source:
champcarworldseries.com
On a very hot and fast Vancouver street course, Rocketsports drivers, Alex
Tagliani and Memo Gidley secured their positions on the starting grid for the
Molson Indy Vancouver. Gidley got onto the track early, avoiding the three red
flags that stalled the session, and posted his best time, of 1:01.365 in lap 14.
Gidley was fourth quickest in the session and qualified fifth overall, landing
the No.17 Rocketsports Air Force Reserve Lola in fifth position on the starting
grid for Sunday's race.
Alex Tagliani in the No. 8 Johnson Controls Lola used an alternate strategy
and entered the competition later in the session, only to get caught in a series
of red flags, which prevented him, among other drivers, from clocking a
competitive lap. Tagliani's qualifying time from the first session on Friday
earned him a top-ten starting position on the grid. With a time of 1:03.073,
Tagliani was 15th in today's session, but ninth overall.
"The team took a gamble with our strategy this afternoon by waiting to go out
later in the session. Unfortunately I got caught in many red flags and wasn't
able to get a good lap in," said Tagliani. "The Johnson Controls team gave me a
fast car, but we weren't able to show what it was able to do. We'll have to work
on our race strategy for tomorrow and try to pass, which isn't easy on this
track. I have a good car and I'll have to keep my nose clean and make no
mistakes in the race. I'll have to keep an eye on what the guys are doing on the
track and look for opportunities to pass."