Meira : "The racing here is going to be intense"

In IndyCar Series qualifications for the Iowa Corn Growers Indy 250, Panther drivers Vitor Meira and Kosuke Matsuura qualified 13th and 16th, respectively.

Meira qualified his No. 4 Delphi Panther Honda with a top time of 17.7932 seconds, 180.878 mph. Matsuura, who is coming of his best result with Panther Racing – ninth place at Texas Motor Speedway – qualified with a top speed of 180.221 mph, 17.8581 seconds.

Vitor Meira
"We were certainly hoping to be a little better in the Delphi car, but everybody qualified so close together. My car was a little twitchy, like it's supposed to be in qualifications, but we were a little down on speed. The good thing is that I was happy in our last practice and the car was very quick. The racing here is going to be intense so we're going to have our work cut out for us."

Kosuke Matsuura
"I am not satisfied with my qualifying time but it was just so hard to get the speed. It seems like weather tomorrow will be very different from today so we will just do our best and concentrate on moving up the position. It would be like a survival race tomorrow."

The Iowa 250 will be starting Sunday at 1 p.m. (EST)

D.B. © CAPSIS International
Source Panther Racing