Indy 500 – Pagenaud qualified in 23rd place

The first qualifying session of Pole Day which determines the positions from tenth to 24th place has delivered its verdict. Drivers qualify over four flying laps and establish an average to establish their rank. Rubens Barrichello (KV Racing Technology) failed at the gates of the second session by setting the tenth time (224,264mph) when he was taken out by his teammate EJ Viso. Alex Tagliani (Bryan Herta Autosport) is 11th ahead of Graham Rahal (Ganassi Racing), Ana Beatriz (Andretti Autosport), Charlie Kimball (Chip Ganassi) and Scott Dixon (Target Chip Ganassi). Dario Franchitti (Target Chip Ganassi) only took 16th place ahead of James Jakes (Dale Coyne Racing).

Those selected for the second session of Pole Day which will establish the first nine places on the grid were all dominated by James Hinchcliffe (Andretti Autosport) who completed his four laps at an average speed of 225,746mph. Will Power (Team Penske) is second ahead of Ryan Hunter-Reay (Andretti Autosport), Helio Castroneves (Team Penske), Ryan Briscoe (Team Penske) and Tony Kanaan (KV Racing Technology). Marco Andretti (Andretti Autosport) also qualified for the second session ahead of Josef Newgarden (Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing).

As for the French, Jean Alesi (Fan Force United) did not set a time and should therefore qualify tomorrow for Bump Day which will establish the positions from 25th to 33rd place. He will not be the only one since Sébastien Bourdais (Dragon Racing) also finished outside the top 24. On the other hand, simon pagenaud (Schmidt Hamilton) managed to grab 23rd place on the grid. As for Oriol Servia (Dreyer & Reinbold Racing), the Spaniard hit the pit wall after losing control of his DW12 and will also have to go through Bump Day to qualify. Ed carpenter et Bryan Clauson also crashed during qualifying.