Conquest Racing’s Enrique Bernoldi and Jaime Camara will be starting tomorrow’s Firestone Indy 200 in the 19th and 24th positions as it was determined in today’s qualifying session at Nashville Superspeedway.
Camara was the first of the Conquest rookies to put in their qualifying run. His combined average speed of 199.164 mph placed him 24th on this week’s grid. Camara will now try to repeat his Richmond performance where he made many passes on his way to the front. Much like Nashville, Richmond is said to be a difficult place to pass, but it was an easy task for the Conquest Rookie. Tomorrow’s start will be Camara’s eighth in the IndyCar Series.
Bernoldi was 18th in line to put in his qualifying attempt. The rookie registered a combined average speed of 201.153 mph which initially placed him 16th. The Brazilian, who will be taking part in his 10th IndyCar Series race this year, was then knocked down a few spots and wound up 19th.
The Firestone Indy 200 gets underway Saturday, July 12 at 8:00 p.m. eastern time and will be broadcast live on ESPN.
Qualifying Results:
19th - Enrique Bernoldi #36 Sangari Dallara/Honda/Firestone
Total time: 1:33.0635
Lap 1: 23.3614, Lap 2: 23.2386, Lap 3: 23.2394, Lap 4: 23.2241
Average speed: 201.153 mph
24th - Jaime Camara #34 Sangari Dallara/Honda/Firestone
Total time: 1:33.9929
Lap 1: 23.5221, Lap 2: 23.4895, Lap 3: 23.4965, Lap 4: 23.4848
Average speed: 199.164 mph
Conquest Racing Quoteboard
Enrique Bernoldi #36 Sangari Dallara/Honda/Firestone:
"We didn’t start the day off very well but halfway through the second session we found something on the set-up which improved the consistency of the car. At the beginning I had too much understeer and what we found helped that problem.
Then during qualifying the car was still a bit loose but I could hang in there for four laps. I think we got the best out of what we could do today. We almost matched my best time of the day which was done with a little bit of a tow in practice.
It was nice not to drop back so much in qualifying but tomorrow we have to try to catch up some more. Starting from 19th won’t be easy but we will try our best."
Chris Mower, Team Manager:
"Obviously I can’t say we’re happy with the result. But this is the IndyCar Series and as we’ve seen many times this year, if you have a good race car and can pass, the qualifying order doesn’t mean as much.
We will keep working on our concrete track set-up and with good feedback from the drivers, who continue to build their confidence, in the near future it will be possible to have a quick car in both qualifying and the race.
From what I’ve seen and heard this is not an easy place to pass during the race due to the marbles creating just one line but I heard the same about Richmond before we raced there, so I’m optimistic. If we give our two drivers a solid race car they should know what to do with it."
-Karina Redmond -
