Aiming to reward the crew

Vitor Meira will start eighth tomorrow in the Kansas Lottery Indy 300, and team-mate Kosuke Matsuura was just a few hundredths of a second behind his team-mate in twelfth place. It was a solid effort from the Panther team, who spent a frantic two days in the Indianapolis race shop preparing for this weekend following accidents at Motegi.

"This was our best time of the day,” Meira said. “The Delphi Panther team keeps improving. I'm sure the race setup will be great, and we've had a good run today. Everybody has worked so hard the past week to get this car ready, I think tomorrow I will get them a good reward. We are competitive and will be even more competitive tomorrow. We're going to work hard to get a win."

Meira started sixth here a year ago and finished on the podium in third place, his third consecutive Top Three finish at Kansas. For Matsuura, the starting position is no concern because of how tight the field is from positions eight to fifteen. He finished eighth at Kansas last season after starting fifth.

"The Panasonic team worked hard this week,” Matsuura said. “Twelfth isn't bad considering how small the gap is between Vitor and I. The track condition wasn't great when I did my run because I was one of the first drivers to go. Our goal is to finish the race and get some of the points we need."

Meira's top lap was 211.834 mph, 25.8315 seconds, while Matsuura was just behind at 211.502 mph, 25.8721 seconds.

E.A.
Source Panther Racing