DIXON TO START 3RD, FRANCHITTI 18TH AT BARBER

 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Barber Day-End Report
 
IZOD IndyCar Series Practice/Qualifying for the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama
 
Qualifying
P1 Helio Castroneves (No.3 Chevrolet) at 70.476 seconds
P2 James Hinchcliffe (No.27 Chevrolet) at 70.522 seconds
P3 Scott Dixon (No.9 Honda) at 70.529 seconds
P18 Dario Franchitti (No.10 Honda) at 70.674 seconds
 
Practice
Fog delay, one installation lap and checkered.
 
NOTES
· Dixon advanced to the final segment of qualifying for the first time this season.
· Franchitti started the 2011 race in seventh and passed his way into the top-five by lap 10. After a caution on lap 36, he made a pass for third position and kept a spot in the top-three for the remainder of the race and went on to finish third.
· In two visits to Barber Motorsports Park, Team Target has two double podiums. Dixon recorded two second-place finishes, while Franchitti has tallied two third-place finishes.
· Dixon started the 2011 race in third position and ran as high as second over the 90-lap race. He recorded the fastest lap of the event on lap 73 en route to a second-place finish.
 
TCGR Quoteboard
 
Dario Franchitti: “Lack of balance overall really is what we dealt with. Lack of track time too and we haven't been great so far. It didn't help that the second qualifying group was stout and there was a lot of competition there. Not where we want to be but we'll go back and work on it.”
 
Scott Dixon: “It was okay. Definitely from yesterday we really struggled. We did a lot of changes overnight and with the silly schedule we didn’t even get to get on track. So it was tough going in and not really knowing what to expect, and it’s the first time in a long time that I’ve been in that situation. So, all in all, Q1 went really well, we made a couple changes, Q2 was strange with what happened with Hunter-Reay and a few people getting bumped out, but I think we had the speed in the Fast Six, but I messed up a sort of 14/15 complex and lost about a tenth. I think we would have been close to pole, but definitely as strong as second for the Target car.”
 
Target Chip Ganassi Racing will compete in the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park on Sunday, April 1 (2:00 PM ET, NBC Sports Network).
 
Be sure to follow us for up-to-the-minute updates on Twitter @TCGRTeams throughout the weekend.
 
 
 
Target Chip Ganassi Racing Barber Day-End Report
 
IZOD IndyCar Series Practice for the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama
 
Practice 1
P1 Will Power (No.12 Chevrolet) at 71.288 seconds
P2 Helio Castroneves (No.3 Chevrolet) at 71.501 seconds
P3 Takuma Sato (No.15 Honda) at 71.560 seconds
P9 Dario Franchitti (No.10 Honda) at 71.741 seconds
P13 Scott Dixon (No.9 Honda) at 72.082 seconds
 
Practice 2
P1 Takuma Sato (No.15 Honda) at 78.868 seconds
P2 Sebastien Bourdais (No.7 Lotus) at 79.274 seconds
P3 Scott Dixon (No.9 Honda) at 79.384 seconds
P11 Dario Franchitti (No.10 Honda) at 81.673 seconds
 
TCGR Quoteboard
 
 
Scott Dixon: “The first session was a bit of a challenge just getting the car where we needed it to be. We ran the second session in the wet and it was the first time in those conditions with other cars around you – so it was pretty interesting. Looking forward to tomorrow and hoping the weather clears back up a bit.”
 
NOTES
· The team worked in practice 1 to find the balance of the car and on the overall setup.
· The second session was run in the wet and the team was able to run the new Firestone rain tires, which revealed big improvements over the previous version of the tire.
 
Target Chip Ganassi Racing will compete in the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park on Sunday, April 1 (2:00 PM ET, NBC Sports Network).
 
Be sure to follow us for up-to-the-minute updates on Twitter @TCGRTeams throughout the weekend.