Indianapolis 500 fills 33-car starting grid.
INDIANAPOLIS -
British driver Katherine Legge has become the 33rd driver to qualify for next week's Indianapolis 500, assuring race organizers of a full field.
Legge was the ninth driver to make an attempt Sunday, the second and final day of qualifications. She was hired Saturday to drive the No. 81 car for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports.
The only car not on the 11-row starting grid is the No. 17 of Mexico's Michel Jourdain Jr. He is expected to make an attempt to bump his way into the field by knocking out the slowest of the second-day qualifiers. That would be Legge, who had a four-lap average of 223.176 mph.
Qualifying at Indy continues until 6 p.m.
The fastest second-day qualifiers were Americans Josef Newgarden at 225.731 and Graham Rahal at 225.007.
Pole day is over, Bump Day is finished, the Fast 9 shootout is complete and when the dust settled Ed Carpenter was the driver on top. In somewhat of an upset, Carpenter who is a single car driver/owner organization took on the titans of Indycar and won the pole for the 97th running of this legendary race with a speed of 228.762mph. Andretti Autosport teammates Carlos Munoz and Marco Andretti make up the rest of the front row with Munoz being the highest rookie qualifier. Ed has a best start of 8th in the Indy 500 which he has done three times and in 132 Indycar starts, this is just his second career pole.
Indycar rookie AJ Allmendinger out-qualified both of his Penske teammates putting his No.2 5th on the grid while Power was 6th and Castroneves 8th. What a story it would be if AJ could pull this victory off next Sunday considering everything he has gone through. Not a single Ganassi Honda was in the Fast 9….not a single Honda from any team qualified inside the top 10 for that matter. The Ganassi cars start 16th, 17th, 19th and 23rd with Scott Dixon being the highest qualifier.
In a deal put together less than 48 hours ago, Sam Schmidt entered a 3rd car driven by Katherine Legge. She qualified for the race and will start last and that means someone went home. That unlucky car was the Rahal Letterman Lanigan owned entry of Michel Jourdain Jr. who was visibly dejected when Bump Day ended. Before the Fast 9 Saturday, Will Power was on top of the leader board with a lap time that would have been good enough for pole if he matched it in the Fast 9 which he failed to do. For a complete look at the lineup, just scroll down.
1. Ed Carpenter (#20) Ed Carpenter Racing
2. Carlos Munoz (#26) Andretti Autosport
3. Marco Andretti (#25) Andretti Autosport
4. EJ Viso (#5) Andretti Autosport
5. AJ Allmendinger (#2) Team Penske
6. Will Power (#12) Team Penske
7. Ryan Hunter-Reay (#1) Andretti Autosport
8. Helio Castroneves (#3) Team Penske
9. James Hinchcliffe (#27) Andretti Autosport
10. JR Hildebrand (#4) Panther Racing
11. Alex Tagliani (#98) Barracuda Racing
12. Tony Kanaan (#11) KV Racing Technology
13. Oriol Servia (#22) Panter DRR
14. Justin Wilson (#19) Dale Coyne Racing
15. Sebastien Bourdais (#7) Dragan Racing
16. Scott Dixon (#9) Chip Ganassi Racing
17. Dario Franchitti (#10) Chip Ganassi Racing
18. Takuma Sato (#14) A.J Foyt Enterprises
19. Charlie Kimball (#83) Chip Ganassi Racing
20. James Jakes (#16) Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
21. Simon Pagenaud (#77) Schmidt Hamilton Motorsports
22. Townsend Bell (#60) Panther Racing
23. Ryan Briscoe (#8) Chip Ganassi Racing
24. Simona De Silvestro (#78) KV Racing Technology
25. Josef Newgarden (#21) Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing
26. Graham Rahal (#15) Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
27. Sebastian Saavedra (#6) Dragon Racing
28. Tristan Vautier (#55) Schmidt Peterson Motorsports
29. Ana Beatriz (#18) Dale Coyne Racing
30. Pippa Mann (#63) Dale Coyne Racing
31. Conor Daly (#41) A.J Foyt Enterprises
32. Buddy Lazier (#91) Lazier Partners Racing
33. Katherine Legge (#81) Schmidt Peterson Motorsports
