Bruno Junqueira will hope for a solid run in the Lexmark Indy 300 this weekend at Surfers Paradise after qualifying in seventh place for what will be his 100th start in the Champ Car World Series.
The Dale Coyne Racing drivers, a winner at Indy back in 2004, spent most of Saturday's qualifying and practice sessions running in the top five and looked for a while as if he was going to take a place on the second row of the grid for the penultimate race of the year.
However, a mental lapse and change to the car allowed a couple drivers to overtake his time and bump the Brazilian to seventh on Sunday's grid.
"Overall it was a good day for the #19 Sonny's Bar-B-Q car," he sid. "On the first set of reds I did a really good lap which put me third in the session. Then we did a change to the car and that made it harder to drive. I had a really good lap going until I made a mistake in the turn and that cost me a few tenths of a second.”
Junqueira added that he was surprised to be making his 100th start in the event and said he was hopeful of plenty more to come.
"I can't believe it's my 100th start in the series," he said. "That is a lot of races! I have enjoyed my first 99 races in Champ Car and have put up some great results. I am happy to be in Champ Car this long and look forward to running another 100 races in the series."
