Curt Cavin
IndyStar
It was that close for the Indianapolis 500 pole.
James Hinchcliffe, who entered Sunday with the fastest car, delivered a pole-winning effort at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a four-lap average of 230.760 mph.
The effort was just enough to beat Josef Newgarden, whose average was 230.700 mph. In distance, that’s probably only a couple feet – if that – over 10 miles.
Ryan Hunter-Reay secured the No. 3 spot for the 100th 500, and he ran 230.648 mph.
Hinchcliffe gave Schmidt Peterson Motorsports its second pole since 2011, but it was the ultimate comeback for the Canadian driver, who a year ago needed emergency surgery to stop the massive blood loss in his upper left thigh. A suspension piece had pierced him in a Turn 3 crash.
The pole was Hinchcliffe’s first in the IndyCar Series.
There won’t be a Team Penske on the front row for the first time in three years. Will Power, Helio Castroneves and Simon Pagenaud were all in the Fast Nine, but each failed to match the speed they posted in Saturday’s qualifications.
Defending 500 champion Juan Pablo Montoya nearly had to start the 500 from the last row after the front of his car struck a trash back at the north end of the track. Montoya said the debris – he didn’t initially know what it was – had been in the infield grass on his first two laps before floating into the racing line.
Hitting it with the front wing nearly caused Montoya to crash.
“It scared the hell out of me,” he said.
Montoya slowed to 210.972 mph on that lap and 191.546 mph on the fourth before bringing the Team Penske car to pit road. IndyCar officials took responsibility for the debris on the track and permitted him a second attempt.
2016 Indianapolis 500 starting grid
Montoya delivered a four-lap average of 227.684 mph, which settled him in the 17th starting position, two spots ahead of where he started last year.
With IndyCar issuing more points for qualifying at this event, Montoya salvaged 15 points by getting another try.
Alex Tagliani’s first qualifying lap ended with a slide first to the outside wall, then down the front straightaway. The 2011 pole winner might have escaped without contact, but the antenuator at pit entry caught the nose of the A.J. Foyt Racing machine, sending it a rapid spin of nearly six rotations. Tagliani was not injured.
Oriol Servia had the fastest run of the first round, earning him the 10th starting position. He will be joined on that row by the highest-qualifying rookie, Alexander Rossi of Andretti Autosport.
Scott Dixon, the 2008 race winner and last year’s pole sitter, will start 13th only because his crew delivered a magnificent job of changing a Chevrolet engine in not much more than an hour – half the normal time. Dixon’s car lost an engine late in the practice, at about 1:12 p.m., leaving precious little time to present the car for technical inspection. The Chip Ganassi Racing crew made it by less than an minute.
The back row will include Jack Hawksworth, 1996 500 winner Buddy Lazier and Tagliani. Lazier’s last four starts in this race have come from the 32nd, 32nd, 33rd and 32nd positions.
, piloto del equipo Schmidt Peterson Motorsports obtuvo la primera posición en la parrilla de salida en una carrera por primera vez en su trayectoria en la IndyCar, en la clasificación válida para la carrera del próximo domingo, la edición número 100 de las 500 Millas de Indianápolis. El canadiense logró una velocidad promedio de 230,760 millas por hora, con la cual le alcanzó para superar a  (Ed Carpenter Racing) y  (Andretti Autosport), con quienes compartirán la primera fila.

Es el segundo canadiense en ser el polesitter para la carrera, después de que lograra  en 2011, y es la primera pole de la marca Honda en la temporada 2016 de la IndyCar Series.

Recordemos que en la edición pasada de 2015, sufrió un terrible accidente en las practicas para la carrera en la que le pudo costarle la vida, en la que un elemento de suspensión del monoplaza le atravesó la pierna derecha hasta la pelvis, provocándole una severa lesión, y pérdida de sangre en el momento del accidente. Por las lesiones, quedó descartado no solamente para la carrera sino para el resto de la temporada, siendo reemplazado por  y Conor Daly. Volvió a las pistas para la temporada 2016, donde logró un tercer puesto, un sexto y un octavo como mejores resultados en las primeras cinco fechas.

Andretti, además de que Hunter-Reay este tercero, sus pilotos Townsend Bell y Carlos Muñoz, largarán en la segunda fila, siendo los últimos en lograr velocidad promedio de 230 millas por horas. En el sexto lugar estará Will Power, el mejor de Penske Racing.

La tercera fila estará compuesta por , compañero de equipo de Hinchcliffe, y los dos pilotos de Penske,  (líder del campeonato) y .

El campeón defensor de la categoría,  quedó decimocuarto, mientras que el ganador defensor de la edición 2015 de la carrera,  largará en el puesto 17.