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Qualifying report

Indy 500: Top 10 quotes after qualifying Day 1

Ed Carpenter sets fastest time on day one of Indianapolis 500 qualifications

Ed Carpenter, Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet

Ed Carpenter, Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet

Scott R LePage / Motorsport Images

Ed Carpenter, Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet
Ed Carpenter, Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet is congratulated by his kids Mackenna, Ryder and Cruz
Takuma Sato, Andretti Autosport Honda
Takuma Sato, Andretti Autosport Honda
Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
J.R. Hildebrand, Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet
Alexander Rossi, Herta - Andretti Autosport Honda
Will Power, Team Penske Chevrolet
Will Power, Team Penske Chevrolet
Fernando Alonso, Andretti Autosport Honda
Fernando Alonso, Andretti Autosport Honda
Fernando Alonso, Andretti Autosport Honda
Tony Kanaan, Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, Juan Pablo Montoya, Team Penske Chevrolet
Marco Andretti, Andretti Autosport with Yarrow Honda
Ed Jones, Dale Coyne Racing Honda

Cla#DriverLapsTimeGapMph
1 20 united_states Ed Carpenter 4 2'36.2036   230.468
"It kind of feels like 2013 right now because I wasn't expecting that. I thought I could maybe run a 230, but to run four of them, I'm really proud of the team. I'm thankful to Chevrolet for giving me a bullet and making the best aero kit out here still." (On how much he has left in the car for tomorrow): "I don't know if we have much left. The two poles I won previous, I wasn't the fastest car, but we had the best four laps. I think my little buddy Ryder (son) here got us in there. I asked him to draw six yesterday (in the qualifying draw), and he drew 60. I was like: 'You were close. You got the first number right.' As today turned out, I think he drew us a favorable number. The track temps were coming down. It was pretty ideal for us. But we're running in the cool tomorrow night, too, so we'll see what happens."
2 26 japan Takuma Sato 4 2'36.2621 0.0585 230.382
"Very emotional. Very happy. It has been a great day, and it was absolutely a team effort." (You have made the Fast Nine. Can you repeat this tomorrow?): "Absolutely. I really enjoyed the lap." (You were not all that close to the wall. Is there more left?): "You could say that. We saw Fernando, Alex and Marco's run, and that helped so much. I so enjoyed those laps, and I don't usually enjoy it, to be honest. Usually, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, qualifying is so tough, and you are so nervous because you have to balance the car to absolutely neutral. But today the car worked so well, I know exactly what happened when the right rear tire was moving. So I got a little bit loose in the end, but I was able to manage it. It was fantastic. It was a great car."
3 9 new_zealand Scott Dixon 4 2'36.2953 0.0917 230.333
"It's a great day today in Indianapolis and it's great to see so many fans out here even after the rain we had. Just the butterflies and anticipation before you get to go out always gets you here. I think the NTT Data car has been strong and the whole Ganassi team has been performing great. We're happy with our time and we're pleased with the laps we ran. There is still tomorrow of course so doing the best we can on Sunday is what really matters."
4 21 united_states J.R. Hildebrand 4 2'36.3822 0.1786 230.205
"You definitely know (if you're fast). We use a lot of tools in the car, whether it's RPM, split times, but you always know through the feel of the car. You can feel in the RPM, how hard am I pulling through the corners. You know with RPM lights if you have it down the straight. You know by feel if you have it through the corners." (On feedback from Ed Carpenter's run): "Our guys were listening to his radio. I was watching his run from the outside on the big screen. I was getting a little bit of feedback. That's what's so great about working here with him. We've had this work both ways before; the cars are so similar. We know that when one guy goes out and gets this with it, you can probably expect the same thing. We both had a little bit of a tricky time on the last couple of laps there."
5 98 united_states Alexander Rossi 4 2'36.4208 0.2172 230.148
"I feel like we could've been in the Fast Nine last year. It's all right. I think we'll get into the Fast Nine. Hopefully, there's some things we can improve on for tomorrow." (On the possibility of running in the Fast Nine): "I hope so. I think we had the car to do it last year, and it's been aching at me for a while. A lot of people don't understand why. We missed a lot last year, so we really, really want to be up front this year." (How much more comfortable are you than last year?): "I'm getting there. I'm still working to get better."
6 12 australia Will Power 4 2'36.4727 0.2691 230.072
"We didn't have a big drop-off, so that was good. The car kind of got faster down the back straight with the wind. I don't know if the wind is going to change, but it felt solid. It was solid enough I wished we could have trimmed some more, maybe, but you don't know what the degradation was going to be like. So I think that was a reasonable run. One thing was to beat (Tony) Kanaan. That's good. That's one Honda out of the way. He's obviously very close. It's going to be very tough to get in the (top) nine. There are so many fast cars, but we'll see. Hopefully, conditions don't get better. They probably will because rubber will go down. It would be fantastic to have a shot at the nine."
7 29 spain Fernando Alonso 4 2'36.4985 0.2949 230.034
"The narrative is often that it's the four most nerve-racking laps for a driver in motorsports. You've driven all over the world. Is that true now that you've done it?): "Yeah, probably. It's definitely a very unique place. We are here two weeks. You're not going to repeat two laps the same because always the conditions, they keep changing. And that's amazing from a driver point of view to have that feeling with the circuit that you have to drive the car always; always it will be tricky. In (Turn) 1 or 3 or 4, always you will fight the challenge." (If you knew a couple of weeks ago you would have a shot at the pole for the Indy 500, I assume you'd be happy with that?): "Definitely, very happy. Obviously, now, we just finished the run. I'm really hopeful we'll be in the Fast Nine, and tomorrow I think we will be much quicker than today. But anyway, it has been a fantastic week of running, a fantastic week of different experiences, running alone, high boost, low boost; every lap feels different. Today we only had one attempt because of the weather, so that creates stress in everybody. I think we deal with that today. But as I said, I think there will be more speed to come, hopefully, tomorrow." (From your test until now, how much have you learned about this place?): "The first lap May 3rd here; I mean, everything was strange for me. The car - how it turns in the corner, how it rotates in the corner was a little bit strange. But now I feel confident with the team. We are a six-car team, so we have a lot of information that we share. All the teammates, they have been a big help for me in terms of setup with the car and also running in traffic. We've been running a lot together, and that's really a huge help for me."
8 10 brazil Tony Kanaan 4 2'36.5170 0.3134 230.007
"I can rest easy tonight knowing that I gave everything I had and the car had in that qualifying run. The guys gave me a great car - I'd say it was at 95%, so pretty close to as good as it can be. I'm happy with the run and the boss was happy with the run, so it was a good day. Now we just need to regroup and focus on doing this all again tomorrow and hopefully grabbing that pole position."
9 27 united_states Marco Andretti 4 2'36.5737 0.3701 229.924
"The car was pretty on the nose in (Turn) 2. I think we were actually losing time out of 2, because it was just really struggling in the rear there. I'm not sure that's a safe enough time because the track is pretty favorable for the rest of the people that are about to go right now. But that's all we had in the UFD car. I know I can race it from anywhere here. I'd just sleep a little better if we were in the top nine. Right now, I just really hope Sebastien (Bourdais) is OK." (On the strength of Honda): "Yeah, for sure, just to know we have a shot. I think if my car is anything like it was a couple days ago in race trim, we're going to be pretty good."
10 19 united_arab_emirates Ed Jones 4 2'36.7147 0.5111 229.717
"I thought it was good. I really want to be in that Fast Nine. I felt like yesterday we had a great car, so maybe we didn't set the car quite right today. It was quite loose, so I had quite a few corrections, but I think I got everything out of the car I could in that run."

 

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