Publications
Partners
Indianapolis - Americans Danica Patrick and Marco Andretti endured a tense final qualifying session on Sunday before claiming their places in the 100th anniversary edition of the Indianapolis 500.
Patrick, the first woman to win a major open-wheel race, was among nine qualifiers who filled the 33-car field for the May 29 race in the last session of time trials, leaving several hopefuls too slow to make the race.
"I skipped my 30s and went straight to my 40s in age after this weekend," Patrick said. "It was just one of those days. We don't care what the speed is as long as we get in."
Andretti was bumped from the lineup but requalified in the final run of the day, emotionally knocking Andretti Autosport teammate Ryan Hunter-Reay out of the Indy 500 in the last seconds of time trials
"It was either going to be in the wall or in the show," Andretti said. 'It's a bummer that we were in this position but I'm grateful to be in."
Michael Andretti called it his worst moment as a team owner to see Hunter-Reay and England's Mike Conway bumped out of the field.
"As an owner it's the worst ever. It just breaks my heart," the elder Andretti said. "It's really a tough day."
Patrick's four-lap qualifying run speed average of 224.861 mph came after she was left sitting in the rain fearing she might be unable to run after losing her original place in line when her car failed a technical inspection.
The storm passed, the track was dried and after an agonizing wait, Patrick qualified with ease with 75 minutes before time trials were complete.
Patrick's run bumped England's Alex Lloyd and left Andretti and Hunter-Reay on the "bubble" as slowest qualified cars in the last minutes of time trials.
Colombia's Sebastian Saavedra, Englishmen Conway and James Jakes and Brazil's Raphael Matos tried in vain to bump out Andretti but it was Lloyd who bumped his way into the lineup in the last minutes of qualifying at 223.957 mph.
After Jakes was too slow in a final attempt, Andretti returned to the track with 50 seconds remaining in qualifying and ousted Hunter-Reay.
"I don't know what to think," Hunter-Reay said. "It was a matter of timing. We were just sitting there in line. We just ran out of time."
Losing out to a teammate made it worse, Hunter-Reay said.
"I just can't fathom this. It's just heartbreaking," he said. "My teammate bumped me out. This is bad. I can't even comprehend this at the moment. We've got an issue."
Marco Andretti said, "It's just circumstances that put us in this position. We needed to get bumped in order to justify going out."
Brazil's Ana Beatriz and US racer Graham Rahal qualified when the track opened before rain halted qualifying for nearly 2 1/2 hours.
When the weather cleared, the final vacant spots in the field were filled by Australia's Ryan Briscoe, England's Pippa Mann, Conway and Lloyd, Matos and Americans Charlie Kimball and Hunter-Reay.
Marco Andretti bumped his way into the lineup with a run at 223.688 mph, knocking out Matos and putting teammate Conway on the bubble.
Canada's Paul Tracy, with a hard-luck history at Indy, took the track next and despite a few raindrops completed a qualifying run at 224.939 mph, the day's fastest, to reach row nine and bump Conway.
"It started on lap three. I could see some misting on my visor and I said to myself, 'Are you kidding me. What else can happen?'" Tracy said. "On the last lap the car was starting to slide. You could feel it."
One year after pulling out a qualified car to try and improve his speed and missing the race and nine years after losing the race on a controversial ruling that he passed just into a caution period, Tracy caught a break at Indy.
"This track has dealt me a pretty tough hand in my career," Tracy noted.
IndyCar president of competition Brian Barnhart made the call to allow Tracy to finish his run despite sprinkles in the fourth turn.
"You've got to balance out the safety aspect with what they have at stake," Barnhart said. "It's a very tricky situation. Paul did a heck of a job."
Starting line-up after Sunday's final time trials for the 100th anniversary edition of the Indianapolis 500 on May 29 with four-lap time trials average speeds around the 4km Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval with driver, car-engine, time and mph speed:
Row One
1. Alex Tagliani (CAN) Dallara-Honda, 2mins 38.2613secs (227.472 mph)
2. Scott Dixon (NZL) Dallara-Honda, 02:38.3528 (227.340)
3. Oriol Servia (ESP) Dallara-Honda, 02:38.4727 (227.168)
Row Two
4. Townsend Bell (USA) Dallara-Honda, 02:38.6696 (226.887)
5. Will Power (AUS) Dallara-Honda, 02:38.7493 (226.773)
6. Dan Wheldon (ENG) Dallara-Honda, 02:38.9477 (226.171)
Row Three
7. Buddy Rice (USA) Dallara-Honda, 02:39.4431 (225.786)
8. Ed Carpenter (USA) Dallara-Honda, 02:39.9137 (225.121)
9. Dario Franchitti (SCO) Dallara-Honda, 02:39.0253 (226.379)
Row Four
10. Takuma Sato (JPN) Dallara-Honda, 02:39.4785 (225.736)
11. Vitor Meira (BRA) Dallara-Honda, 02:39.5814 (225.590)
12. JR Hildebrand (USA) Dallara-Honda, 02:39.5895 (225.579)
Row Five
13. James Hinchcliffe (CAN) Dallara-Honda, 02:39.5942 (225.572)
14. Bertrand Baguette (BEL) Dallara-Honda, 02:39.7973 (225.285)
15. Davey Hamilton (USA) Dallara-Honda, 02:39.8223 (225.250)
Row Six
16. Helio Castroneves (BRA) Dallara-Honda, 02:39.8464 (225.216)
17. John Andretti (USA) Dallara-Honda, 02:40.0133 (224.981)
18. EJ Viso (VEN) Dallara-Honda, 02:40.1907 (224.732)
Row Seven
19. Bruno Junqueira (BRA) Dallara-Honda, 02:40.2203 (224.691)
20. Justin Wilson (ENG) Dallara-Honda, 02:40.3488 (224.511)
21. Jay Howard (ENG) Dallara-Honda, 02:40.3685 (224.483)
Row Eight
22. Tomas Scheckter (RSA) Dallara-Honda, 02:40.4040 (224.433)
23. Tony Kanaan (BRA) Dallara-Honda, 02:40.4156 (224.417)
24. Simona de Silvestro (SUI) Dallara-Honda, 02:40.4335 (224.392)
Row Nine
25. Paul Tracy (CAN) Dallara-Honda, 02:40.0433 (224.939)
26. Danica Patrick (USA) Dallara-Honda, 02:40.987 (224.861)
27. Ryan Briscoe (AUS) Dallara-Honda, 02:40.2572 (224.639)
Row 10
28. Marco Andretti (USA) Dallara-Honda, 02:40.2648 (224.628)
29. Charlie Kimball (USA) Dallara-Honda, 02:40.3574 (224.499)
30. Graham Rahal (USA) Dallara-Honda, 02:40.4424 (224.380)
Row 11
31. Alex Lloyd (ENG) Dallara-Honda, 02:40.7451 (223.957)
32. Pippa Mann (ENG) Dallara-Honda, 02:40.7600 (223.936)
33. Ana Beatriz (BRA) Dallara-Honda, 02:40.8012 (223.879)
Patrick, the first woman to win a major open-wheel race, was among nine qualifiers who filled the 33-car field for the May 29 race in the last session of time trials, leaving several hopefuls too slow to make the race.
"I skipped my 30s and went straight to my 40s in age after this weekend," Patrick said. "It was just one of those days. We don't care what the speed is as long as we get in."
Andretti was bumped from the lineup but requalified in the final run of the day, emotionally knocking Andretti Autosport teammate Ryan Hunter-Reay out of the Indy 500 in the last seconds of time trials
"It was either going to be in the wall or in the show," Andretti said. 'It's a bummer that we were in this position but I'm grateful to be in."
Michael Andretti called it his worst moment as a team owner to see Hunter-Reay and England's Mike Conway bumped out of the field.
"As an owner it's the worst ever. It just breaks my heart," the elder Andretti said. "It's really a tough day."
Patrick's four-lap qualifying run speed average of 224.861 mph came after she was left sitting in the rain fearing she might be unable to run after losing her original place in line when her car failed a technical inspection.
The storm passed, the track was dried and after an agonizing wait, Patrick qualified with ease with 75 minutes before time trials were complete.
Patrick's run bumped England's Alex Lloyd and left Andretti and Hunter-Reay on the "bubble" as slowest qualified cars in the last minutes of time trials.
Colombia's Sebastian Saavedra, Englishmen Conway and James Jakes and Brazil's Raphael Matos tried in vain to bump out Andretti but it was Lloyd who bumped his way into the lineup in the last minutes of qualifying at 223.957 mph.
After Jakes was too slow in a final attempt, Andretti returned to the track with 50 seconds remaining in qualifying and ousted Hunter-Reay.
"I don't know what to think," Hunter-Reay said. "It was a matter of timing. We were just sitting there in line. We just ran out of time."
Losing out to a teammate made it worse, Hunter-Reay said.
"I just can't fathom this. It's just heartbreaking," he said. "My teammate bumped me out. This is bad. I can't even comprehend this at the moment. We've got an issue."
Marco Andretti said, "It's just circumstances that put us in this position. We needed to get bumped in order to justify going out."
Brazil's Ana Beatriz and US racer Graham Rahal qualified when the track opened before rain halted qualifying for nearly 2 1/2 hours.
When the weather cleared, the final vacant spots in the field were filled by Australia's Ryan Briscoe, England's Pippa Mann, Conway and Lloyd, Matos and Americans Charlie Kimball and Hunter-Reay.
Marco Andretti bumped his way into the lineup with a run at 223.688 mph, knocking out Matos and putting teammate Conway on the bubble.
Canada's Paul Tracy, with a hard-luck history at Indy, took the track next and despite a few raindrops completed a qualifying run at 224.939 mph, the day's fastest, to reach row nine and bump Conway.
"It started on lap three. I could see some misting on my visor and I said to myself, 'Are you kidding me. What else can happen?'" Tracy said. "On the last lap the car was starting to slide. You could feel it."
One year after pulling out a qualified car to try and improve his speed and missing the race and nine years after losing the race on a controversial ruling that he passed just into a caution period, Tracy caught a break at Indy.
"This track has dealt me a pretty tough hand in my career," Tracy noted.
IndyCar president of competition Brian Barnhart made the call to allow Tracy to finish his run despite sprinkles in the fourth turn.
"You've got to balance out the safety aspect with what they have at stake," Barnhart said. "It's a very tricky situation. Paul did a heck of a job."
Starting line-up after Sunday's final time trials for the 100th anniversary edition of the Indianapolis 500 on May 29 with four-lap time trials average speeds around the 4km Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval with driver, car-engine, time and mph speed:
Row One
1. Alex Tagliani (CAN) Dallara-Honda, 2mins 38.2613secs (227.472 mph)
2. Scott Dixon (NZL) Dallara-Honda, 02:38.3528 (227.340)
3. Oriol Servia (ESP) Dallara-Honda, 02:38.4727 (227.168)
Row Two
4. Townsend Bell (USA) Dallara-Honda, 02:38.6696 (226.887)
5. Will Power (AUS) Dallara-Honda, 02:38.7493 (226.773)
6. Dan Wheldon (ENG) Dallara-Honda, 02:38.9477 (226.171)
Row Three
7. Buddy Rice (USA) Dallara-Honda, 02:39.4431 (225.786)
8. Ed Carpenter (USA) Dallara-Honda, 02:39.9137 (225.121)
9. Dario Franchitti (SCO) Dallara-Honda, 02:39.0253 (226.379)
Row Four
10. Takuma Sato (JPN) Dallara-Honda, 02:39.4785 (225.736)
11. Vitor Meira (BRA) Dallara-Honda, 02:39.5814 (225.590)
12. JR Hildebrand (USA) Dallara-Honda, 02:39.5895 (225.579)
Row Five
13. James Hinchcliffe (CAN) Dallara-Honda, 02:39.5942 (225.572)
14. Bertrand Baguette (BEL) Dallara-Honda, 02:39.7973 (225.285)
15. Davey Hamilton (USA) Dallara-Honda, 02:39.8223 (225.250)
Row Six
16. Helio Castroneves (BRA) Dallara-Honda, 02:39.8464 (225.216)
17. John Andretti (USA) Dallara-Honda, 02:40.0133 (224.981)
18. EJ Viso (VEN) Dallara-Honda, 02:40.1907 (224.732)
Row Seven
19. Bruno Junqueira (BRA) Dallara-Honda, 02:40.2203 (224.691)
20. Justin Wilson (ENG) Dallara-Honda, 02:40.3488 (224.511)
21. Jay Howard (ENG) Dallara-Honda, 02:40.3685 (224.483)
Row Eight
22. Tomas Scheckter (RSA) Dallara-Honda, 02:40.4040 (224.433)
23. Tony Kanaan (BRA) Dallara-Honda, 02:40.4156 (224.417)
24. Simona de Silvestro (SUI) Dallara-Honda, 02:40.4335 (224.392)
Row Nine
25. Paul Tracy (CAN) Dallara-Honda, 02:40.0433 (224.939)
26. Danica Patrick (USA) Dallara-Honda, 02:40.987 (224.861)
27. Ryan Briscoe (AUS) Dallara-Honda, 02:40.2572 (224.639)
Row 10
28. Marco Andretti (USA) Dallara-Honda, 02:40.2648 (224.628)
29. Charlie Kimball (USA) Dallara-Honda, 02:40.3574 (224.499)
30. Graham Rahal (USA) Dallara-Honda, 02:40.4424 (224.380)
Row 11
31. Alex Lloyd (ENG) Dallara-Honda, 02:40.7451 (223.957)
32. Pippa Mann (ENG) Dallara-Honda, 02:40.7600 (223.936)
33. Ana Beatriz (BRA) Dallara-Honda, 02:40.8012 (223.879)
