Milwaukee: Friday notes

Fogarty Establishes New Atlantic Track Record in Winning Milwaukee Pole

WEST ALLIS, Wisc. (June 4, 2004) -- On Thursday during practice at The Milwaukee Mile, Jon Fogarty (#96 Pacific Coast Motorsports) went out and posted a quick time that would have surpassed the Toyota Atlantic Championship track record at the 1.032-mile oval. The time wasn't considered official because it was established during practice.

On Friday, Fogarty made it official. The 2002 Toyota Atlantic series champion was .001 seconds off of his time from Thursday, but his top lap of 24.675 seconds (150.599 mph) was still good enough to set a new Atlantic record at Milwaukee while earning Fogarty his fifth career pole position and a championship point for securing the pole.

Saturday's Round 3 of the Toyota Atlantic Championship Presented by Yokohama -- the Argent Mortgage Toyota Atlantic Championship race (SPEED Channel; Sunday, June 6 -- 2 p.m. ET) -- will take the green flag at 5:15 p.m. CT.

Fogarty will be joined on the front row by his teammate Alex Figge (#69 Pacific Coast Motorsports) as the California-based Pacific Coast squad, which expanded to a two-car team this season, enjoyed its first-ever 1-2 qualifying effort. Figge, who earned his first Atlantic victory two weeks ago in Monterrey, Mexico, owned a time of 24.915 seconds (149.115 mph).

"Ramping up to two cars is no small feat," said Fogarty, whose effort bested the previous lap record established by current Champ Car pilot Ryan Hunter-Reay in 2002. "Everybody on the team did a great job. We're seeing the gelling of the team. It's an awesome environment to be working in."

Last year's Milwaukee champion and current series points leader Ryan Dalziel (#28 Pro-Works), qualified third with a time of 24.920 seconds (149.085 mph) for the Sierra Sierra Enterprises team. Bryan Sellers (#19 Lynx Racing) will start fourth on the grid tomorrow after posting a top lap of 25.044 seconds (148.347 mph).

The top rookie in the field, Ronnie Bremer (#10 Port-A-Cool), earned a fifth-place starting spot with a time of 25.054 seconds (148.288 mph). The native of Copenhagen, Denmark is racing on an oval track for the first time this weekend and he continues to lead the 2004 BG Products Rookie of the Year standings while tied for second in the overall championship race.

Team Rahal's Danica Patrick (#24 Argent Mortgage Company) bettered her previous Milwaukee qualifying effort by one position as she'll start sixth after a lap of 25.146 seconds (147.733 mph).

After leading Friday's afternoon practice session, rookie Andrew Ranger (#27 Tide/Charmin/Mr. Clean/Snugabye) couldn't seem to find the same speed in qualifying and he will start seventh on Saturday following a top lap of 25.169 seconds (147.610 mph).

Rocky Moran Jr. (#4 Health Privileges) is eighth on the starting grid after posting a time of 25.287 seconds (146.921 mph) for Polestar Racing Group while rookie Chris Festa (#25 SpacePak/CareCentric) is ninth with a qualifying effort of 25.532 seconds (145.512 mph).

Rounding out the top 10 is Alex Garcia (#9 Dixien/Omnisource) of Transnet Racing with a time of 25.563 seconds (145.335 mph).

Rookies Jonathan Bomarito (#8 Dixien/Omnisource) and Josh Hunt (#15 Wright/Patton/Shakespeare/Atkinson Gore Group) completed the field for Saturday's race.

The Toyota Atlantic warm-up session is slated for 2:15 p.m. CT on Saturday and the scheduled start for the Argent Mortgage Toyota Atlantic Championship race Presented by Yokohama is 5:15 p.m.

Quotes from the day's top qualifiers follow below:

JON FOGARTY (#96 Pacific Coast Motorsports) "I owe a lot to my engineer Tim (Lewis). On paper, it (the setup) looked like it should work. But, that's on paper. It's a little different when you have to go out there and do it in real time. But, I did it and the car did it, fortunately, barely. In the previous session, we had a good car in traffic, so we should do well in the race tomorrow. (In 2001 in Indy Lights, Fogarty started second and had an incident on the parade lap that dropped him back in the field at Milwaukee and he wound up 10th). The individual I had the incident with is now a (Champ Car) steward (Derek Higgins), so I'll stay clear of him. I've got good guys around me. It's a tight field. It's a 70-lap race and it's a long race and there's no better place to start than first. We'll see what comes."

*ALEX FIGGE (#69 Pacific Coast Motorsports) "We want to keep the momentum and stay up front. We had a good car for qualifying and we'll have a good car for the race. I thought I had a pretty good run out there until Jon went out, which I found a little over the top (laughs). I mean, after all, I am his teammate and my family is here and, you know, he could have done a 24.8 instead of a 24.6 (more laughter). But, I'm happy for the team. To be 1-2 is great. We worked really hard and I'm looking forward to tomorrow. Everyone out here is pretty quick. We've been close a few times (to winning before his win two weeks ago in Monterrey), qualified on the front row a few times - when I thought we had a good chance of winning and didn't. So, it was nice to have everything come together (in Monterrey) and get that off my back. It gave me more personal confidence. Ovals aren't my favorite thing in the world and, talking with my engineer Burke (Harrison), he wanted to get me comfortable and make sure I was flat out and then go out and do some trimming on the car."

*RYAN DALZIEL (#28 Pro-Works) "I thought I had a pretty respectable time until the end when Jon ran. I'll be honest, we lost our way a little this morning. We went into qualifying not sure of what the car was going to do. I went flat out on both laps and you can only do as much as the car is telling you. We will work on it tonight and we'll regroup and hopefully we'll have a good car tomorrow. I need to look at the point situation (for the race). I've got a good lead over these two guys (Fogarty and Figge). I'm not going to do anything stupid. It's still early in the season. But, it's also the driver's instinct to go out and get it and tomorrow won't be any different."

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