Just a year after watching the Indianapolis 500 from a hospital bed, James Hinchcliffe has penned the first chapter of a fairy tale comeback story with by claiming the 2016 Indy 500 pole. He was the fastest qualifier on both Saturday and Sunday with his Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda qualifying ahead of his good friend Josef Newgarden of Ed Carpenter Racing by 0.060 second.
The pole performance was a hugely redeeming moment for the Canadian, who was badly injured during practice for the 2015 race when a crash sent a carbon-fiber front suspension piece through his car’s cockpit where it pierced his leg. Tense minutes followed and IndyCar’s Holmatro Safety Crew very likely saved Hinch’s life with a well-rehearsed extraction. While he missed out on the rest of the 2015 campaign following his near-fatal crash, the “Mayor of Hinchtown” has re-emerged in fine form for 2016.
Former Indy 500 winner and Andretti Autosport driver Ryan Hunter-Reay qualified his Honda third behind Newgarden to round out an intriguing front row. Hinchcliffe is the comeback story, Newgarden and Hunter-Reay are the charismatic young Americans the series needs.
A third American, Townsend Bel,l qualified his own Andretti Honda fourth on the inside of the second row, a remarkable showing from a one-off driver, and his teammate and former Indy Rookie of the Year Carlos Munoz will start next to him. In an uncharacteristic showing, Will Power is the best of the Penskes in sixth place, the lowest Penske start since Power also began sixth in 2013. Still, a run from the second row of the grid to the front is far from impossible and Power will be determined to run hard for the last prize on his checklist, a win at Indy.
The surprise of qualifying was almost certainly Russian driver Mikhail Aleshin for Schmidt Peterson, who is also making his own recovery in 2016 from a serious oval accident at Auto Club Speedway in the final 2014 race. Aleshin parked his Honda in seventh, where he’ll start alongside stiff competition from Penske drivers Simon Pagenaud and Helio Castroneves.
Chip Ganassi Racing’s highest qualifier was Scott Dixon, who failed to make the Fast 9 and will instead start 13th ahead of Ganassi teammates Charlie Kimball (16th), Tony Kanaan (18th), and Max Chilton (22nd). Last year’s winner Juan Pablo Montoya will start a disappointing 17th as the only Penske car outside the Fast 9.
Young American Alexander Rossi is the highest-starting rookie with an 11th-place run, starting on the fourth row between veteran shoes Oriol Servia and Takuma Sato, both of whom know how to pick their way through the field.
See the full qualifying results here.
[IndyCar photo]
