DETROIT, Mich. (Sept. 1, 2007) - Canadian Club driver Dario Franchitti will start from the outside of row one in the second position for Sunday's inaugural Detroit Indy Grand Prix presented by Firestone at The Raceway at Belle Isle. After single-lap qualifying, Franchitti stood at the top of the speed charts. He posted a best speed of 103.295 miles per hour (1:12.1430 seconds) during the Firestone Fast Six.

Live coverage of the Detroit Indy Grand Prix can be seen on ABC beginning at 3:30 p.m. (EDT). The 16th event on the IndyCar Series schedule can also be heard live on XM Satellite Radio channel 145, the exclusive home of the IndyCar Series and the “Andretti Green Racing Hour.”

Dario Franchitti, #27 Canadian Club Dallara/Honda/Firestone:
“This morning, the car felt really good. We had made some changes from yesterday and we had put up a good time on old tires. When we put on new tires, we were much faster until I got into he wall in Turn 6. The Canadian Club team did a fantastic job getting the car repaired for qualifying. I was really happy with the single-lap time. Then we put up a pretty good time during the Firestone Fast Six. We knew we had gotten all we could out of the car, so we parked it. Then Ryan Hunter-Reay ran out of fuel and we were looking pretty good. I thought that was going to be it because you are supposed to slow down for a waving yellow. But, I am very happy with the Canadian Club car.”

Detroit Indy Grand Prix presented by Firestone Qualifying
Pos. Name Speed (mph) Time (secs)
1 Helio Castroneves 103.401 1:12.0688
2 Dario Franchitti 103.295 1:12.1430
3 Scott Dixon 102.669 1:12.5830
4 Tony Kanaan 102.299 1:12.8451
5 Ryan Hunter-Reay 101.604 1:13.3434
6 Marco Andretti 101.548 1:13.3840
7 Sam Hornish Jr. 101.219 1:13.6224
8 Darren Manning 100.456 1:14.1814
9 Tomas Scheckter 100.429 1:14.2015
10 Vitor Meira 100.311 1:14.2889
11 Danica Patrick 100.153 1:14.4061
12 Ed Carpenter 99.130 1:15.1738
13 AJ Foyt IV 98.610 1:15.5708
14 Kosuke Matsuura 98.572 1:15.5998
15 Buddy Rice 98.326 1:15.7886
16 Dan Wheldon 98.235 1:15.8588
17 Scott Sharp 97.717 1:16.2611
18 Sarah Fisher 92.150 1:20.8682