Lori Wood
Tribune-Star Correspondent
INDIANAPOLIS —
No last-second runs. No drama, but a full field was set for the 96th running of the Indianapolis 500 at the close of Bump Day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday.
Simona de Silvestro was the first qualifier of the day with a four-lap average of 214.393 — her fastest speed of the month — putting her 32nd on the starting grid. de Silvestro had a new stronger powered Lotus engine delivered and installed in her car for the run and the race. “We don’t have the speed up to where we want it, but we’ve improved all week. We just need to concentrate on our program and not worry about the others,” she said afterward.
Sebastien Bourdais, Wade Cunningham and Oriol Servia were the three fastest qualifiers of the day. Bourdais will start 25th with his 223.760, while Cunningham put in the second entry for A.J. Foyt Enterprise in the middle of the ninth row with his 223.258. Servia’s 222.393 put him on the outside of row nine.
Bourdais’ Dragon teammate, Katherine Legge, qualified for her first Indy 500 with a speed average of 221.644. “I’m lucky. I have a really good team behind me. We ran it safe. We just wanted to get it in the field,” she said.
Ed Carpenter, who crashed on Pole Day, went out in the backup car for his qualifying run. He was the final qualifier of the day with a 222.324 which put him 28th on the grid, his worst starting position in nine starts. “It’s good to get it over with,” Carpenter said. “We’ll get back to work and work on race setup.”
After his crash Saturday, Bryan Clauson’s team worked all night getting his car ready for qualifying complete with band aid on the chassis. He turned a four-lap average of 214.455 and will start 31st. “We just loaded it up with downforce,” Clauson said.
Team owner Sarah Fisher was especially proud of how her team rebounded. “They are a very passionate group. They want to see Bryan have a very successful month of May. Some of the guys just went home, took showers and came back. It was a very long night.”
Charlie Kimball had an incident during the afternoon, hitting the outside of the Turn 1 wall. “It's really disappointing to go out today and crash the car. Fortunately, the chassis is OK, and the guys have plenty of time and are well into fixing it already. I just feel bad for the Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing crew because we have been having a very good month. We still have a really good race car, and I just made a mistake. I learned my lesson, and we'll go out and have a really good race next weekend,” he said.
John Andretti and his 19-year-old son Jarett spent the day at IMS watching the Andretti Autosport team practice. “I'd love [race again]. It's tough being here this month, because, really, I've got the time, I've got the energy, and I've got the desire to be here, but unfortunately that didn't happen. But I'm really happy for Andretti Autosport and that group, because they've bounced back nicely qualifying right at the front. I think they're really competitive. Who knows, we may see another Andretti in victory lane here,” the former driver noted.
The track will be quiet until Wednesday, when it re-opens at 9 a.m. for the 500 Festival Community Day. The Indy Lights series have 9 a.m. practice and qualifying on Thursday, followed by the Miller Lite Carb Day on Friday. Carb Day lineup includes IndyCar practice, the Pit Stop Challenge and the concert by Lynyrd Skynyrd.
On Saturday, May 26, Legends Day at the speedway will include a full field and Indy Legends autograph session, the public drivers meeting and a question-and-answer session with Roger Penske.
Indy 500 Lineup
By The Associated Press
At Indianapolis Motor Speedway
(Race May 27)
With rank, car number in parentheses, driver, chassis-engine, time and speed in parentheses:
1. (2) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Chevrolet, 2:38.9514 (226.484 mph).
2. (27) James Hinchcliffe, Dallara-Chevrolet, 2:38.9537 (226.481).
3. (28) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Chevrolet, 2:39.1233 (226.240).
4. (26) Marco Andretti, Dallara- Chevrolet, 2:40.6766 (225.456).
5. (12) Will Power, Dallara-Chevrolet, 2:39.7004 (225.422).
6. (3) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Chevrolet, 2:39.8780 (225.172).
7. (67) Josef Newgarden, Dallara-Honda, 2:40.6879 (224.037).
8. (11) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Chevrolet, 2:40.1775 (224.751).
9. (5) EJ Viso, Dallara-Chevrolet, 2:40.4119 (224.422).
10. (8) Rubens Barrichello, Dallara-Chevrolet, 2:40.5253 (224.264).
11. (98) Alex Tagliani, Dallara-Honda, 2:40.7144 (224.000).
12. (38) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 2:40.7437 (223.959).
13. (25) Ana Beatriz, Dallara-Chevrolet, 2:40.7720 (223.920).
14. (83) Charlie Kimball, Dallara-Honda, 2:40.8093 (223.868).
15. (9) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 2:40.9413 (223.684).
16. (50) Dario Franchitti, Dallara-Honda, 2:41.0144 (223.582).
17. (19) James Jakes, Dallara-Honda, 2:41.0866 (223.482).
18. (4) JR Hildebrand, Dallara-Chevrolet, 2:41.1299 (223.422).
19. (15) Takuma Sato, Dallara-Honda, 2:41.1517 (223.392).
20. (99) Townsend Bell, Dallara-Honda, 2:41.3377 (223.134).
21. (18) Justin Wilson, Dallara-Honda, 2:41.4865 (222.929).
22. (30) Michel Jourdain, Dallara-Honda, 2:41.5124 (222.893).
23. (77) Simon Pagenaud, Dallara-Honda, 2:41.5138 (222.891).
24. (17) Sebastian Saavedra, Dallara-Chevrolet, 2:41.5720 (222.811).
25. (7) Sebastien Bourdais, Dallara-Chevrolet, 2:40.8666 (223.760).
26. (41) Wade Cunningham, Dallara-Honda, 2:41.2484 (223.258).
27. (22) Oriol Servia, Dallara-Chevrolet, 2:41.8754 (222.393).
28. (20T) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Chevrolet, 2:41.9262 (222.324).
29. (14) Mike Conway, Dallara-Honda, 2:41.9293 (222.319).
30. (6) Katherine Legge, Dallara-Chevrolet, 2:42.4374 (221.624).
31. (39) Bryan Clauson, Dallara-Chevrolet, 2:47.6671 (214.455).
32. (78) Simona De Silvestro, Dallara-Lotus, 2:47.9162 (214.393).
33. (64) Jean Alesi, Dallara-Lotus, 2:51.3516 (210.094).
