July 27, 2003
BARRON, TOYOTA WIN THRILLER AT MICHIGAN
- Long-time Toyota-pilot Alex Barron, subbing for the injured Felipe Giaffone in the Hollywood Toyota, pushed past Sam Hornish off the final corner to win the Firestone Indy 400 by .0121 at the Michigan International Speedway.
- The Toyota victory is its seventh in the last eight IndyCar Series events and its eighth in 10 IRL races this season. With the victory, Toyota extends its IndyCar Series Manufacturer’s Championship lead to 22 points over second-place Honda, (94-72).
- The victory is the first of the season for Alex Barron, the 1997 Toyota Atlantic champion, and the second of his IndyCar Series career. In addition to the Toyota Atlantic championship, Barron has run for Toyota in both IndyCar Series and CART competition.
- With Alex Barron’s victory, Mo Nunn Racing becomes the fourth different Toyota team to win this season joining Target Chip Ganassi Racing, Marlboro Team Penske and Kelley Racing.
- Toyota-powered cars took six of the top-seven today with Tomas Scheckter (Target Toyota) finishing third, followed by Scott Sharp (Delphi Toyota), Scott Dixon (Target Toyota), Tora Takagi (Pioneer Toyota) and Gil de Ferran (Marlboro Toyota) in fourth through seventh.
- With his fifth-place finish today, Scott Dixon moved into the IndyCar Series points lead by one point over Tony Kanaan and by three points over fellow Toyota driver Gil de Ferran. Helio Castroneves remains in fourth, 23 points behind Dixon.
- Each of the top-two finishers in today’s Firestone Indy 400, Alex Barron and Sam Hornish Jr., are graduates of the Toyota Atlantic Championship. In addition, eighth-place finisher Roger Yasukawa also is a Toyota Atlantic grad – having raced in the series last season.
Jim Aust, Toyota vice president of motorsports: “That was a thrilling finish between two deserving drivers. It’s nice to see two Toyota Atlantic graduates racing wheel-to-wheel for the victory. Alex Barron is the best-kept secret in the sport and ran a tremendous race today. Our congratulations go out to Morris Nunn and the whole Mo Nunn Racing team.”
Toyota Drivers Start/Finish
Alex Barron 6/1
Tomas Scheckter 1/3
Scott Sharp 10/4
Scott Dixon 2/5
Tora Takagi 11/6
Gil de Ferran 9/7
Al Unser Jr. 5/9
A.J.Foyt IV 16/14
Helio Castroneves 3/17
Next Race: Emerson Indy 250, Gateway International, Aug. 10, 3 p.m. EDT, ABC
July 26, 2003
SCHECKTER ON POLE AS TOYOTA SWEEPS TOP THREE IN MICHIGAN QUALIFYING
- Tomas Scheckter (TargetToyota) won the fourth consecutive pole for Target Chip Ganassi and led anall-Target Toyota front row along with teammate Scott Dixon as Toyota swept thetop three spots in qualifying for Saturday’s Firestone Indy 400.
- Toyota-powered cars have now sat on the pole for eight of the last nine IRL events – with the only exception coming when qualifying was washed out at Pikes Peak in June with the starting grid decided by practice times. In addition, Toyota-powered cars have now swept the front row in qualifying in each of the last three races.
- Toyota-powered cars swept the first three spots today with Helio Castroneves (Marlboro Toyota) joining the Scheckter and Dixon. It’s the third consecutive race that Toyota has had at least the top three qualifiers after having the first seven at Kansas and the first six at Nashville.
- Today’s pole position is the second of the season for Tomas Scheckter (Texas was the other).It’s Scheckter’s third front-row start this season as he sat on the outside of the front row at Kansas.
- Today’s pole marks the fifth pole in the last six races for Target Chip Ganassi Racing – and the team’s fourth consecutive pole. It also marks the third time in the last six races that Target Chip Ganassi Racing cars have swept the front row with Texas and Kansas being the others.
- Today’s second in qualifying marks the sixth front-row starting position for Scott Dixon this season and the eighth time he’s been in the top-four in the last nine events. Dixon now has four poles, two seconds, a third, a fourth and a sixth in his last nine IndyCar starts.
- Overall, Toyota-powered drivers took five of the top-six spots today with Al Unser Jr. placing his Corteco Toyota in fifth and Alex Barron (Hollywood Toyota) outside Unser in sixth. Gil de Ferran (Marlboro Toyota) and Scott Sharp (Delphi Toyota) placed ninth and 10th, respectively, to give Toyota seven of the top-10 today.
Toyota Michigan Qualifying:
1. Tomas Scheckter
2. Scott Dixon
3. Helio Castroneves
5. Al Unser Jr.
6. Alex Barron
9. Gil de Ferran
10. Scott Sharp
11. Tora Takagi
16. A.J. Foyt IV
Firestone Indy 400, Michigan International Speedway, July 27, ABC, 3:00 p.m. EDT
July 22, 2003
FAST FACTS - FIRESTONE INDY 400
Sunday, July 27, 2:30 p.m. EDT on ABC
Michigan International Speedway
200 laps on the 2-mile oval
TOYOTA EYES EIGHTH IRL WIN IN 10 RACES – Fresh off a one-two-three finish at Nashville, Toyota heads to the Firestone Indy 400 lookingfor its eighth win in 10 IndyCar Series events this season. Three different Toyota teams have registered multiple-race victories: Target Chip Ganassi Racing with three, and both Marlboro Team Penske and Kelley Racing with two apiece.
Individually, Scott Dixon (Target Toyota) has a series-high three wins (Homestead-Miami, Pikes Peak and Richmond), Gil deFerran (Marlboro Toyota) has two victories (Indianapolis 500 and the most recent event at Nashville), and both Scott Sharp (Delphi Toyota at Japan) and Al Unser Jr. (Corteco Toyota at Texas) have one.
‘500’ WINNER DE FERRAN ON ROLL – With his victory this past weekend in Nashville, Gil de Ferran continues a dominant run that has seen him earn more championship points than any other driver since returning from an injury suffered at Phoenix that forced him to sit out the Motegi race.
De Ferran returned from that injury to win the Indianapolis 500, and he has set a blistering pace ever since. In the six races beginning with Indy, he has earned two victories among five top-three finishes. DeFerran has scored a series-high 231 points in the last six events compared tothe next-highest total of 213 set by fellow Toyota pilot Scott Dixon. The torrid pace has moved the two-time CARTchampion into second-place overall in the IndyCar Series points standings, just14 behind Tony Kanaan, despite de Ferran having missed a race. When adding on a second-place finish in theseason-opening Toyota Indy 300, de Ferran has six top-three finishes in eight 2003 races.
ONE FOR THE RECORD BOOKS – Scott Dixon will be looking to put his name in the IndyCar Series record books once again this weekend by winning a fourth consecutive pole position. This week’s birthday boy (he turns 23 onTuesday) arrives at Michigan having won poles at Richmond, Kansas and Nashville. Dixon can match Billy Boat’s IRL record with a fourth straight at MIS. Of course, entering the record book has been a fairly common occurrence for the Target Toyota driver. By winning the season-opener, Dixon became just the third driver in series history to win his debut race. Later, on his way to victory at Richmond, he became the first driver ever to lead every lap of an IndyCar Series event. Dixon followed that up by setting a new series standard for consecutive laps led witha stretch of 343 laps over a span of three races (Pikes Peak, Richmond and Kansas).
RUNNING UP FRONT – Including a dominant stretch since Indianapolis, Toyota-powered cars have led the most laps in eight of nine races this season. Toyotas have now led 1,072 of the last 1,164 (92.2 percent) laps run in IndyCar Series competition going back to the Indianapolis 500.
The six-race stretch includes leading 136 of 200 laps at Nashville, 177 of 200 laps at Kansas, all 206 laps at Richmond, 223 of 225 laps at Pikes Peak, 199 of 200 laps at Texas and 131 of the final 133 laps at the Indianapolis 500. During the six races, Toyota-powered drivers have earned 16 of the 18 available top-three finishes, winning five races, placing second four times and third all six times.
Overall this season, Toyota drivers have secured 21of 27 top-three finishes available in the nine races with seven wins, six second-place finishes and eight thirds. Toyota drivers have swept the top three on three different occasions (Homestead-Miami, Richmond and last weekend in Nashville).
For the year, Toyota-powered Indy Cars have led 1,468 of 1,831 (80.1 percent) laps run in the IndyCar Series. Individually, Scott Dixon’s 544 laps led is an IndyCar Series best, and it is 218 more than the combined total (326) of all of the non-Toyota-powered cars in the series.
CHAMPIONSHIP RUNS – With the most recent victory in Nashville, Toyota extended its IndyCar Series Manufacturer’s Championshiplead to 17 points over second-place Honda (84-67).
A trio of Toyota drivers also are in the thick of the championship hunt heading into MIS this weekend. Gil de Ferran, Scott Dixon and Helio Castroneves currently stand second, third and fourth respectively in the points race. De Ferran is just 14 points out of the lead,with Dixon 15 and Castroneves 21 from the top.
Four more Toyota drivers currently rank in the top 10 inpoints. Kelley Racing teammates Al Unser Jr. and Scott Sharp are in sixth and seventh, respectively, while Tomas Scheckter (Target Toyota) and Tora Takagi (Pioneer Toyota) are ninth and 10th.
Toyota IndyCar Series Driver Line-Up and Position Entering Michigan
Car Driver Car SeasonPoints Standing
No. 6 Gil de Ferran Marlboro Toyota 2nd (WonIndianapolis 500, Nashville)
No. 9 Scott Dixon Target Toyota 3rd (Won Miami, Pikes Peak, Richmond)
No. 3 Helio Castronves MarlboroToyota 4th
No. 31 Al Unser, Jr. Corteco Toyota 6th (Won Texas)
No. 8 Scott Sharp Delphi Toyota 7th (Won Motegi)
No. 10 Tomas Scheckter Target Toyota 9th
No. 12 Tora Takagi Pioneer Toyota 10th
No. 14 A.J.Foyt IV Conseco Toyota 21st
No. 21 TBA HollywoodToyota
July 19, 2003
DE FERRAN LEADS TOYOTA 1-2-3 AT NASHVILLE
- Gil de Ferran led Scott Dixon and Helio Castroneves to a 1-2-3 Toyota finish before a sell-out crowd at tonight’s Firestone Indy 200 at the Nashville Superspeedway. In total, Toyota-powered entries took four of the top five and seven of the top-10 places.
- The Toyota victory is its sixth in the last seven IndyCar Series events and its seventh in nine IRL races this season. With th win, Toyota extends its IndyCar Series Manufacturer’s Championship lead to 17 points over second-place Honda, 84-67.
- Gil de Ferran (Marlboro Toyota) earned his second win of the season after previously winning at Indy and his fourth career IndyCar Series triumph.
- Tonight’s victory gives de Ferran four consecutive top-three finishes and moves him into second-place in the championship – just 14 points behind Tony Kanaan despite missing Motegi due to injury. De Ferran has two wins and five top-three finishes in the six races since returning from the injury suffered at Phoenix. During that time-period, de Ferran has scored more points than any other IndyCarSeries driver.
- By leading 136 of 200 laps, Toyota-powered cars have now led 1,072 of the last 1,164 laps run in IndyCar Series competition. Individually, Scott Dixon’s (Target Toyota) 538 laps led is an IndyCar Series best and more than all of the non-Toyota powered cars in the series combined.
- Tonight’s Toyota 1-2-3 is the manufacturer’s third of the season with the same three drivers involved in each. Scott Dixon led de Gil de Ferran and Helio Castroneves in a Toyota 1-2-3 at Miami, while Dixon led Castroneves and de Ferran in a 1-2-3 at Richmond.
- Scott Dixon earned his fourth top-two finish of the season after previously registering victories at Miami, Pikes Peak and Richmond. Dixon’s yet to place below sixth in any race he’s finished this season. Despite dropping to third in the points chase, Dixon closed the gap between himself and first place to just 15 points with seven races remaining.
-Helio Castroneves (Marlboro Toyota) earned his sixth top-three finish of the season with a third-place finish tonight. Castroneves falls from third to fourth in the title chase, but closes to just 21 points out of first.
- Alex Barron (Hollywood Toyota) made it four Toyotas in the top-five by earning a fifth-place finish tonight, just days after being named for the drive at Mo Nunn Racing. Barron now has two top-six finishes in the three races he’s "subbed" at this season.
-Tora Takagi (Pioneer Toyota) led 13 laps tonight, the longest single-stint in the lead since entering IndyCar Series competition this season. In total, five different Toyota-powered drivers led tonight – Gil de Ferran, Scott Dixon, Scott Sharp, Al Unser Jr. and Takagi.
- With Tora Takagi, Al Unser Jr. (Corteco Toyota) and Tomas Scheckter (Target Toyota) placing seventh, eighth and 10th, respectively, seven Toyota-powered cars finished in the top 10 tonight.
- Three different Toyota teams placed two cars each in the top-10 tonight. Marlboro Team Penske had de Ferran and Castroneves (first and third), Target Chip Ganassi Racing had Dixon and Scheckter (second and 10th) and Mo Nunn Racing had Barron and Takagi (fifth and seventh).
Quotes
Jim Aust, Toyota vice president of motorsports: “It was an interesting race with a lot of different strategies played out. As it turned out, Team Penske made the right calls and Gil drove a terrific race. He’s really been outstanding since returning from the injury he suffered at Phoenix. We expanded our Manufacturer's Championship lead and Gil, Scott and Helio all helped themselves tonight. Overall, it was a great weekend for Toyota."
Toyota Drivers Start/Finish
Gil de Ferran 4/1
Scott Dixon 1/2
Helio Castroneves 2/3
Alex Barron 6/5
Tora Takagi 3/7
Al Unser Jr. 14/8
Tomas Scheckter 5/10
Scott Sharp 13/13
A.J. Foyt IV 16/17
Next Race: Firestone Indy 400, Michigan, July 27, 2:30 p.m. EDT, ABC
July 18, 2003
DIXON ON POLE AS TOYOTA TAKES TOP SIX IN QUALIFYING AT NASHVILLE
- Scott Dixon (Target Toyota) won his third consecutive IndyCar Series pole and led an all-Toyota front row along with Helio Castroneves (Marlboro Toyota) as Toyota swept the top-six spots in qualifying for Saturday’s Firestone Indy 200.
- Toyota-powered cars have now sat on the pole for seven of the last eight IRL events – with the only exception coming when qualifying was washed out at Pikes Peak in June with the starting grid decided by practice times.
- Toyota-powered cars swept the first six spots today with Tora Takagi (Pioneer Toyota), Gil deFerran (Marlboro Toyota), Tomas Scheckter (Target Toyota) and Alex Barron (Hollywood Toyota) following Scott Dixon and Helio Castroneves.
- Today’s pole marks the fifth front-row starting position for Scott Dixon this season and the seventh time he’s been in the top-four in the last eight events. Dixon now has four poles, a second, a third,a fourth and a sixth in his last eight IndyCar starts.
- Scott Dixon’s pole is the fifth of the season for Target Chip Ganassi Racing and the team’s fourth in the last five races and its fifth in the last seven. Dixon won the pole at the most recent race at Kansas, as well as at Motegi and Richmond, while Scheckter was on the pole at Texas.
- After leading today’s second practice and then winning the pole position, Target Chip Ganassi Racing drivers have now been the fastest in 9 of the last 11 IndyCar practice and qualifying sessions over the last three weekends.
- Tora Takagi (Pioneer Toyota) matched his career-best with a third-place in qualifying – the fifth time he’s qualified third in the last seven races. Takagi now has qualified in the top-five in six of the last seven IndyCar Series events.
Toyota Nashville Qualifying:
1. Scott Dixon
2. Helio Castroneves
3. Tora Takagi
4. Gil de Ferran
5. Tomas Scheckter
6. Alex Barron
13. Al Unser Jr.
14. Scott Sharp
18. A.J. Foyt IV
Firestone Indy 200, July 19, ESPN2, 8:00 p.m. EDT
July 16, 2003
FAST FACTS - FIRESTONE INDY 200
Saturday, July 19, 8 p.m. EDT on ESPN2
Nashville Superspeedway
200 laps on the 1.33-mile oval for 266 miles
TOYOTA MAKES FIRST TREK TO VOLUNTEER STATE – This weekend’s Firestone Indy 200 will mark the first-ever race for Toyota in Tennessee in a major series. However, Toyota will have bigger presence in the Volunteer state in the future. Toyota’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series program will feature races in Bristol, Memphis and Nashville next season. In addition, the manufacturer is in the midst of preparing to open up a plant to cast aluminum parts in Jackson, Tenn., which is scheduled to open in 2005.
TOYOTA LOOKS FOR SEVENTH IRL WIN IN NINE RACES –After seeing its five-race win streak snapped at Kansas, Toyota will be looking to earn its seventh victory of the season this Saturday at the Nashville Superspeedway. Four different drivers have triumphed with Toyota power this season. Scott Dixon (Target Toyota) is the only multiple race winner in theIndyCar Series with three victories (Homestead-Miami, Pikes Peak and Richmond). Other Toyota-powered victors were Scott Sharp (Delphi Toyota) at Japan, Gil de Ferran (Marlboro Toyota) at the Indianapolis 500, and Al Unser Jr. (Corteco Toyota) at Texas.
RUNNING UP FRONT – Entering Nashville, Toyota-powered cars have now led 936 of the last 964 (97.1 percent) laps run in IndyCar Series competition. The five-race stretch includes leading 177 of 200 laps at Kansas, all 206 laps at Richmond, 223 of 225 laps at Pikes Peak, 199 of 200 laps at Texas and 131 of the final 133 laps at the Indianapolis 500. During those five races, Toyota-powered drivers have earned 13 of the 15 available top-three finishes, winning four races, placing second three times and third five times.
Overall this season, Toyota drivers have secured 18 of 24 top-three finishes available in the eight races with six wins, five second-place finishes and seven thirds. Toyota drivers have swept the top three on two different occasions (Homestead and Richmond).
For the year, Toyota-powered Indy Cars have led 1,332 of 1,631 (81.7 percent) laps run in the IndyCar Series. Individually, Scott Dixon’s 518 laps led is an IndyCar Seriesbest, and it is 219 more than the combined total (299) of all of the non-Toyota-powered cars in the series.
ALWAYS A BRIDESMAID? – After winning nine races in the previous three seasons, including two Indianapolis 500 victories, few would suggest that Helio Castroneves is a bridesmaid in the world of professional auto racing. Yet, the 28-year-old Brazilian must be feeling like one this year. In the season’s first eight races, Castroneves has finished second four times, including each of the last two races at Richmond and Kansas. He also placed second at Phoenix and Indianapolis, where he fell just short of his third consecutive Indy 500 victory, and he was third in the season-opening Toyota Indy 300 at Homestead-Miami. On the strength of his five top-three finishes, Castroneves is just one point out of second-place in the IndyCar Series standings and only 32 points out of the series lead.
DE FERRAN CLOSING IN – When Gil de Ferran was injured in a hard crash at Phoenix earlier this year; many simply wondered when he would be able to return rather than if he would bounce back quickly enough to contend for a championship this year. After missing the Motegi race, de Ferran has come back to score more points than any other driver in the series over the last five races and clearly re-emerge as a threat for the IndyCar Series title in 2003.
After sitting out Japan, the Marlboro Team Penske driver returned to win the Indianapolis 500 in his first race back from the injury break. Following an eighth-place finish at Texas, he has put together three consecutive third-place finishes to move into fourth overall, just nine points behind second-place Scott Dixon and just 40 points out of the series lead. De Ferran has placed in the top three in five of seven races this season going into Nashville, a track where he finished second a year ago.
“QUOTES”
Jim Aust, Toyota vice president of motorsports: “As we found out at Kansas, the IndyCar Series is so competitive that a few miscues can cost you a race. It’s extremely important that we bounce back with a strong effort and a victory at Nashville to maintain our Manufacturer’s Championship lead and not lose the momentum we created in the first half of the season."
Toyota IndyCar Series DriverLine-Up and Position Entering Nashville
Car Driver Car SeasonPoints Standing
No. 9 Scott Dixon Target Toyota 2nd(Won Miami, PP, Richmond)
No. 3 Helio Castronves Marlboro Toyota 3rd
No. 6 Gil de Ferran Marlboro Toyota 4th (Won Indianapolis 500)
No. 31 Al Unser, Jr. Corteco/Bryant Toyota 6th (Won Texas)
No. 8 Scott Sharp Delphi Toyota 7th (Won Motegi)
No. 10 Tomas Scheckter Target Toyota 9th (tie)
No. 12 Tora Takagi Pioneer Toyota 11th (tie)
No. 14 A.J.Foyt IV Conseco Toyota 21st
No. 21 TBA Hollywood Toyota N/A
July 07, 2003
TOYOTAS LEAD 177 OF LAPS; ONLY TO LOSE KANSAS FUEL BATTLE
- Toyota-powered cars led 177 of the 200 laps run today at Kansas Speedway, only to see Bryan Herta stretch a fuel load almost 100 miles to edge out the hard-charging duo of Marlboro Toyota teammates Helio Castroneves and Gil de Ferran.
- By leading 177 of 200 laps, Toyota-powered cars have now led 936 of the last 964 laps run in IndyCar Series competition.
- Overall this season, Toyota-powered Indy cars have led 1,332 of 1,631 laps run in the IndyCar Series. Individually, Scott Dixon’s (Target Toyota) 518 laps led is an IndyCar Series best, and is 219 more than the combined total (299) of all non-Toyota-powered cars in the series.
- Helio Castroneves (Marlboro Toyota) earned his fourth second-place finish of the season today. He also placed second at Phoenix, Indianapolis and Richmond. In addition, he scored a third at Homestead.
- Gil de Ferran’s (Marlboro Toyota) third-place finish is his third consecutive top-three showing and his fifth in seven races this season. In his last five races, de Ferran has a win, three thirds and an eighth.
- By leading the first 53 laps today at Kansas, Scott Dixon established a new IndyCar Series record for most consecutive laps led with 343. After losing the lead for one lap to teammate Tomas Scheckter, Dixon regained the lead a lap later and proceeded to lead the next 24 laps.
- With a sixth-place finish today, Scott Dixon has now finished no worse than sixth in the five races he’s finished this year, while also leading at the time when he fell out in two other races.
- Jaques Lazier (Conseco Toyota) became the 12th different driver this season to earn a top-10 finish with a 10th today.
Jim Aust, Toyota vice president of motorsports: “You can never feel comfortable in racing. Despite starting with seven cars up front, a few miscues can cost you a race and that’s what we had today. There’s no room for error out here and we let one slip away.”
Toyota Drivers Start/Finish
Helio Castroneves 6/2
Gil de Ferran 4/3
Scott Dixon 1/6
Tomas Scheckter 2/9
Jacques Lazier 15/10
Al Unser Jr. 7/14
A.J. Foyt IV 16/15
Scott Sharp 10/16
Tora Takagi 3/18
Felipe Giaffone 5/22
Next Race: Firestone Indy 200, Nashville, July 19, 8:00 p.m. EDT, ESPN2
July 05, 2003
BULLSEYE! TARGET TOYOTAS 1-2 AT KANSAS; TOYOTA TAKES TOP SEVEN IN QUALIFYING
- Scott Dixon won his third pole of the year, and led an all-Target Chip Ganassi Toyota front row along with teammate Tomas Scheckter, as Toyota swept the top-seven spots on the way to its fifth pole in seven races this season in qualifying for Sunday’s Kansas Indy 300.
- Toyota-powered cars have now sat on the pole for six of the last seven IRL events – with the only exception coming when qualifying was washed out at Pikes Peak in June with the starting grid decided by practice times.
- Toyota-powered cars swept the first seven spots today with Tora Takagi (Pioneer Toyota), Gil deFerran (Marlboro Toyota), Felipe Giaffone (Hollywood Toyota), Helio Castroneves (Marlboro Toyota) and Al Unser Jr. (Corteco Toyota) and following Scott Dixon and Tomas Scheckter.
- Today’s pole marks the fourth front row starting position for Scott Dixon this season and the sixth time he’s been in the top-four in the last seven events. Dixon now has three poles, a second, a third, a fourth and a sixth in his last seven IndyCar starts.
- Scott Dixon’s pole is the fourth of the season for Target Chip Ganassi Racing and the team’s third in the last four races and its fourth in the last six. Dixon won the pole at the most recent race at Richmond, as well as at Motegi, while Scheckter was on the pole at Texas.
- With today’s pole position, Target Chip Ganassi Racing drivers have now been the fastest in EVERY IndyCar session over the last two weekends - a remarkable nine consecutive sessions including Scott Dixon’s win last weekend in Richmond.
- Tora Takagi (Pioneer Toyota) matched his career-best with a third-place in qualifying – the fourth time he’s qualified third in the last six races. Takagi now has qualified in the top-five in five of the last six IndyCar Series events.
- Scott Sharp (Delphi Toyota) made it eight Toyotas in the top 10 today with a 10th-place finish in qualifying.
Toyota Kansas Qualifying:
1. Scott Dixon
2. Tomas Scheckter
3. Tora Takagi
4. Gil de Ferran
5. Felipe Giaffone
6. Helio Castroneves
7. Al Unser Jr.
10. Scott Sharp
15. Jaques Lazier
16. A.J. Foyt IV
Kansas Indy 300, July 6, ABC, 1:00 p.m. EDT
TARGET TOYOTAS 1-2 IN OPENING DAY PRACTICE AT KANSAS; TOYOTA TAKES FIVE OF THE TOP SIX
KANSAS CITY, Kansas - After dominating the last three races, Target Toyota teammates Tomas Scheckter and Scott Dixon registered the top two practice times in each of today’s two practice sessions in preparation for Sunday’s Kansas Indy 300. Overall, Toyota’s occupied five of the day’s top-six places.
Scheckter led Dixon in both practice sessions with the fastest overall time of 218.264 mph. Dixon, who has won the last two IndyCarSeries events, placed second just .0604 seconds behind the South African.
Toyota engines also powered Tora Takagi (Pioneer Toyota) to fourth overall with Helio Castroneves (Marlboro Toyota) and Scott Sharp (Delphi Toyota) holding down the fifth and sixth spots. Felipe Giaffone (HollywoodToyota) was eighth overall to give Toyota six of the day’s top eight.
- Heading into tomorrow’s MBNA Qualifying, Toyota-powered cars have won the pole in four of the last five IndyCar Series races (Motegi, Indianapolis, Texas and Richmond). Scott Dixon won the most recent pole at Richmond, his second of the season.
- The Target Chip Ganassi drivers ran the two highest lap totals today with Dixon logging 111laps (166.5 miles) and Scheckter 106 (159 miles).
- Toyota will be looking for its sixth consecutive victory in Sunday’s Kansas Indy 300 with Dixon eyeing his third straight win after triumphing at Pikes Peak and Richmond. With three victories this year (Toyota Indy 300 at Homestead-Miami was the other), Dixon is the only driver in the series with multiple wins this season.
Toyota Drivers
1. Tomas Scheckter
2. Scott Dixon
4. Tora Takagi
5. Helio Castroneves
6. Scott Sharp
8. Felipe Giaffone
11. Gil de Ferran
12. Al Unser, Jr.
15. Jacques Lazier
16. A.J. Foyt IV
Kansas Indy 300 qualifying, June 5, 11:00 a.m. CDT