Ryan Hunter-Reay Qualifies 12th at Toronto

TORONTO July 11, 2009—Ryan Hunter-Reay took another step towards throwing the Monkey aside when he drove the No. 14 ABC Supply car to its best starting position of the season with his 12th place qualifying effort in the Honda Indy Toronto today on the street circuit at Exhibition Place.

“All in all it was a pretty good day, we definitely made some gains with the ABC Supply car today,” said Ryan Hunter-Reay afterwards. “We moved on from the first knock-out session which is an accomplishment. In the next session, I think we had a car for the top-10 but I just bottomed the car out going into turn 8 and locked up the fronts and cooked the front tires. I think we could have been 10th and we’re 12th so we can work from there.  It’s real tough, the competition is incredibly tight and the track is just so bumpy. There’s a fine line between putting a fast lap in and making a big mistake.”

Hunter-Reay made it through the first session of 12 drivers by posting the sixth fastest speed of 102.308mph with a time of 1:01.75. It was the first time this season that the No. 14 Honda-powered Dallara car made it past the first qualifying group.

In the second session, he ran the Firestone red-rimmed alternate tire for the entire session and clocked in at 1:01.96 for a speed of 101.956mph. He had one miscue where he ran off course which he felt affected his ability to break into the top 10. Despite the miscue and having a flat-spotted front tire, he hustled the No. 14 car to pop up into the top nine only to be pipped to 11th in the final five minutes; then Ryan Briscoe posted his best time in the final minute dropping Hunter-Reay to 12th.

ABC Supply Racing team owner A.J. Foyt was pleased with the effort his driver put in, saying, “Ryan did a good job for us today. It’s the farthest up front we’ve started all season so we’re starting to get this program back on track.”

Hunter-Reay will be surrounded by Team Penske when he lines up tomorrow with Helio Castroneves starting directly ahead of him and teammate Briscoe alongside of Hunter-Reay.  The top nine qualifiers are: Dario Franchitti, Will Power, Graham Rahal, Justin Wilson, Alex Tagliani, Mike Conway, Robert Doornbos, Scott Dixon and Raphael Matos.

The Honda Indy Toronto will be televised live by ABC-TV starting at 1 pm EDT tomorrow.