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Matos Leads 2nd Day Qualifiers At Indianapolis

Indianapolis, Ind. – After the second day of qualifications for the Indianapolis 500, 11 more cars were added to the starting field during Sunday’s speed runs. The final 11 spots for the 33-car field will be set next Saturday with the notorious Bump Day the following day.

In contrast to Saturday’s high winds and cool temperatures, the weather conditions were much improved on Sunday with higher temperatures and mostly overcast skies shaping the day.

Rookie Raphael Matos led all qualifiers with a four-lap average speed of 223.429 miles per hour. In doing so, he became the fastest rookie to qualify. Driving the Luczo Dragon entry, the Brazilian’s speed exceeded the time he posted during a run on. “It was a strong effort, and it was a big accomplishment for us,” Matos said. “The conditions were much better today, plus we made several adjustments to the car, which allowed us to push the car 100 per cent during my four laps.”

Seasoned-veteran Paul Tracy needed two attempts to succeed and he did so in mid-afternoon with a speed of 223.111 mph. He drove the GEICO entry of KV Technology.

Said the colorful driver, “I think we are in pretty solid after the second time. My engineer and I were watching others go faster and faster, and he said we can do better than that. Our goal now is to get the car competitive for race day, and I feel like we have a shot (at the win) come race day.” The team achieved its goal of qualifying in the top-15.

Driving the ABC Supply Co./A. J. Foyt Racing car, Vitor Meira bounced back from an early-day disqualification to achieve the third-fastest speed. In qualifying, Meira bumped the car of A. J. Foyt, IV, who survived a couple of wall brushes to gain the 19th starting position.

The remaining eight qualifiers were Justin Wilson, Hideki Mutoh, Ed Carpenter, former winner Dan Wheldon, A. J. Foyt IV, Scott Sharp, Sarah Fisher and Davey Hamilton.

Sharp made the most of his final attempt to qualify the Tequila Patron Panther Racing car. The 12-time 500 veteran took the green flag seconds before the starter’s gun sounded to end qualifications.

Said the veteran driver, “Wow. It’s been a tough week, let me tell you. I mean, it’s not supposed to be this tough, I thought. You know, with all my experience, I guess leaning on that I figured I’d come back in and pretty easily get up to speed and thought if things really fell into place we would be but certainly a top-10 car, no problem. And just, obviously, had a few things go wrong that led to our crash the other day. The team did an amazing recovery.”

Sharp is scheduled to race with the American LeMans Series in Utah next weekend, so the pressure was on for him to qualify today.

With four minutes remaining in qualifying, the cars of E. J. Viso, Hamilton and Fisher were in line ahead of Sharp, but the Indy Racing League requested that these cars move out of line unless they planned to make another qualification attempt.

In qualifying 18th, 2005 winner Wheldon will have his worst starting position in seven races. He started 16th in 2005 and won the race. “It’s a very challenging month, and there have been a lot of highs and lows,” Wheldon said. “That’s what Indianapolis is all about. It’s a tough month, and it can be very hard. We’re going to continue to work harder, as this team is good enough to figure it out.”

Ryan Hunter-Reay returned to the track Sunday and made one attempt to qualify, but his Vision Racing team waved him off after three unacceptable laps.

Three accidents in Turn 1 took place involving rookie Mike Conway, Alex Tagliani and John Andretti.

“I lost the back end going into Turn 1,” Andretti said. “Earlier in the day I lost it there, too, but caught the car in time. At Indy, you don’t get many extra chances.”

If not for a miraculous move, Graham Rahal nearly plowed into Andretti’s stricken car. He blazed into the turn immediately behind Andretti’s crashing car but managed to miss after taking evasive action. During the high-speed action, the young driver spun his car and flat-spotted his tires.

“Stuff was flying everywhere,” Rahal said. “The car basically exploded when he (Andretti) hit. When I went to the high side, he started to roll backwards into my path, and I was going to t-bone him, so I turned left and hit the brakes as hard as I could. I was lucky to keep it off the walls.”

While Tagliani walked away from his crash, Conway wasn’t as fortunate. After making heavy contact in Turn 1, Conway was assisted from the car and transported to Methodist Hospital where he was admitted and treated for bruised lungs. According to medical officials, he was awake, alert and listed in good condition.

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