Ed Carpenter was the fastest on Day 1 of qualifying for the Indianapolis 500. [Russ Lake Photo]
With intermittent sun rather than rain threatening to flood the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Round 1 of qualifying unfolded Saturday; a round that puts cars into the 33-car field, but forces teams to wait until Sunday to determine their actual starting grid positions.
Thirty-three cars filled the provisional field in just over two hours early Saturday afternoon and then the games began: The question being, who would attempt to re-qualify and break into or fall out of the Fast Nine? Which nine drivers would finally be eligible to run for the pole spot come Sunday? And what about those threatening black clouds overhead?
Will Power, driving for Verizon/ Team Penske, answered some of those questions by moving from 9th spot on his first run, to the provisional P1 spot with a later run at 230.323.
And that’s when the bumping and “bubble-riding” began as 71 attempts were recorded during the day’s session.
Power’s spot lasted only as long as a brief 90-minute rain delay, as James Hinchcliffe, newly-ok’d to drive after suffering a concussion in last week end’s Grand Prix of Indianapolis, put the rain delay out of his mind to move to P1 with a 230.407 lap in his United Fiber & Data/ Andretti Honda.
Carlos Munoz and later Ed Carpenter found their way to P1, with Carpenter holding serve with a 230.661run to put himself and his Fuzzy’s Vodka/Carpenter Chevrolet team into a prime position to capture the 500 pole on Sunday as Munoz fell to second.
“It’s always fun to be the quickest at Indy. You get into these two (qualifying) days and you can’t really think about the race or work on your race car,” noted the driver/team owner. “It’s really a stressful day watching what everyone else is going to do. We’re hoping for the best tomorrow.”
Munoz, the 2013 500 Rookie of the Year, is second heading into Sunday’s Round 2, feeling more confident than he did a year ago. “Last year I was pretty nervous before qualifying. This year I knew what to do with the gears,” admitted the native of Colombia. “It’s nice to start the race in front (pending Sunday’s effort), but I really think qualifying is five-percent of the race or less.”
Three-time 500 winner Helio Castroneves was third after requalifying his Pennzoil Ultra Platinum /Team Penske Chevrolet. “The weather is helping so much; everyone (seems) to be happy with their car. It’s so on the limit. You can see that the times are so close. One small detail can make a big difference,” noted the 39-year old veteran of 11 500’s. “Being in the first row helps us with the points, too.”
Perhaps the most interesting story during May has been the progress made by NASCAR star Kurt Busch who easily passed his rookie test, moved up the speed charts gradually, and now finds his Silvertone Andretti Autosport Honda tenth in the field (229.960) as he flew back to Charlotte to compete in Saturday night’s NASCAR’s Sprint All-Star event. He was already on the ground in Charlotte when he found out that Juan Pablo Montoya bumped him out of the Fast Nine by 0.006 sec. Montoya later withdrew that speed and ended up slower than Busch heading into Sunday.
“To do four laps here on a 2.5-mile track, that’s a 10-mile run. That’s the longest I’ve had to focus for a qualifying run. Just the shear excitement of trusting a car with downforce going down into Turn 1 at 230 is indescribable,” Busch exclaimed. “Those four laps felt like one; 230 is a different game. Qualifying at Indy, you have to do it for ten miles and you have to do it in the most unnerving conditions; the car is not ready to go 230, but you have to handle it.”
NOTES:
- Kurt Busch plans to do the “Indy/Charlotte Double” next Sunday, but in a way he did a practice version of it today by qualifying here at Indianapolis and then flying to Charlotte for the NASCAR Sprint All-Star race.
- On a cold day that became rainy, a small crowd came to the Speedway to experience the new, and a bit confusing, two-day qualifying format.
- Besides moving into the 33-car field on Saturday, drivers earned points for their first-day efforts. First place paid 33 points, while 33rd– place paid one point.
- Saturday morning’s practice session saw 12 cars run over 230mph due to a combination of higher boost pressure (130kPa to 140kPa) which added 40-horsepower boost to the engines for the two weekend sessions, while aero tows helped cars slip through the air more easily. Marco Andretti was the quickest in final practice at 232.239mph, while last year’s 500 winner Tony Kanaan and Ryan Hunter-Reay were the only two over 231.
- Target Chip Ganassi Racing is celebrating Target’s 25-years of team sponsorship by running Tony Kanaan and Scott Dixon in Silver and Red livery.
- Seven rookies have qualified for their first 500. Those who made the field include: Mikhail Aleshin, Carlos Huertas, Busch, James Davison, Martin Plowman, Sage Karam and Jack Hawksworth.
- All three rows of the Fast Nine qualified at over 230mph. The average for the 33-car field was 229.067mph.
- On Sunday, each car will be allowed just one attempt to improve its position within its qualifying group. The Fast Five run for the pole will be the final group to run.
The following two tabs change content below.