Indy 500: Carpenter leads qualifying, Alonso reaches Fast Nine
Two-time Indy 500 polesitter Ed Carpenter led Saturday qualifying, as Fernando Alonso booked his spot in the Fast Nine shootout and Bourdais survived a terrifying crash.
Photo by: Geoffrey M. Miller / Motorsport Images
Carpenter was one of only two drivers to clock all four laps over 230mph to clock a 230.465mph average, and he put Chevrolet unexpectedly at the front of the field in a Fast Nine dominated by Honda.
Said Carpenter: “Call me pessimistic but I’ve felt better going into qualifying. I thought Will [Power] and I had the fastest Chevys all week, but there were some big numbers going on up there.
“I thought I could run a 230, but I didn’t know I could run four of them. The balance was really good through the four laps, but it was hard at the end. Having a late draw helped today, and I love being in the shootout and to have Chevy in there.
Commenting on Bourdais’ major shunt mid-run, Carpenter added: “It’s hard when you see a guy like Seb go out and have a crash like that. I hope he’s doing OK. But when you get out there, it’s time to go, and I love driving racecars around this place.”
Takuma Sato was fastest of the six Andretti Autosport entries with a 230.382mph average ahead of 2008 Indy 500 winner Scott Dixon of Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda.
JR Hildebrand made it two ECR cars in the top four, with defending Indy 500 winner Alexander Rossi in fifth.
Will Power was the only Penske car to make it into tomorrow’s Fast Nine shootout, while two-time Formula 1 World Champion Fernando Alonso was predictably the star rookie, with two laps over 230mph, and also an average over 230 in the McLaren Honda Andretti entry.
Tony Kanaan was eighth of those with a 230 average, with Marco Andretti ninth on a 229.924mph lap.
Bourdais’ teammate Ed Jones provided some consolation to the shocked but relieved Coyne team.
Notable absentees from the Fast Nine, as well as four of the five Penkses, were Ryan Hunter-Reay and last year’s polesitter James Hinchcliffe of Schmidt Peterson Motorsports-Honda.
Zach Veach did not run the third AJ Foyt Racing-Chevrolet. Regarding Bourdais’ #18 Dale Coyne Racing Honda, whoever drives it in next week’s Indianapolis 500 will have to start from the back.
1. Ed Carpenter 230.672, 230.670, 230.278, 230.254 = 230.468mph
2. Takuma Sato 230.871, 230.349, 230.236, 230.074 = 230.382mph
3. Scott Dixon 230.720, 230.522, 230.184, 229.909 = 230.333mph
4. JR Hildebrand 230.834, 230.396, 229.931, 229.664 = 230.205mph
5. Alexander Rossi 230.281, 230.291, 230.130, 229.872 = 230.148mph
6. Will Power 230.277, 229.931, 229.957, 230.124 = 230.072mph
7. Fernando Alonso 230.337, 230.260, 229.845, 229.696 = 230.034mph
8. Tony Kanaan 230.341, 230.163, 230.019, 229.506 = 230.007mph
9. Marco Andretti 230.303, 230.010, 229.747, 229.636 = 229.924mph
10. Ed Jones 229.956, 229.830, 229.615, 229.467 = 229.717mph
11. Charlie Kimball 230.210, 229.687, 229.503, 229.453 = 229.713mph
12. Max Chilton 229.924, 229.796, 228.993, 229.832 = 229.636mph
13. Ryan Hunter-Reay 229.876, 229.583, 229.547, 229.126 = 229.533mph
14. Helio Castroneves 229.605, 229.537, 229.424, 228.944 = 229.390mph
15. Mikhail Aleshin 229.450, 229.465, 229.063, 228.892 = 229.217mph
16. Graham Rahal 229.172, 229.024, 228.624, 228.523 = 228.835mph
17. Josef Newgarden 229.051, 228.760, 228.512, 228.464 = 228.696mph
18. Juan Pablo Montoya 229.038, 228.581, 228.530, 228.431 = 228.645mph
19. James Hinchcliffe 228.524, 228.463, 228.720, 228.523 = 228.557mph
20. Simon Pagenaud 229.053, 228.223, 228.216, 228.083 = 228.393mph
21. Sage Karam 228.846, 228.181, 227.639, 227.113 = 227.943mph
22. Jay Howard 228.477, 227.984, 227.641, 227.313 = 227.853mph
23. Carlos Munoz 227.770, 227.717, 227.266, 227.000 = 227.438mph
24. Oriol Servia 229.971, 227.075, 226.282, 225.324 = 227.150mph
25. Jack Harvey 226.873, 226.912, 226.919, 226.873 = 226.894mph
26. Gabby Chaves 227.064, 226.846, 226.664, 226.912 = 226.875mph
27. Conor Daly 225.980, 225.887, 225.984, 225.798 = 225.912mph
28. Sebastian Saavedra 226.331, 226.150, 225.248, 225.535 = 225.815mph
29. Spencer Pigot 223.404, 223.591, 223.644, 223.833 = 223.631mph
30. Buddy Lazier 221.423, 221.219, 221.463, 221.601 = 221.427mph
31. Pippa Mann 225.773, 221.785, 214.643, 215.314 = 219.282mph
DNQ Sebastien Bourdais 231.472, 231.595, crash
DNQ Zach Veach no time
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