8-25-2006
Klein Leads Sam Schimdt Qualifying Effort at Infineon Raceway
Rookie Jonathan Klein again led the way for the Sam Schmidt Motorsports effort in qualifying action Friday for the double-header race weekend at Infineon Raceway, qualifying third for Saturday’s 30-lap race, with all four SSM drivers qualifying in the top 10.
The grid for Sunday’s event will be set according to the finishing order in the first race, with the top six positions inverted.
For Klein it was his third consecutive top-three qualifying run, and fifth of the season. The 19-year-old rookie is coming off a streak of four consecutive top-three Pro Series finishes: third-place runs at Indianapolis, Nashville, Milwaukee, followed by a second-place finish two weeks ago at Kentucky Speedway, where he also recorded his first IPS pole qualifying run.
He is currently second in the Indy Pro Series standings with 279 points, 25 behind teammate and championship leader Jay Howard, and 14 points ahead of third-place Bobby Wilson.
Championship leader Jay Howard will start Saturday’s race from the fifth position, his ninth top-five qualifying run in 10 events this year. Howard currently holds a 25-point lead in the standings over teammate Klein. He has a pair of victories this season, at Nashville and Kentucky, and six top-three finishes.
Making his first Pro Series start, Ryan Justice qualified eighth today. The 21-year-old college student is a regular in the Star Mazda Series, where he is currently fourth in the points standings with a win at Mid-Ohio, three top-three finishes and four poles this season.
Jamie Camara posted the 10th fastest speed in qualifying Saturday at Infineon Raceway for the first of two Indy Pro Series events this weekend at the 2.26-mile road course located just outside of Sonoma, California.
Camara, who has posted one win this season, at The Milwaukee Mile, and a trio of top-three finishes this year, and is currently fifth in the IPS standings, 62 points behind teammate and championship leader Jay Howard.
Saturday’s 30-lap race, the first of two Indy Pro Series events this weekend is scheduled to start at 4:45 p.m. (EDT). Sunday’s companion race starts at 1:20 p.m. (EDT).
Jonathan Klein, #27 Klein Tools/Turn-Key Forging & Design Dallara/Firestone
Qualified 3rd at 98.449 mph, 1:24.1045
"We're pretty happy. This was the best the car has been all year on a road course, and we're the fastest of all the cars on our team. It's also my first time in a Pro Series car here in Sonoma, and this is a challenging track to learn, so all things considered, I think we're in good shape for the race tomorrow. We need to keep out of trouble in the first race, bring the car home in one piece for Sunday's race, and try and keep both Jay [Howard] and Bobby [Wilson] behind us."
Jay Howard, #7 Lucas Oils/Isilon Dallara/Firestone
Qualified 5th at 98.008 mph, 1:24.4828, current championship leader
"It was nice to move up [two positions] right at the end, but we still need to improve just about everything on the car. There's just a overall lack of grip at both ends, and as a result we're sliding around everywhere. But I've already got some ideas on what we can do to improve things, so we'll have our meeting [with the team engineers] in a little bit and see what we can do for tomorrow."
Ryan Justice, #38 Northwest Autosport Dallara/Firestone
Qualified 8th at 97.699 mph, 1:24.7499
"We're okay. We struggled quite a bit in the first qualifying session, but managed to improve the car quite a bit after that and I think the car was actually a lot better than we showed on the timesheet. We set a pretty good time early in the session. Then we changed over to new tires and went back out, but I could never get a clean lap. It seemed like I came across slower traffic on every lap until the end."
Jamie Camara, #11 Neo Quimica Dallara/Firestone
Qualified 10th at 97.415 mph, 1:14.9976
"It was a very disappointing day. The car was not like I wanted for either session and we were unable to improve it very much. It not one specific thing, the car just seems to slide around too much. We'll get together as a team tonight and see what changes we can make for the race tomorrow."
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