Sarah Fisher Racing Mid-Ohio Qualifying Report

SFR's Ed Carpenter Continues Road Course Learning Curve During Qualifying

Carpenter, who will be making his first non-oval start of the 2011 IZOD IndyCar ® Series season this Sunday at Mid Ohio Sports Car Course, clocked a lap of 1:12.37 during today's early afternoon qualifying session, placing him in the 27th starting position in Row 14. Carpenter has turned a total of 70 laps thus far this weekend in his No. 67 Dollar General machine, with his quickest lap coming during today's early morning practice session.

Ed Carpenter, Sarah Fisher Racing

Photo by: Adriano Manocchia

"It's been a really disappointing day," said Carpenter. "This is not how we felt it was going to go, especially after testing here. We closed the gap a little bit during this morning's practice session, but now after qualifying we're further behind than we've been all weekend. This is definitely not the direction we want to be going. We're going to have to figure out a way to do better tomorrow."

Qualifying was the second on-track activity for the IZOD IndyCar Series today, which was preceded by an early morning practice session at Mid Ohio Sports Car Course. The team made headway during the session, gaining nearly two seconds over yesterday's late afternoon practice session.

Target Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon claimed the Peak Performance Pole Award for Sunday's road course race. He will be joined on the front row by IZOD IndyCar Series driver Ryan Briscoe, of Team Penske.