After the drama of Bump Day, the second day of qualifying for the Indy 500 – the one that actually sets the grid – seemed almost sedate in comparison. All bets were on the Penske drivers locking out the front row, but superspeedway and Indianapolis specialist Ed Carpenter was more than up to the challenge and ended up putting in a storming effort to take pole.
His four-lap average was 229.681mph – almost an entire mph quicker than second-placed Simon Pagenaud. Will Power rounds out the first row, with Josef Newgarden making it a Penske two-three-four.
Saturday’s fastest qualifier Helio Castroneves had a bit of a nightmare and slipped down to eighth after going for a risky and aggressive low downforce set up. Danica Patrick, racing for the final time, proved that she’s lost none of her IndyCar skills with a four-lap run that was good enough for seventh.
Outside of the Fast Nine, Tony Kanaan had the best run and will start 10th ahead of teammate Matheus Leist – the top qualifying rookie this year.
Last year’s race winner Takuma Sato will start 16th, with a couple of big names down at the back: Graham Rahal is 30th, and Alexander Rossi – a guy who was a fraction away from making the Fast Nine yesterday – is only 32nd. Ouch.
Here’s the full grid:
- Ed Carpenter – 229.618
- Simon Pagenaud – 228.761
- Will Power – 228.607
- Josef Newgarden – 228.862
- Sebastien Bourdais – 228.142
- Spencer Pigot – 228.107
- Danica Patrick- 228.090
- Helio Castroneves – 227.859
- Scott Dixon – 227.262
- Tony Kanaan – 227.664
- Matheus Leist – 227.571
- Marco Andretti – 227.288
- Zachary Claman DeMelo – 226.999
- Ryan Hunter-Reay – 226.788
- Charlie Kimball – 226.657
- Takuma Sato – 226.557
- Kyle Kaiser – 226.398
- Robert Wickens – 226.296
- James Davison – 226.225
- Max Chilton – 226.212
- Carlos Munoz – 226.048
- Gabby Chaves – 226.007
- Stefan Wilson – 225.863
- Sage Karam – 225.823
- Zach Veach – 225.748
- Oriol Servia – 225.699
- JR Hildebrand – 225.418
- Jay Howard – 225.388
- Ed Jones – 225.362
- Graham Rahal – 225.327
- Jack Harvey – 225.254
- Alexander Rossi – 224.935
- Conor Daly – 224.429
Now the real question will be whether or not James Hinchcliffe gets a chance to compete in the race by taking over one of his teammates cars – it’s going to be a nervy few days for Jay Howard and Jack Harvey…
Who’s your pick for victory in the race next weekend? Let us know in the comments.
