Nice Pose for Indy 500 Racing League

The Indy Racing League placed a new system this year with 24 drivers being qualified but they will still be vulnerable to be bumped. The top nine divers were all involved in a shootout for the pole position. There nine drivers were Hélio Castroneves, Will Power, Dario Franchitti, Ryan Briscoe, Alex Tagliani, Scott Dixon, Graham Rahal, Ed Carpenter, and Hideki Mutoh.

The Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, also known as the Indianapolis 500, the Indy 500 or The 500, is an American automobile race, held annually over the Memorial Day weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana. The event lends its name to the IndyCar class, or formula, of open-wheel race cars that have competed in it.

The event, billed as The Greatest Spectacle in Racing, is one of the oldest, and considered one of the three most significant, motorsports events in the world. The official attendance is not disclosed by Speedway management, but the permanent seating capacity is more than 257,000 people, and infield seating that raises capacity further to an approximate 400,000.

What are the Qualifying rules?

INDIANAPOLIS 500 QUALIFYING PROCEDURES:
Qualifications are also known as Time Trials. This means the drivers compete to see who is the fastest and gets to start the race close to the front.

The qualifying draw for positions is conducted in first-come, first-serve order the day before 1st Day of Qualifying, ie. the drivers draw to see who is going to get to qualify first, second, third, etc. Drivers generally will be trying to qualify both their primary car and a backup (T) car.

The pole position is decided by the fastest qualifier on the first day, or the fastest qualifier after one trip through the original qualifying line, whichever comes LAST.

Each car can make three qualification attempts. When a car completes a four-lap, 10-mile qualification attempt, its speed becomes official. The car may not re-qualify. The driver, if the car is bumped or withdrawn, may qualify in another car.

Each car must take two warm-up laps. The decision to take the green to start the attempt or wave off must be made the second time past the flagstand.

The team owner or designated representative must raise the green flag to signify the start of a qualification attempt or the yellow flag will be thrown, aborting the attempt.

Qualifying Schedule:

Qualifying is ran the two weekends before race weekend.

The first day of qualifying is a Saturday. It is known as "Pole Day". Positions one through 11 in the 33-car field are available to the fastest 11 qualifiers that day. Once the 11 spots are full, bumping will occur for the rest of the day to determine the Pole and the fastest 11 qualifiers for that day.

Second Day Qualifying, Sunday: Positions 12 through 22 are available. Once those spots are full, bumping will occur only in spots 12 through 22 for the rest of the day to determine the fastest 11 qualifiers for that day.

Third Day Qualifying, Saturday: Positions 23 through 33 are available. Once those spots are full, bumping will occur only in spots 23-33 for the rest of the day to determine the fastest 11 qualifiers for that day.

Fourth Day Qualifying, Sunday: The last day of qualifying is known as "Bump Day" and "Bubble Day". Any qualifying attempt on this day that is faster than a qualified entrant in the 33 positions in the starting field will bump the slowest qualifier from the field, regardless of the day of qualification. The “bumped” entrant will be removed from the field of 33, and the remaining field will move ahead one position in the starting field as the newly qualified entrant will take the 33rd position, or a higher position if faster than the other fourth-day qualifiers. As the end of the day approaches (6 p.m.) the driver sitting in last place of the grid gets mighty nervous.

Each car, primary or backup, will have three attempts per day to qualify for the Indianapolis 500. If a car is bumped on any day of qualifications, that entrant can re-enter the qualification line and attempt to re-qualify based on the numbers of attempts remaining for that car.

Entrants also can still withdraw qualified cars from the field at their choice, but that car still will be allowed to make qualifying attempts based on the number of attempts it has remaining for the day. The car does not have to be removed from competition, as in previous formats.

The 94th running of the Indy 500 will be on May 30. The pole day show and Indy 500 qualifying this year was very exciting as there are new faces and well there is also one unfortunate accident.

The Indianapolis 500 qualifying round was today, and things were looking grim for Danica Patrick, one of the biggest names in IndyCar racing. She came in 23 of 24, and even got booed, according to the LA Times.
She received some negativity from the crowd after she reportedly criticized the car's setup. "I say one confident thing out there, that it's not me, and everybody boos me," she said. "I don't know, maybe they were booing me before, but some of them were probably cheering for me before. I'm not a different driver than I was five years ago."

She explained the trouble as follows: "The car is just totally skating across the track, and there's no grip," she said. "My mechanics took tons of time to make sure it was fast and slick and no drag. It's there, it's just that the setup's not there. I feel bad for them because it's a good car. The GoDaddy car deserves to be higher up than this. It's better than this. It's just not set up right."

Here are the results of the Indy 500 Qualifying:

1. Hélio Castroneves – Team Penske – 227.970 mph (367 km/h)
2. Will Power – Team Penske – 227.578 mph (366 km/h)
3. Dario Franchitti – Chip Ganassi Racing – 226.990 mph (365 km/h)
4. Ryan Briscoe – Team Penske – 226.554 mph (365 km/h)
5. Alex Tagliani – FAZZT Race Team – 226.390 mph (364 km/h)
6. Scott Dixon – Chip Ganassi Racing – 226.233 mph (364 km/h)
7. Graham Rahal – Rahal Letterman Racing – 225.519 mph (363 km/h)
8. Ed Carpenter – Panther Racing – 224.507 mph (361 km/h)
9. Hideki Mutoh – Newman/Haas Racing – 223.487 mph (360 km/h)
10. Townsend Bell – Sam Schmidt Motorsports – 225.097 mph (362 km/h)
11. Justin Wilson – Dreyer & Reinbold Racing – 225.050 mph (362 km/h)
12. Raphael Matos – De Ferran Dragon Racing – 225.028 mph (362 km/h)
13. Mario Moraes KV – Racing Technology – 224.888 mph (362 km/h)
14. Davey Hamilton – De Ferran Dragon Racing – 224.852 mph (362 km/h)
15. Mike Conway – Dreyer & Reinbold Racing – 224.583 mph (361 km/h)
16. Marco Andretti – Andretti Autosport – 224.575 mph (361 km/h)
17. Ryan Hunter-Reay – Andretti Autosport – 224.547 mph (361 km/h)
18. Dan Wheldon – Panther Racing – 224.464 mph (361 km/h)
19. E.J. Viso – KV Racing Technology – 224.380 mph (361 km/h)
20. Tomas Scheckter – Dreyer & Reinbold Racing – 224.261 mph (361 km/h)
21. Ana Beatriz – Dreyer & Reinbold Racing – 224.243 mph (361 km/h)
22. Simona De Silvestro – HVM Racing – 224.228 mph (361 km/h)
23. Danica Patrick – Andretti Autosport – 224.217 mph (361 km/h)
24. Bertrand Baguette – Conquest Racing

Tony Kanaan crashed during his qualifying run splitting his engine in two.

Tags: indy 500 qualifying, indy 500, indy 500 schedule, indy racing league, danica patrick, indy