INDIANAPOLIS — Three-time Indianapolis 500 Helio Castroneves withstood a late afternoon charge from two-time Indy pole winner Ed Carpenter to hold onto the top seed in Sunday’s nine-car pole shootout.
All 33 starting spots on the grid will be determined Sunday.
Castroneves posted a four-lap average of 228.919 mph on the fourth attempt of the day then waited through two rain delays and 43 runs.
Carpenter bumped his way into the 33-car field with an average of 228.692 — second-fastest of the day. His two teammates, Danica Patrick and Simon Pigot, also made the shootout. Pigot was sixth at 228.052. Patrick wound up ninth at 227.610 in attempting to make her final race.
All three of Castroneves’ teammates — Simon Pagenaud, Will Power and Josef Newgarden — made the shootout. They finished third, fourth and seventh.
Sebastien Bourdais, fifth, and Scott Dixon, eighth, also will vie for the pole
Two drivers, Pippa Mann and 2016 Indy pole winner James Hinchcliffe, did not qualify for the field. It’s the first time since 2011 any drivers were bumped from the starting grid.
Hinchcliffe is fifth in the points and sat in his car at time expired.
http://www.espn.com/racing/indycar/story/_/id/23547991/danica-patrick-qualifies-fast-9-james-hinchcliffe-bumped-indy-500-field
