Via IndyCar.com
July 7, 2012 (Toronto, ON) - Victor Carbone was able to keep the No. 3 Mav TV/Nevoni/Sam Schmidt Motorsports with Curb-Agajanian car pointed in the right direction for the most part during qualifying on the wet 1.75-mile, 11-turn Exhibition Place street circuit, which was prominently responsible for him claiming the pole for the Toronto 100.
The scheduled 45-minute session was reduced by eight minutes at the start because of a rain cell that passed over Exhibition Place 30 minutes earlier and 1:30 toward the back end because of a red flag for a car that spun and stalled because of the slick surface.
It was the first pole start of the season and second overall for Carbone, and his third front-row start in eight races.
"Really tough. I did two 360s at the beginning of qualifying," said Carbone, 20, of Brazil, who had a best lap of 1 minute, 20.2282 seconds. "At the beginning it wasn’t raining so hard, and then during the session it rained quite hard, and then at the end the track was getting better again. It was tough, as I said, but I was able to improve and get used to the wet track, so it was good."
The 50-lap race is scheduled to get the green flag at 4 p.m. (ET). Listen to the IMS Radio Network's call, supplemented by real-time Timing & Scoring on www.indycar.com.
Carbone, who has finished no lower than sixth this season, is tied for fourth in the Firestone Indy Lights championship standings (71 points behind teammate Esteban Guerrieri).
"I don’t know if it’s going to be dry or wet for the race, so it’s really hard to say what to expect," he said. "Hopefully, we'll keep out of trouble and have a great race."
Guerrieri, who posted a quick lap of 1:20.3348, will start alongside Carbone (his fourth front-row start of the season).