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Briscoe Nips Hinchcliffe For Indy 500 Pole

Speedway, IN – James Hinchcliffe had the fastest time Saturday in Segment One qualifying for the 96th Indianapolis 500, but Ryan Briscoe posted the fastest four laps during the late afternoon Fast Nine Shootout and will start on the pole in his IZOD Team Penske Chevrolet. It is Briscoe’s first Indianapolis pole and his pole-winning margin of .0023 of a second over Hinchclliffe is the closest margin between the top two qualifiers in 500 history.

    Ryan Briscoe piloted his Team Penske IZOD Team Penske Chevrolet-powered Dallara around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway during his pole-winning run. [Russ Lake Photo]


The drivers who will sit on the front row for the Indy 500. Left to right are second fastest qualifier, James Hinchcliffe, polesitter Ryan Briscoe and outside front row starter Ryan Hunter-Reay.

With eight of the fastest nine using Chevrolet power, Briscoe outpaced the Andretti Autosport teammates Hinchcliffe and Ryan Hunter- Reay to earn spots on the front row.

“We’ve never done so much work going into qualifying. A week ago I didn’t think we’d have a shot at the pole,” Briscoe noted as Team Penske won their 17th Indianapolis pole. “Our team’s success starts with preparation and experience. Helio, Rick Mears, the mechanics and Roger- that experience helps us when we get to the track. But it all starts with preparation. We share information with each other: it’s totally transparent.”

Marco Andretti, Will Power and Helio Castroneves make up the second row as the Penske and Andretti teams split possession of the first six spots. A slowing track kept Castroneves and Andretti off the pole pace, though they were the fastest drivers in pre-qualifying practice.

“At the end of the day you’ve got to have one fastest driver. Sure I’m disappointed since I was the fastest in practice,” said Castroneves a four-time pole winner here, “but we’re glad to have three Penske cars in the top six.”

Rounding out the fastest nine are Josef Newgarden, Tony Kanaan and EJ Viso. Newgarden’s SFH Dollar General mount is the only Honda in this group despitethe manufacturer getting a favorable rule change to its supercharger compressor cover that many thought would help them run equally with Chevrolet.

Kanaan and Viso chose not to post times during the Shootout and relied on their Segment One speeds to earn their spots.

“I decided not to go,” admitted Kanaan. “This morning I had a car to sit on the pole, but later the speed wasn’t there. I enjoyed watching.”

Kanaan’s KV Racing teammate and fellow countryman Rubens Barrichello was talked into coming to IndyCar by Kanaan when his 19-year Formula One career seemed to end without a ride. “It’s been an awesome experience (at Indianapolis). The team has made me very peaceful in the car,” said the 2002 USGP winner on the Indy road course. “I needed a little bit more time in the car to actually go faster. People at home might think that (this track) is just four corners, but I’ll tell you they are much more difficult than many of the other (F1) corners I’ve done in my whole life. I had a good run; that was the fastest I’ve ever gone.”

Three incidents marred Segment One of qualifying as Bryan Clauson, Oriol Servia and later Ed Carpenter spun and made contact.

Clauson, who was near the top of the speed charts earlier in the week, put the Sarah Fisher Hartman Honda entry into the first turn barrier on his fourth qualifying lap after recording speeds in the 223-224 mph range prior to the incident.

“It’s been such a great month. We felt like we had a great run and really fell on the safe side for most of the run, and it just got away from us. I got into turn one and it snapped right around on us. It’s going to be a long night to get the backup ready,” said the USAC champ who was very slow to get out of the car. “I didn’t think I had a shot at the pole, but I had a great racecar.

Servia was warming up for his run when the BMC/Embrase KV Racing Chevrolet when he spun into the inside wall in turn four and then hit the attenuator at the end of the pit wall. Moderate damage was reported to the rear and front left of the car.

After being bumped from the top- 24 earlier in the day, Carpenter had his Fuzzy’s Vodka/Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet hit the turn 2 wall and became momentarily airborne before spinning to the inside of the track. He quickly got out of the car which was heavily damaged.

Segment one of qualifying the fastest 24 cars saw two teams penalized for rules violations. Tony Kanaan had his initial run (225.500mph) taken away when his car was found in violation of a rule regarding ballast on his KV Racing Chevrolet. He was able to requalify and made the fastest nine at 224.751 mph.

Mike Conway put the ABC Supply Co. / AJ Foyt Racing Honda into the field, only to see his run disqualified due to a weight issue. He later made the field only to be bumped and must try again Sunday.

Among others who will attempt to fill the nine remaining spots in the 33-car field during Segment Two qualifying on Sunday are: Katherine Legge, Sebastien Bourdais , Wade Cunningham, Jean Alesi and Simona De Silvestro.

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