Wilson set for second row start in Baltimore
The fourth place starting spot marks Justin Wilson’s best start of the year.
Photo by: Chris Jones
Baltimore, Md. – Fresh from scoring his best IZOD IndyCar Series finish of the year with a run to second place at Sonoma last weekend , Dale Coyne Racing driver Justin Wilson delivered his best qualifying result of the season on Saturday in the No. 19 Boy Scouts of America Honda with a fast lap time of 1:18.8698-seconds to take fourth on the grid for Sunday’s Grand Prix of Baltimore presented by SRT.
The qualifying session opened under hot and humid conditions with Wilson taking to the track for the first 10-minute round of qualifying. Utilizing the Firestone sticker ‘Red’ Tires, he posted the fourth quickest time of the session to advance into the top-12 in the second round of qualifying.
Once again on sticker ‘Red’ tires, Wilson set the fifth quickest lap to break into the ‘Firestone Fast Six’ for the first time this year.
Looking to make the most of the final qualifying round, Wilson returned to the challenging street circuit on scuffed Firestone ‘Red’ tires and posted the fourth fastest time of the group.
"I was very pleased with our qualifying performance today and it was nice to finally make the Firestone Fast Six after being so close the past two weekends,” said Wilson of the run. “To be honest, I didn’t expect it after practice. We were 10th in practice yesterday and 17th yesterday, so it’s been a bit of a struggle this weekend, but we just kept digging away and fighting back.
So I’m pleased with it, just looking forward to the race now. It’s going to be tough, a really difficult race. We’re really struggling with brakes getting overheated, so it’s going to be an interesting one to see how everyone deals with that. I am looking forward to the race tomorrow and hopefully bringing home another podium finish for the No. 19 Boy Scouts of America Honda."
The challenging circuit which runs through the streets of downtown Baltimore has proven to be a difficult one with the natural bumps of the street course terrain taking quite the toll on the cars and drivers.
“The Baltimore street course is very bumpy,” said Wilson of the track surface. “You don’t spend much time actually on the concrete surface of the track. You’re usually in the air. It’s bit of a hovercraft.”
Wilson, who has taken podium finishes in two street course events so far this year (Long Beach, Belle Isle) will look to continue that trend on Sunday.
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