FORT WORTH, Texas (Friday, June 5, 2009) – Despite missing out on valuable track time yesterday due to an issue with the engine, Conquest Racing’s Alex Tagliani put in a solid qualifying run aboard his #34 Rexall Edmonton Indy car Friday evening, once again showing Conquest’s true potential. The Canadian driver, who is taking part in only his second oval event of the season, posted a four lap average speed of 213.173 mph placing him 13th on the starting grid for Saturday’s Bombardier Learjet 550k at Texas Motor Speedway.
The 2009 Indy 500 Rookie of the Year put in his fastest lap times of the weekend when it counted most and initially took over 12th spot following his run. Tag was later bumped to 13th when Helio Castroneves completed his run in fourth position. Tagliani’s qualifying result ties Conquest’s best start on a superspeedway since the team made the transition to the IndyCar Series last season. Franck Perera had started 13th at the season opener in Homestead in 2008.
Round six of 17 is set to go green Saturday, June 6 at 9:45 ET and will be broadcast live on Versus starting at 9:00 p.m. ET with the pre-race show. Canadian viewers can follow the race live on TSN2 starting at 9:00 p.m. ET.
13th - Alex Tagliani, #34 Rexall Edmonton Indy Dallara/Honda/Firestone
Lap 1: 24.5976 seconds / 212.948 mph
Lap 2: 24.5605 seconds / 213.269 mph
Lap 3: 24.5576 seconds / 213.294 mph
Lap 4: 24.5705 seconds / 213.182 mph
Total time: 1:38.2862
Average Speed: 213.173 mph
ALEX TAGLIANI: “It’s fantastic. I have to take my hat off to the guys. They did an absolutely incredible job with the car. We didn’t have a lot of track time with the issue we had yesterday and we didn’t really have time to practice in qualifying trim before going out for my qualifying run today. They gave me a car with pretty much a perfect set-up. The Rexall Edmonton Indy car was on the edge and fast. It was great. It’s a great qualifying result for the team, we haven’t tested on an oval track this year and it’s only our second oval event of the season. I think it’s a great testament to how good this team is. Now I can’t wait until the race tomorrow night.”
Eric Bachelart, Team Owner
“I’m really happy with our qualifying effort. We had little time to prepare with the engine trouble we had yesterday and I think it’s quite impressive what we were capable of doing. It definitely says a lot about the team and we’ve really progressed from last year. Everyone is happy and looking forward to the race tomorrow night. Alex ran well in race trim earlier today in practice and it’s encouraging heading into what will be only our second oval race of the season.”
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