IndyCar: Alex Tagliani Claims Pole at Texas

Eric SmithJun 10, 2011

Alex Tagliani claimed his second straight pole of the year at Texas Motor Speedway this afternoon. He will start on the pole for the first race in the Firestone Duel 275s tomorrow night in Texas.

Tagliani set a two-lap average speed of 215.186 mph in the No. 77 Bowers and Wilkins Honda.

Dario Franchitt, sporting the new Huggies paint scheme, will join Tags on the front row for the first race tomorrow night. The reigning series champ's two-lap average was 214.801 mph.

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The drivers starting in the second row are both a bit of a surprise. Will Power, a great road course racer, will start third in the No. 12 Verizon Wireless Honda. This isn't as much of a surprise since he had the quickest car in the preceding practice session, as did the fourth qualifier, second year driver Takuma Sato, who will start alongside Power in row two.

This is Sato's best oval start in his career. His two-lap average of 214.470 mph in the No. 5 Lotus sponsored Honda was best among the KV Racing Cars.

Rounding out the top five for tomorrow night's first race is Sarah Fisher Racing's Ed Carpenter. Carpenter will make his second start of the season in the No. 67 Dollar General Honda. His two-lap average was 214.373 mph.

Fan favorite Danica Patrick will start a season best 10th in the No. 7 Go Daddy Honda.

There will be a record (Indy 500 events excluded) 30 drivers racing in tomorrow night's duels.

Tomorrow night's races will mark the first time that the Izod IndyCar Series will adapt the duel race format.

Both races will be 114 laps in length. The first race will start at 8:45 p.m. EST on VERSUS.

After the first race is completed, there will be an hour long break to let the cars cool down. The drivers will then do a blind draw to determine the starting line-up for the second race.

The drivers and teams are awarded half the points and prize money for each race as the two races combine for standard full points and money in accordance with the rest of the races on the Izod IndyCar Series schedule.

RACE 1 STARTING LINE-UP

1. (77) Alex Tagliani

2. (10) Dario Franchitti

3. (12) Will Power

4. (5) Takuma Sato

5. (67) Ed Carpenter

6. (82) Tony Kanaan

7. (9) Scott Dixon

8. (99) Wade Cunningham (R)

9. (6) Ryan Briscoe

10. (7) Danica Patrick

11. (4) J.R. Hildebrand (R)