Helio Castroneves will start from the pole for the 93rd Indianapolis 500. The Brazilian reached a four-lap average of 224.864 mph to put himself on top for the third time at Indy. Castroneves will be joined on the front row by team-mate Ryan Briscoe and 2007 winner Dario Franchitti (Ganassi).
Traditionally, the eleven fastest drivers qualify on Pole Day. Unsurprisingly, this is where the big teams rise to the top, as Penske drivers Castroneves and Briscoe had been running on top during practice as well. Eight of the eleven qualifiers on Saturday were run by one of the so-called "big three" teams.
Series champ and last year's winner Scott Dixon qualified in fifth for Ganassi. Andretti-Green racing were represented by three cars, with Tony Kanaan (sixth), Marco Andretti (eight) and Danica Patrick (tenth). Will Power qualified Penske's third entry in ninth.
Nevertheless, a couple of surprising names put down their marker, as Newman/Haas/Lanigan's Graham Rahal qualified in fourth and other youngster Mario Moraes was a remarkable seventh for KV. Meanwhile, one-off contestant Alex Lloyd just made it through in eleventh in a joint effort by Sam Schmidt and Chip Ganassi.
A strong wind made the conditions at the 2.5 mile speedway very difficult. Especially turn two turned out to be a death trap. Biggest victim was rookie Robert Doornbos, who crashed both his prime and spare car in the same corner. It might take a while for Bobby D to return to the track, as his team Newman/Haas/Lanigan frantically work on his heavily damaged #06 cars.
The other entrants who didn't make it to the grid on Pole Day will get a second chance today, as the next eleven drivers will be able to qualify for the Indy 500.
Pole Day results:
1. Helio Castroneves - Penske
2. Ryan Briscoe - Penske
3. Dario Franchitti - Ganassi
4. Graham Rahal - Newman/Haas/Lanigan
5. Scott Dixon - Ganassi
6. Tony Kanaan - Andretti-Green
7. Mario Moraes - KV
8. Marco Andretti - Andretti-Green
9. Will Power - Penske
10. Danica Patrick - Andretti-Green
11. Alex Lloyd - Schmidt/Ganassi
Filip Cleeren
Written: Sun, 10 May 2009 17:28:57
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