108.544 mph (1:32.700). Tracy sat out the entire half-hour qualifying session after sustaining front-end damage to his primary car in a practice accident Saturday morning. Rather than qualifying his secondary car in the final qualifying session, which under CART rules would have required him to forfeit Friday's time, Tracy opted to sit out the session and dropped from the provisional pole to the outside of Row 2.
Michael Andretti (Kmart/Texaco/Havoline Ford Swift) qualified fifth at 108.311 mph (1:32.899). He has started fifth or better in six of his eight career appearances at Australia.
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