Qualifying report

IndyCar

Roller coaster qualifying lands Vautier in 3rd at Barber

Pagenaud to start 13th in the Honda Grand Prix of Alabama

Edited: Apr 7, 2013, 6:42 AM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Tristan Vautier, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda

Leeds, Ala., (April 6, 2013) - Tristan Vautier will start third in Sunday's Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama after a dramatic turn of events in qualifying that initially left the IZOD IndyCar Series rookie out of the Firestone Fast 6 and then gave him a last minute chance to fight for the Verizon P1 Award.

Tristan Vautier, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda

Photo by: Eric Gilbert

Vautier posted the fastest time of his group in Round 1 of the knockout style qualifying in the No. 55 Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Dallara/Honda/Firestone car, but narrowly missed transferring to the Firestone Fast 6.

"I was very upset with myself after the second round of qualifying because I made a mistake in one area of the track and I knew we were so close to transferring," Vautier said.

As Vautier began to pack up his helmet bag to head back to his transporter, he happened to glance up at the Schmidt Peterson Motorsports (SPM) timing stand and noticed that his name was in the Firestone Fast 6 group.

"Right before the Firestone Fast 6 started, I was looking at timing and scoring and I saw myself on there!" Vautier said. "I told my crew as quickly as I could and asked them to bring the car back to pit lane so I could get back out on track!"

The No. 55 car had already been rolled out of pit lane, and most of Vautier's pit equipment had been packed up. With the 10-minute Firestone Fast 6 session already underway, the SPM crew made a mad scramble to retrieve Vautier's car and get the car back out on the track.

"I have to give it to the guys," Vautier said. "They brought the car back out last minute and I got ready after the Firestone Fast 6 had already started. It was a mix of emotions to be disappointed and then all of a sudden find out I had a chance to race in the final session."

Vautier was back on the 2.38-mile road course with three minutes left in the session. He logged only two at-speed laps, one of which was good enough for third position on the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama starting grid.

"My engineer made good changes on the car from Round 2 and the tires were a bit more used, so it was a lot of fun honestly," he said. "I had enough grip that I could push really hard and give it my all. I just really have to thank my crew for putting the car back together so quickly for the last part of qualifying."

Vautier's lap of 122.919 mph landed him on the inside of row two for the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama. Ryan Hunter Reay won the Verizon P1 Award and Will Power will start second.

Simon Pagenaud, driving the No. 77 Schmidt Hamilton HP Motorsports Dallara/Honda/Firestone car, barely missed transferring out of the first qualifying group.

"My car was good, we just barely missed it in qualifying," Pagenaud said. "We'll just keep digging a little deeper because we aren't far off at all. I know we'll have a good car for the race tomorrow."

Pagenaud's fastest qualifying lap of 123.139 mph put him in the 13th starting position, on the inside of the seventh row.

Schmidt Peterson/Hamilton Motorsports

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article KV Racing Technology disappointed with qualifying results at Barber

Next article Hunter-Reay bounces back to score the win at Barber Motorsports Park

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Zane Smith fined $50,000 by NASCAR for ramming Carson Hocevar after Phoenix Cup race

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Phoenix II

7 h

Zane Smith fined $50,000 by NASCAR for ramming Carson Hocevar after Phoenix Cup race

FIA expects F1 races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi to continue as planned

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

United States GP

11 h

FIA expects F1 races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi to continue as planned

TDS Racing doubles down on IMSA program with two-car LMP2 return

IMSA

IMSA IMSA 11 h

TDS Racing doubles down on IMSA program with two-car LMP2 return

Why Isack Hadjar doesn’t like F1 sprints anymore

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Singapore GP

12 h

Why Isack Hadjar doesn’t like F1 sprints anymore

Feature

Discover prime content

Inside AJ Foyt Racing’s transition: Hauger’s arrival, Ferrucci’s future, and the Pierson waiting game

Feature

IndyCar

Feature

IndyCar

By Joey Barnes

Inside AJ Foyt Racing’s transition: Hauger’s arrival, Ferrucci’s future, and the Pierson waiting game

You Ask The Questions: David Malukas

IndyCar

By Joey Barnes

You Ask The Questions: David Malukas

Top 10 Ganassi IndyCar drivers of all time

IndyCar

By John Oreovicz

Top 10 Ganassi IndyCar drivers of all time

Alex Palou still unstoppable as Nashville win edges him closer to fifth IndyCar title

IndyCar

Nashville

By John Oreovicz

Alex Palou still unstoppable as Nashville win edges him closer to fifth IndyCar title

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts