A veritable fairytale story for the Canadian, Hinchcliffe was left fighting for his life at Indianapolis a year ago after a high speed smash left him with a series of injuries and putting him out for the remainder of the 2015 season.
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After a thrilling final-hour performance on Saturday, James Hinchcliffe again delivered when it mattered the most, claiming the pole Sunday for next weekend’s Indianapolis 500, edging Josef Newgarden and fellow Honda driver Ryan Hunter-Reay by the narrowest of margins in the final qualifying run of the day.
It was the second time Sam Schmidt has been on the catbird seat at Indy but the first for co-owner Rick Peterson and it capped a magnificent day in which Mikhail Aleshin secured the seventh starting spot and Oriol Servia lines up 10th on May 29.
“To get pole here, it’s just got to be your day and it’s got to work out”, said Power, the 2014 Verizon IndyCar Series champion whose best Indy 500 start is second in 2010 and 2015. After both Helio Castroneves and Will Power came up sort, the next-to-last qualifier, Hunter-Reay came close to toppling him, but ended his four-lap run fractionally slower, at 230.648 miles per hour. Four of the first five cars on the grid are Hondas, with Newgarden being the outlier racing Chevy.
Hinchcliffe’s victory marks the first time in six races that Team Penske drivers have not won the pole and ends a 31-race pole drought for Honda, which dated to the 2014 race in Houston.
“I mean, I try not to think about (what it means to qualify on the pole) too much”, Hinchcliffe said.
As for the engine battle, Honda has officially served notice it will be a player for the Indianapolis 500.
For a bit, it seemed as if Newgarden would win the pole. “But Alan MacDonald and the engineering crew gave me a stellar vehicle Honda gave us a great engine and this is just a super team”. IndyCar said the debris on the track was its responsibility and gave Montoya a second chance.
Hinchcliffe was able to joke about the situation after qualifying, recalling how his parents were away on vacation when he crashed a year ago.
“It’s insane”, Hinchcliffe said.
What a difference a year makes.
WHO’S HOT: Schmidt Peterson Motorsports and Andretti Autosport.
WHO’S NOT: Team Penske.
Among the power teams, Team Penske has three drivers in the top nine, including Power, Simon Pagenaud (eighth) and Helio Castroneves (ninth). Wilson is driving the Driven2SaveLives auto as a tribute to his late brother, Justin, who was killed when debris hit him in the head in Pocono last August.
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FAMILY TIES: Rookie Matt Brabham became the latest third-generation driver to make the race by qualifying 27th. Gates open at noon and the Indy 500 field will practice from 12:30-4 p.m.
