Round 1 - Group 1:
1 41 Jack Hawksworth
2 9 Scott Dixon Chevy
3 83 Charlie Kimball
4 11 Sebastien Bourdais
5 7 Mikhail Aleshin
6 2 Juan Pablo Montoya
7 8 Max Chilton
8 3 Helio Castroneves
9 28 Ryan Hunter-Reay
10 26 Carlos Munoz
11 27 Marco Andretti
12 35 Alex Tagliani
This group was more "stacked" potential wise than group 2, but that didn't mean less surprises in the outcomes.
Biggest Winner: Jack Hawksworth, who briefly held the new track record, and owned the top spot at the checkered flag. This is not so surprising as his debut on this course the first year was stellar
Honourable Mention: Mikhail Aleshin, knocking out a big gun, and with a Honda kit to boot.
Biggest Loser: All three Andretti drivers. For some reason they just can't find their footing yet.
Honourable Mention: Castroneves. Very rare for a Penske car to not make it through round 1.
Round 1 - Group 2:
1 12 Will Power
2 22 Simon Pagenaud
3 21 Josef Newgarden
4 5 James Hinchcliffe
5 15 Graham Rahal
6 10 Tony Kanaan
7 98 Alexander Rossi
8 61 Matt Brabham
9 6 JR Hildebrand
10 16 Spencer Pigot
11 14 Takuma Sato
12 18 Conor Daly
13 19 Gabby Chaves
The top 6 in this group advanced in pretty much the order most would have predicted, especially given the number of rookies and non-seasonal drivers in the group.
Biggest Winner: Hincliffe. Despite missing pretty much the entire first practice, he has been super fast all weekend.
Honourable mention: Rahal, the only other Honda to make it through from this group.
Biggest Loser: Probably Sato, who should have at least been on the bubble if not in the top 6.
Round 2
1 22 Simon Pagenaud
2 15 Graham Rahal
3 5 James Hinchcliffe
4 83 Charlie Kimball
5 41 Jack Hawksworth
6 21 Josef Newgarden
7 10 Tony Kanaan
8 2 Juan Pablo Montoya
9 9 Scott Dixon
10 11 Sebastien Bourdais
11 7 Mikhail Aleshin
12 12 Will Power
Biggest Winner: Hawksworth and Hinchcliffe, neither of whom made an appearance in the top six since 2014.
Honourable Mention: Pagenaud. From couch-critics questioning his performance all throughout 2015, to being the only Penske car to advance to the fast 6.
Biggest Loser: Will Power... pushed a little too hard, and ended up mowing the lawn and taking himself out of contention, much to his own frustration.
Honourable Mention: Montoya, who had to sit let the clock run down while serving a 5 minute penalty. (race control cracking the whip again this weekend)
Firestone Fast 6
1 22 Simon Pagenaud
2 83 Charlie Kimball
3 15 Graham Rahal
4 5 James Hinchcliffe
5 21 Josef Newgarden
6 41 Jack Hawksworth
With the new time limit in place, the usual game of cat and mouse, with most of the drivers remaining on pitlane until late in the session is now a thing of the past.
Not only was the 3/3 split of Honda/Chevy impressive. But the names of the drivers of those powerplants was equally impressive and refreshing. The New guard laying down the gauntlet at the feet of the old guard.
When the checkers waved it was the seemingly unstoppable Simon Pagenaud at the top of the charts.
POST QUALY UPDATE:
2 of the fast six qualfying cars, that of Rahal and Newgarden, failed post qualy inspection, and have been dropped to the back of the pack.
From IndyCar:
INDIANAPOLIS (Friday, May 13, 2016) - INDYCAR has penalized two cars for failing post-qualifying technical inspection for the Angie's List Grand Prix of Indianapolis.
The No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan with Theodore Racing car of Graham Rahal and the No. 21 Ed Carpenter Racing car of Josef Newgarden were cited for violation of Rule 14.3.1.1 of the Verizon IndyCar Series Rule Book for minimum car weight.
Saturday's Schedule, Saturday May 14, 2015
9:45am - 10:05am Indy Lights Warm Up
10:20am - 11:10am Pro Mazda Race #2
11:30am - 12:00pm Verizon IndyCar Series Warm Up
12:15pm - 12:55pm USF2000 Race #2
1:25pm - 2:25pm Indy Lights Race #2
3:50pm Angie's List Grand Prix of Indianapolis
VERIZON INDYCAR SERIES POST-QUALIFYING QUOTES:
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA (No. 2 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet): "We made some really good changes on the Verizon Chevy and I thought we had a chance to make it to the Firestone Fast Six. During that one lap when I went from P1 to P8, the car was very strong, but I got too close to a car and picked up a lot of understeer. Overall, I don't believe what happened will affect the race tomorrow because we have a really good car. We're looking forward to a strong start tomorrow."
HELIO CASTRONEVES (No. 3 hum by Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet): "Obviously it's disappointing. We kept having a problem with the brakes locking up. We'll find the answer to that. We're going to work really hard to get the hum by Verizon Chevy performing better for the race. It's not impossible to race your way to the front and that's what we'll do."
JAMES HINCHCLIFFE (No. 5 Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda): "I'm really happy with the No. 5 Arrow Electronics car. You saw how close the times were in practice. Missing by a fraction of a second makes such a difference, so credit to everyone in the Firestone Fast Six - it was just the guys who nailed the lap. It's so easy to make a mistake at this place and there are so many very inviting corners to just overdo it a little bit, but it's such a dream to drive this thing on a brand new set of sticker reds, for that one lap anyway."
JR HILDEBRAND (No. 6 Preferred Freezer Fuzzy's Vodka Chevrolet): "Qualifying was kind of frustrating. We've been chasing it a little bit this weekend, and it's all just so close. It's a little bit from me and a little bit from the car, it goes a long way. We didn't get enough out of that combined to be able to transfer. For us, we can have a look at what Josef's doing, which is a little bit different from what we were doing. We'll be able to gain some idea on where we need to improve for tomorrow. The race in a lot of ways is a whole different ballgame. Last year we played it smart and got through a lot of the mess down in Turn 1 and because we had made the car a little bit better and figured a few things out we were running in the top five for a lot of the day. It's about being smart tomorrow, but also being a little aggressive and being willing to gamble with the strategy to leapfrog up a few spots."
MIKHAIL ALESHIN (No. 7 SMP Racing Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda): "I think the team did a good job putting the No. 7 DOOM and SMP Racing car into the second round of qualifying. It was progress for us and P11 is a good place to start from. It's going to be a long race and I'm confident that we can score some good points."
MAX CHILTON (No. 8 Gallagher Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet): "It was amazingly close like we were expecting. It's just typical that we're just on the wrong side. We did the same time as Montoya, but he did it before me. And to be fair, I got lucky at Barber like that. I did the same time as Aleshin at Barber, but because I did it before him, I got through. So it's really close. It's frustrating that we didn't make it through, but the good thing is that's the closest I've been to the leaders in those sessions in qualifying this year so we're definitely making progress. Hopefully we can get through Turn 1 cleaner than we did at Barber because Chip Ganassi Racing and Gallagher always give me a good car to race with."
SCOTT DIXON (No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet, 2015 Verizon IndyCar Series champion): "We are starting ninth, but I kind of made a mistake. As the No. 22 was backing up trying to get a clear track, as you always do, I was backing up into the No. 2 so I had to go and then I went off in Turn 12. Then I had to get behind the 2 and Power, and then those two were jostling and the No. 12 went off and then came back on in front of me. It was just a mess. We just never got a time in. The car has been fast - we were second quickest in Q1. On the blacks in the first part of Q2 we were second as well (first on black tires) and then we just didn't get a lap. Plain and simple - the Target car is fast but we didn't get a lap in."
TONY KANAAN (No. 10 NTT Group Chevrolet): "Great team effort today. I made a mistake on my last lap, and I think we could have made it to the Firestone Fast Six...When you are trying at the limit like that, it's tough. It was such a close qualifying session...half a tenth puts me back in sixth place instead of seventh so it was a great effort. We struggled all day yesterday so a great comeback from all the team on fixing what needed to be fixed. As a team we put three cars in the top 10 and one on the Firestone Fast Six. It's a big track, we can win from there."
SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS (No. 11 Team EUROPA - KVSH Chevrolet): "It was a strange qualifying session for the Europa - KVSH Racing team. The first round went pretty well, but I'm not quite sure what happened in Q2. I couldn't make any lap time on the reds (alternate tire). The car was very numb. It's back to that situation where we can't control the reds. It's frustrating because everybody on the team is working hard. It looked like we were in it (going to advance to the Firestone Fast Six) and now I am not sure what to attribute the problem to. We will to do our best to understand the problem, regroup for tomorrow and hope for a good race in what will be very different conditions. It is going to be cool, overcast and windy, so we'll see what happens."
WILL POWER (No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, 2015 Angie's List Grand Prix of Indianapolis winner): "We were great in practice and I messed up in qualifying. Again. It seems like it's every week now. It's getting pretty frustrating. It's difficult to race from the back in these races, but that's what we'll do tomorrow in our Verizon Chevy."
TAKUMA SATO (No. 14 ABC Supply AJ Foyt Racing Honda): "It was a tough qualifying session. After making good progress in the morning from yesterday, we thought we had a good balance but going into qualifying, it was a dramatic difference in terms of the balance. We just struggled - a lot. We couldn't get the speed right - we failed. Hopefully we find something tonight and come back strong tomorrow."
SPENCER PIGOT (No. 16 RLL/Mi-Jack/Manitowoc Honda): "We had good potential after practice. Everything felt good but just didn't really maximize it on the red tires. I think we have a really good race car. I will try and stay out of trouble tomorrow on the first corner and pick them off as we can. It's good to have a teammate, especially one as quick as Graham is so I have a lot of great data to look at and we can compare notes about setup differences. The great thing about having a teammate is that we can help each other."
CONOR DALY (No. 18 Jonathan Byrd's Hospitality Honda): "I don't know why we're that far back. I thought we'd be a lot better. It's a shame. I think some of our issues in practice followed us into qualifying, but it's a long race here and there are lots of opportunities for overtaking. We're just going to go out and do what we always do and just try and fight forward. Everyone is dealing with the same thing, everyone is fighting for inches and we just haven't found enough of them yet. We're looking for two tenths every time. We need to work on our qualifying effort and I need to do that too. A lot of it is on me in this case, I still have to figure out these reds on Lap 1."
GABBY CHAVES (No. 19 Boy Scouts of America Honda): "We made a lot of changes overnight and it didn't work this morning, so we kind of started from scratch in qualifying but we didn't make enough progress. We just have to keep working at it. It will be important to try and stay out of trouble tomorrow, especially on the first lap and try to see if we can get a good pit strategy going, and if we can dial the car in so it can be quick over the race it would be good. It's just so close that when you're just a few tenths off and looking for a little bit it makes a huge difference and that's what we're looking for."
JOSEF NEWGARDEN (No. 21 Preferred Freezer Chevrolet): "Fifth in qualifying here for the GP of Indy is good. They are two different events here with the GP and the 500 but it's still nice to start this first weekend off good and then we'll just kind of settle in on oval mode after we get done with this GP of Indy race. It's a good start for us. We'll try to keep the form up all month. Hoping we can have a good, clean start. I got punted here last year in Turn 1. That's just kind of how this race works. It accordions into Turn 1 and I got the bad end of that last year and nearly went down a lap and struggled all race, so if we can get through Turn 1 clean, then I think we're going to have a pretty good day tomorrow."
SIMON PAGENAUD (No. 22 Menards Team Penske Chevrolet): "It's pretty fun right now, let me tell you. I'm just very thankful for the opportunity with Team Penske. They give me the best car. It's my job after that to do the best job possible. Ben (Bretzman), my engineer, gives me a monster car every time I'm out there. The Firestone tires, not just to put sponsor names here, but the red tires on my car really works magically every time. Obviously the more you go into Q3, the more confidence you gain, then you can polish your driving on these kind of tires. Certainly it's suiting me really well right now. I'm in a good zone. The whole team is executing really well. The 22 team, only our second year together, and it's exactly the same people as last year. Consistency, like Roger would say, is key. We definitely made big improvements."
CARLOS MUNOZ (No. 26 hhgregg Honda): "It was a really bad qualifying, we just missed the balance on the (Firestone alternate) reds. In practice we were looking a little bit better than the result we did. We have to work hard but it's a long race and we can overtake here. We'll see what's happening - we have to do lots of work for tomorrow."
MARCO ANDRETTI (No. 27 Snapple Honda): "I would have liked to have started higher on the grid - but if there's anywhere to pass on a road course, it's here at IMS. We aren't giving up yet. We'll have our work cut out for us in the Snapple car, but will fight the best we can."
RYAN HUNTER-REAY (No. 28 DHL Honda): "We just lost the balance and maybe went with the wrong downforce for the higher track temps for qualifying midday compared to the beginning of the day. This morning we were P6, we just lost it with the wrong downforce level so will have to be smart with strategy tomorrow for the DHL car."
ALEX TAGLIANI (No. 35 Alfe Heat Treating Honda): "It's been a tough day for the team. Obviously we missed the setup on the red tires, but I think we can regroup from that. One of our teams has a good setup, and it's working really well for them. I think we need to try to regroup tonight to see if we can get as good of a car as they have, then play a little bit of a strategy game tomorrow to get ourselves some position towards the end of the race."
JACK HAWKSWORTH (No. 41 ABC Supply AJ Foyt Racing Honda): "Seems like an eternity since I've been in the Firestone Fast Six. Nice to be up here again.Great day for the team. We had a very good car on the new reds in the first group, seemed to work well in the second as well. Didn't quite have enough at the end. But overall it was a really good day for us. We really needed it as well. Now we focus forward for the race, see what we can do."
MATT BRABHAM (No. 61 PIRTEK Team Murray Chevrolet): "Every lap I'm getting quicker and quicker and I still feel as though I haven't got to the limit yet. The PIRTEK Team Murray crew is doing an excellent job - the guys are really pushing along well. I need to keep pushing myself along and work with the guys on moving forward together. It's a special thing to have the No. 61 and the Brabham name on top of the pylon at Indy - even if for a short amount of time, it doesn't get better than that."
CHARLIE KIMBALL (No. 83 Tresiba Chevrolet): "We made the race car better and better, and we didn't focus too much on qualifying. So I think we have a good pace for tomorrow. Having finished fifth here the last two years, I'm looking forward to the race. It's neat to be on the front row. Congrats to Simon (Pagenaud) for getting the pole. I think we would have had to have the perfect lap to be able to match his lap time. It looks like it's pretty close to a track record. That's pretty impressive. But coming through tomorrow with a clear track at IMS is pretty special. It means that there's just one guy in front of me and 23 behind me, so we're going to try and keep it that way all day."
ALEXANDER ROSSI (No. 98 Castrol Edge/Curb Honda): "It's really disappointing to be finished (qualifying) after Round 1. I thought we had a good shot today. It's by far the best car I've had this year, so we have definitely made progress there. When you have four guys with the same lap time in front of you, it's a pretty tight field. I'm disappointed in that one, but we made forward progress so we'll carry that into tomorrow."
IMS
