Fast lady Danica takes IndyCar race pole

Published Jul 4, 2005

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Kansas City, Kansas - American rookie racer Danica Patrick has become only the second woman to take pole for an Indycar race with a 343.468km/h lap of the 2.4km Kansas Speedway.

Her 25.4905sec lap for Sunday's Indy 300 was followed by fourth in the race - the best finish by a woman in the 89-year history of the race.

The first lady-on-pole was Sarah Fisher.

It was the latest in a string of firsts for Patrick.

- In May she became the first woman to lead a lap of the Indianapolis 500 when she also finished fourth.

- It was her second front-row start in only eight Indycar races.

- She was second on the grid in Japan.

Patrick's said of her pole: "I've been waiting 14 years for this - let's do it."

Second and third on the grid were Patrick's team mates Buddy Rice and Vitor Meira with South African Tomas Scheckter fourth.

The race was won by Indy Racing League champion Tony Kanaan who won a late duel with British team mate Dan Wheldon, who took the lead with three laps to go when Rice had to pit.

Kanaan went ahead on the next lap and held on to beat Wheldon by 0.012sec.

Patrick said afterwards: "It would have been nice to finish up front - I think the car was fast enough but I did all I could."

The engine of her Panoz-Honda cut out once and she had problems getting away from pit stops because her crew had turned off the car's traction control. - Sapa-AFP

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