Buddy Rice got his first IndyCar Series win at the Indianapolis 500. But he's always been fast.
Rice finished second in his IRL debut two years ago. He has top-10 finishes in 12 of his 22 races, including all four this season for Rahal-Letterman Racing in the seat of injured driver Kenny Brack.
"To have an opportunity to drive for this team is really cool, to be associated with two other Indy 500 winners and past champions," Rice said. "I'm in some big company and I have a lot to live up to."
So far, he's doing his part.
Rice joined team co-owner Bobby Rahal and Brack as champions at the famed Brickyard last month. He is third in season points at 129, behind Andretti Green teammates Dan Wheldon (158) and Tony Kanaan (157).
Now in the first race since Indianapolis, Rice qualified second for his third front-row start of the season.
Dario Franchitti is on the pole for Saturday night's Bombardier 500, his first front-row start in the IRL. The top-five spots were Hondas, including his Andretti Green teammates Kanaan third and Bryan Herta fifth.
Wheldon, who like Rice has two poles this season, qualified 12th.
"I have to just try and join them up front as early in the race as I can," Wheldon said.
Texas is where Brack suffered multiple fractures last October in a terrifying accident near the end of the IndyCar Series season finale.
Brack got back in a race car for the first time last week, during a test session at Richmond and hopes to race again this season. But he's not part of this weekend's race.
"It's even tougher for Kenny to be sitting out," Rice said. "I know he wants to be here. You will see Kenny come back and he's going to win more races and do the deal. He's pretty strong, and he's going to be pretty fast."
Aerodynamic changes and smaller engines that slowed down speeds at the Brickyard are having the same effect in Texas, where the IRL races for the 14th time since 1997.
Franchitti's pole speed of 337.260kph was 21kph slower than Gil de Ferran eight months ago.
The next generation of running talent takes center stage at today’s Berlin Marathon, in the absence of stars including Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge and Ethiopian world record holder Tigist Assefa. With most of the major marathon stars skipping the event in the wake of the Paris Olympics just more than a month ago, the field is wide open in the men’s and women’s races. Since 2015, Kipchoge has won five times in Berlin, Kenenisa Bekele has won twice and Guye Adola once — with all three missing today. Kenyan Kibiwott Kandie and Ethiopian Tadese Takele are among the favourites for the men, while
Taiwan’s Tony Wu yesterday beat Mackenzie McDonald of the US to win the Nonthaburi Challenger IV in Thailand, his first challenger victory since 2022. The 26-year-old world No. 315, who won both his qualifiers to advance to the main draw, has been on a hot streak this month, winning his past nine matches, including two that ensured Taiwan’s victory in their Davis Cup World Group I tie. Wu took just more than two hours to top world No. 172 McDonald 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) to win his second challenger tournament since the Tallahassee Tennis Challenger in 2022. Wu’s Tallahassee win followed two years of
Zhang Shuai yesterday said that she nearly quit after losing 24 matches in a row — now the world No. 595 is into the quarter-finals of her home China Open. The 35-year-old is to face Spain’s Paula Badosa as the lowest-ranked player to reach this stage in the history of the tournament after Badosa reeled off 11 of the last 12 games in a 6-4, 6-0 victory over US Open finalist Jessica Pegula. Zhang went into Beijing on a barren run lasting more than 600 days and her string of singles defeats was the second-longest on the WTA Tour Open era, which
Taiwanese martial artists bagged one gold, four silver and three bronze medals at the World Junior Wushu Championships in Brunei, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Brunei Darussalam said yesterday. Liu Yu-tzu won the gold medal in the girl’s taijiquan A group and also picked up a silver medal in the girl’s taijijian A group. Hu Hsin-ling, Yu Min-hsun and Chen Chao-hsiang each won a silver medal in the girl’s jianshu B, boy’s nangun B and boy’s taijijian A groups respectively. Hu also won a bronze medal in the girl’s qiangshu B group, while Yu and Lin Shih-hung picked up bronze medals
RSS