LEBANON, Tenn. - Ana Beatriz received the radio transmission that she tentatively held the pole for the Sunbelt Rentals 100 at Nashville Superspeedway, which would have made her the second female to pace the field in a Firestone Indy Lights race.
Before she could exit the No. 20 Healthy Choice/Sam Schmidt Motorsports car, James Davison, the final qualifier, upstaged the fellow first-year driver and teammate.
Davison recorded a two-lap average of 180.401 mph (51.8844 seconds) to secure his first SWE Pole Award. Beatriz will join him on the front row after posting an average of 180.368 mph (51.8939 seconds) on the 1.33-mile Nashville Superspeedway.
It's the first pole - third top-five start - in nine races for Davison, driving the No. 11 Lifelock/Sam Schmidt Motorsports car. It's also the 28th pole won by Sam Schmidt Motorsports, and first this season.
Beatriz, seeking to join Sarah McCune (2005 Chicagoland) as pole winners, had topped the overall speed chart in two practice sessions (179.139 mph; 26.1249 seconds on 91 laps) preceding the qualifications. Davison (175.477 best of 92 laps) was 18th.
"I just want to thank my team so much for persevering with me," said Davison, who has one top-five finish. "I maintained before qualifying that it only matters from qualifying onwards. Here we are, starting on the front row. We have a great balance on the car and as Sam reminded me, they aren't awarding prize money for practice."Beatriz's previous best starting position on an oval was fourth in the Firestone Freedom 100 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway - in which she finished fifth.
"There were no mistakes with my laps," said Beatriz, coming off three consecutive top-five finishes. "Unfortunately, James just did a better job. Now I just need to sit down with my engineer and work on the best setup for the race. I believe that we'll be able to contend with the Sam Schmidt/Healthy Choice car."
Starting third will go a long way to erasing the memories of last weekend's doubleheader results at Watkins Glen International for Panther Racing's Dillon Battistini. The first qualifier recorded a two-lap average of 180.278 mph (51.9197 seconds). He started 17th in both races on the Watkins Glen road course and finished 17th and 20th.
Raphael Matos, who had an average of 180.252 mph (51.9273 seconds) in the No. 27 Automatic Fire Sprinklers Inc., will join him on the second row. Teammate Arie Luyendyk Jr. will start fifth (179.726) and Jeff Simmons sixth (179.569) in the No. 2 TMR/Xtreme Coil Drilling car.
"We were a little bit conservative with the setup," Matos said. "We found a lot more speed in qualifying than we had in practice. The AFS Racing/Andretti Green Racing car is running good so I think we have a very strong car. Starting in the top five is always good."
Firestone Indy Lights points leader Richard Antinucci, driving the No. 7 Lucas Oil/Sam Schmidt Motorsports car, will from the outside of Row 7 (176.439; 53.0494). Matos is 27 points behind and Battistini third in the standings.
Brent Sherman (179.100) and J.R. Hildebrand (178.459) will share Row 4. Last year's race winner, Robbie pecorari, qualified 16th.
From: indycar.com
Photo: Ron McQueeney
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