Dale Coyne Racing driver Bruno Junqueira put together a impressive four-lap qualifying average speed of 166.032 mph Friday evening under the lights at Richmond International Raceway and will start ninth in Saturday’s running of the SunTrust Indy Challenge.

"I'm very pleased with how the #18 Z-Line Designs car qualified today,” said Junqueira.  “We were the fifth fastest in the practice session before qualifying so we knew we had a fast car and would do well in qualifying.”

This is Junqueira’s highest starting position on an oval track so far this season.  His previous best was a 15th in Indianapolis last month.

“I am very proud of the hard work the team has put into the car all week,” said the 31-year-old Brazilian.  “It should be an exciting race Saturday night as we should be passing people.”

Despite his 20th place qualifying effort Friday night, Mario Moraes (#19 Sonny’s Bar-B-Q) is very upbeat for the race.  The 19-year old rookie was the ninth quickest in the second practice session on Friday.  If not for getting a little loose on his first qualifying lap, he most likely would have earned a top-10 spot in Saturday’s race.
 
"The track was very different than the way it was earlier in the day,” said Moraes.  “We were ninth fastest in the practice session and we could have qualified even higher than we didn’t have a problem on the first lap.  For a short oval it is quite difficult to drive.”

“I am very proud of the qualifying performances of both Bruno and Mario today,” said team owner Dale Coyne.  “Neither driver has been on a short track like this before, so to do what they did today shows how talented they really are.  The team worked hard to get here and for both cars to show top-10 performance is a great reward for their hard work this season.”

The IndyCar® Series will drop the green flag for the SunTrust Indy Challenge on June 28 at 8:00 p.m. (EDT).  The race will be televised on ESPN 2 starting at 8:00 p.m. (EDT).