After a frantic hard fought couple of sessions, it was Penske driver Helio Castroneves who grabbed the Indy 500 Pole position and the $100,000 prize that comes with it, it was a familiar front row with Briscoe completing a Penske 1-2 and Dario Franchitti grabing 3rd on his return. There were a few suprises also with some not so well known runners springing some welcome suprises at the front end of the field. There was concern though for British rookie Mike Conway who suffered a nasty accident on his timed run, thankfully he was released from hospital but will not be fit to race. Darren Manning, who made way for Milka Duno will take Conway's palce in the number 24 car.
Here then is my review of the grid so far and how i think the said drivers have done, remember, these 22 care are locked into the show and cannot be kicked off the grid when Bump day comes along on Sunday.
ROW 1: 1st Helio Castroneves (Penske), 2nd Ryan Briscoe (Penske), 3rd Dario Franchitti (Ganassi)
A welcome pole for the popular Brazilian who claimed pole with an average speed of 224.86mph, infact only 3mph covers the whole top 22 who have qualified for the race, a great advertisement for the standard of the drivers on show. Ryan Briscoe got 2nd which give Penske a good advantage coem race day while Franchitti joins both the Penske runners on the front row.
ROW 2: 4th Graham Rahal (Newman-Haas), 5th Scott Dixon (Ganassi), 6. Tony Kanaan (AGR)
The young Rahal suprised everyone 2 weeks ago with pole position on the smaller oval at Kansas so 4th spot for the 500 is a decent showing for him. Dixon though i think will be very disappointed with 5th spot while Tony Kanaan was the best of the Andretti-Green cars who had a largely poor qualifying by their high standards
ROW 3: 7th Mario Moraes (KV Racing), 8th Marco Andretti (AGR), 9th Will Power (Penske)
Here come sthe first of the suprises, Mario Moraes for KV racing performed superbly to get within just 1.5mph within pole and with that has earned a brilliant 7th spot, by far his best qualifying performance in the Indycar Series. Marco Andretti will hope to do well from 8th as he tries to emulate his grandfather and Will Power on a one off drive helped Penske get all 3 of their cars into the top 9.
ROW 4: 10th Danica Patrick (AGR), 11th Alex Lloyd (Ganassi), 12th Raphael Matos (Luczo Dragon)
Considering this is the big race she wants to win more than ever, Danica Patrick will face a tough struggle to be in contention from the 4th row, Alex Lloyd on a one off drive for Target Chip Ganassi performed brilliantly to force himself into the top 11 and qualify on the very first day. Rokkie driver Raphael Matos was the fastest of the 2nd day runners so he bags 12th spot.
ROW 5: 13th Paul Tracy (KV Racing), 14th Vitor Meira (Foyt), 15th Justin Wilson (Dale Coyne)
Paul Tracy marked his Indy 500 return in such a way, you'd think hed never been away, 2nd quickest on day 2 getting him 13th spot on the grid while Vitor Meira and Justin Wilson both got into the show on their 2nd attempts.
ROW 6: 16th Hideki Mutoh (AGR), 17th Ed Carpenter (Vision), 18th Dan Wheldon (Panther)
All 3 drivers on the 6th row i think will be disappointed to be this far down the grid, Mutoh performed well last year and will be disappointed with 16th, Carpenter is an oval racing specialist and he will be let down too but Dan Wheldon will likely be mortified to get 18th position after a very problematic practice program.
ROW 7: 19th AJ Foyt IV (Foyt), 20th Scott Sharp (Panther), 21st Sarah Fisher (SFR)
AJ Foyt's grandson will be happy to get into the show after missing the beginning of the season due to being dismissed by the Vision squad, Scott Sharp makes his return after 2 years away but he will be disappointed to be down in 20th while Sarah Fisher exceeded her expectations by getting herself into the top 22, well doen to her.
ROW 8: 22nd Davey Hamilton (Dreyer & Reinbold)
The experienced Hamilton got into the 22 by the skin of his teeth but he was helped by his team-mate's accident
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