WEST ALLIS, WI: It appears that Andretti Autosport is poised for a big Father’s Day weekend at the historic Milwaukee Mile. Not only is the Andretti group promoting the 250 Mile IndyCar event, but the four car Andretti team swept four of the top five starting positions in Friday’s time trials. Only Team Penske’s Will Power was able to put a dent in the Andretti Armada, qualifying with the third best speed.
Power made no apologies for his Andretti-spoiling run.
“Yeah they seem to be the guys to beat every weekend,” Power said of the Andretti quartet. “Once again, here it’s the same case. Man, it’s a long race and we know those guys are going to be bloody strong and tough to beat. We just have to keep chipping away and see what we get.”
It seems fitting that Marco Andretti earned the Pole, edging teammate James Hinchcliffe, who has already scored a pair of victories in the Izod Indy car series this season. Andretti will be firing off from the number one starting position in search of his first win of 2013.
Marco’s first pole was here in 2008. He won his other one at Iowa Speedway last year.
“I knew I was going to have to be flat all the way around [the track],” he said. “There’s no magic; it’s doing everything right, and the four of us are jelling.”
Magic or not, it seems certain that the Andretti group has found something for the Milwaukee Mile that has placed them in a class by themselves. But history shows us that, as hard as it may be to believe, a sweep of the first four finishing positions is nothing new for Andretti Autosport.
In 2005 the Andretti group did it at St. Petersburg, Fla., when Dan Wheldon, Tony Kanaan, Dario Franchitti and pole winner Bryan Herta swept the top four finishing positions, the only time that’s happened in this sport.
Now, in 2013, the cast of characters has changed, but the goal is the same, as Marco Andretti, James Hinchcliffe, Ryan Hunter-Reay and E J Viso attempt what may become known as the “Andretti Sweep”. It is a bit of a long shot, but don’t be surprised if it happens.
After all, isn’t that the fun of motorsports?
Starting line-up: 1. Marco Andretti, Andretti Autosport, 170.515 mph 2. James Hinchcliffe, Andretti Autosport, 170.418 3. Will Power, Team Penske, 170.212 4. Ryan Hunter-Reay, Andretti Autosport, 170.100 5. EJ Viso, Andretti Autosport, 169.828 6. Sebastian Saavedra, Dragon Racing, 169.732 7. Tony Kanaan, KV Racing Technology, 169.482 8. Josef Newgarden, Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing, 169.462 9. Simon Pagenaud, Schmidt Hamilton Motorsports, 169.311 10. Tristan Vautier, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, 169.215 11. Scott Dixon, Ganassi Racing, 168.820 12. James Jakes, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 168.470 13. Justin Wilson, Dale Coyne Racing, 168.412 14. Sebastien Bourdais, Dragon Racing, 168.141 15. Takuma Sato, A.J. Foyt Racing, 168.023 16. Alex Tagliani, Barracuda Racing, 167.512 17. Dario Franchitti, Ganassi Racing, 167.263 18. Helio Castroneves, Team Penske, 167.169 19. Ryan Briscoe, Panther Racing, 165.765 20. Ana Beatriz, Dale Coyne Racing, 165.364 21. Ed Carpenter, Ed Carpenter Racing, 164.124 22. Charlie Kimball, Ganassi Racing, 164.124 23. Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 163.230
24. Simona De Silvestro, KV Racing Technology, 162.886
