Swift Hornish captures Indy pole
INDIANAPOLIS – Sam Hornish Jr. came up a bit short on his prediction but not his speed.
The fastest driver at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for most of the month did not disappoint Saturday, driving away with the pole position for the May 28 Indianapolis 500.
After running a lap at 229.996 mph in the morning warmup – by far the fastest lap since practice began nearly two weeks ago – Hornish came back less than two hours later and proved it was no fluke with two more laps better than 229 on the way to a four-lap qualifying average of 228.985.
“This car is about as perfect as I’ve ever had,” said Hornish, who has failed to finish the race in each of his six previous starts. “I was really about 99 percent happy with it.”
None of the other 31 drivers who qualified could come close to knocking Hornish off the top spot. His big day gave team owner Roger Penske his 13th Indy pole, matching the record number of wins for the elite team.
Hornish, a two-time IRL IndyCar Series champion, would like nothing better than to join the nine drivers who have won here for Penske and finally end his Indy jinx that has seen him crash three times and fail to finish more than 196 of the 200 race laps.
“It’s a long race next Sunday and I want to make it through that. I want to make sure I make the full 500 miles,” he said.
“You know, it’s not the guy who’s the fastest here that wins this race. It’s the one who makes the fewest mistakes.”
Defending Indy champion Dan Wheldon, the only driver able to beat Hornish for a day’s fast lap this month, couldn’t come close on the final day.
Wheldon posted a solid run with four consistent laps better than 227, but his average of 227.338 was far short of what he’d hoped for, placing him tentatively on the outside of the front row of three.
With each car allowed up to three attempts a day, Wheldon considered withdrawing his qualifying run and giving last year’s IRL champion another shot at Hornish late in the day. But, after some afternoon practice, Wheldon decided against it.
“Maybe we’d have had something for (Helio) Castroneves, but Hornish has been pretty quick all month,” Wheldon said. “We’ve just been a couple of steps behind that Penske team since we got here.”
Two-time Indy winner Castroneves was the only driver able to approach teammate Hornish’s performance. The Brazilian started with a lap of 227.741 before ticking off three straight trips around the 2.5-mile oval better than 228 for an average of 228.008.
Scott Dixon, Wheldon’s Target Chip Ganassi teammate, was fourth fastest at 226.921, followed by Tony Kanaan, last year’s pole-winner, at 226.776 and 2005 race runner-up Vitor Meira at 226.156.
The third row included Kosuke Matsuura at 225.503, Scott Sharp at 225.321 and 19-year-old rookie Marco Andretti, grandson of 1969 winner Mario Andretti, at 224.918.
Danica Patrick, last year’s rookie sensation and the only woman in the field, remained far off her 2005 pace but was still content after posting her four best laps of the month on the way to an average of 224.674 and the inside of the fourth row.
“Those were probably the easiest four laps I’ve run this month,” Patrick said. “That’s the way it is when your car is comfortable.”
Buddy Rice, Patrick’s Rahal Letterman Racing teammate and the 2004 Indy winner, qualified at 224.393 after missing last year’s race because of an injury from a crash during practice. Buddy Lazier, the 1996 Indy winner, qualified at 220.922.
Three big-name drivers making comebacks also were among the early qualifiers.
Michael Andretti, Marco’s father, retired following the 2003 Indy 500 to concentrate on being a team owner. He came back to race at Indy with his son and qualified easily at 224.508.
Eddie Cheever, the 1998 Indy winner and making his first Indy start since 2002, posted a 222.028. Two-time winner Al Unser Jr., who spent last year in retirement, qualified for his 18th Indy start at 219.388.