Chevy Indy 500 Pole Day Qualifying
INDIANAPOLIS, May 11, 2003 - After severe weather washed out
Saturday's scheduled Pole Day qualifications, six Chevrolet drivers
completed qualifying runs today in the first day of qualifying for the
Indianapolis 500. Sam Hornish Jr. was the top Chevy qualifier, 18th on the
provisional grid with a four-lap average of 226.225 mph in Pennzoil Panther
Racing's Chevrolet Dallara. Hornish led a six-car Chevy contingent that
included Buddy Rice, Jaques Lazier, Buddy Lazier, Robbie Buhl and Sarah
Fisher. Helio Castroneves won the pole for the 500-mile classic with Penske
Racing's Dallara/Toyota at 231.725 mph.
"With six Chevrolet-powered entries successfully completing
their qualifying runs today, we are now concentrating our efforts on
delivering a reliable, durable and fuel efficient Chevy Indy V8 engine
package for the race," said GM Racing Group Manager Joe Negri. "We will be
running 500-mile durability tests on engine dynos and on the track next
week to develop an improved engine specification for the race."
Chilly 50-degree temperatures and gusty winds added another degree
of difficulty to driving the daunting 2.5-mile speedway. Robbie Buhl was
the first driver on the track today when qualifying began at noon under
cloudy skies. Buhl put his Purex/Aventis/Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Chevrolet
Dallara on the timing pylon with a 224.369 mph average speed over his
10-mile run.
"I liked being first out today because I knew the weather wasn't going
to change," Buhl reported. "The wind was a factor today - it was gusty and
hit me as I came off of Turn 2. It's another element that everyone has to
deal with.
"It's always a relief to make this race, no matter how your month
has gone," he reflected. "That was as strong a run as we had. We were
shooting for 224s and we did that. Now let's just focus on the race car.
We've already talked with the Chevy guys about improving this motor to make
it a better race motor, and that's where we're focusing our attention."
Two-time IRL IndyCar Series champion Sam Hornish Jr. also has his
sights set on raceday.
"We're just going to keep working on our race setup and find
something that works for us," Hornish asserted. "We can run with these guys
in the draft, and it's going to be a game of patience in the race. We ran
227 by ourselves in the morning practice, so the qualifying run was a tick
slower than we expected, but the wind changed direction and that didn't
help us. I don't think we're in any danger of missing the race."
Buddy Rice was the second fastest Chevy qualifier today, putting his
Red Bull Cheever Racing Chevrolet Dallara in the field at 226.213 mph.
"I had a little wiggle in Turn 1 on the second lap, but otherwise the
car was good," Rice said. "We went faster every lap after that. Our car
was trimmed out and as fast as we can get it right now, so we're happy with
that. We just wanted to put four perfect laps in and see where that put us.
Now the plan is to put qualifying out of our mind and go to race setups."
Jaques Lazier echoed Rice's words after completing his four-lap run
at 225.975 mph in the Team Menard Johns Manville Chevrolet Dallara.
"Now we're going to get ready for the big day," he declared. "Seldom
does the fastest car win the race. We have a good program at Team Menard.
We'll make sure that we get the Chevrolet engine and Dallara chassis up
front.
Lazier turned a lap at 226.723 mph on the third circuit of his
four-lap run, the fastest lap of the day among the Chevy-powered entries.
"All things considered, it was a good qualifying run," Lazier noted.
"The only problem we had was on the first lap when I went into Turn 1, the
car jumped sideways on me. It was so sideways through the corner that I
thought I was in a sprint car. Then the tire temperatures came up to where
they needed to be and I went flat through Turn 2, and from there out we
were running in the mid-226 range. That first lap hurt us, but a 225.9 is a
decent four-lap average."
Sarah Fisher was the picture of consistency with her AOL Dreyer &
Reinbold Racing Chevrolet Dallara, turning four laps between 224.086 and
224.216 mph with an average speed of 224.170 mph. The team waved off her
first qualifying attempt and then made a series of test runs before her
second official attempt.
"We were having a lot of push, we kept working on the car and working
on it, and it was as free as a car could possibly be," said Fisher. "I
would have been a little faster, but the wind caught me off of Turn 4 so I
had to give the throttle a little blip. Other than that, we were running
flat and the car was running perfect. My teammate and I ran almost the
exact same speed, and that shows what this team can do.
"Every time we've hit the track, the GM engineers have done something
to improve the engine package. We're focused on a good race car, and as
long as we're there at the end, that's what matters to us now. We are a
Chevy team, we have a partnership with Chevy, and we're all working to make
it a faster package."
Buddy Lazier was the final Chevy driver on the track today,
qualifying Hemelgarn Racing's Delta Faucet/Life Fitness Chevrolet Dallara
alongside his younger brother, Jaques, at 224.910 mph. Lazier's team waved
off his first qualifying attempt and the 1996 Indy 500 winner completed his
10-mile qualifying sprint in the last hour of the session.
"We were flat out during the earlier run and only running 224s, and
we knew our car was capable of running 225 on its own," Lazier noted. "I'm
never satisfied unless I get everything out of what I have, and that was
all that car had today. It looks like we needed to pull a taller gear, so
we shifted twice during the run, and that slowed us down a bit.
Nevertheless, we ran two laps at 225 and that was all we could ask for."
Billy Boat, driver of the Pedigo Chevrolet Dallara, sat out
today's qualifications after an accident in Saturday's morning practice
session damaged his race car. Boat was examined and released after the
incident, and the Panther team plans to make a qualifying run with Boat at
the wheel in next Sunday's final qualifying session.
Qualifying for the Indy 500 will continue on "Bump Day," the final day
of qualifying for the Indy 500, on Sunday, May 18. The 87th running of
the Indianapolis 500 will begin at noon EDT (11:00 a.m. local time) on
Sunday, May 25. The 200-lap, 500-mile race will be televised live on ABC
and broadcast live on the Indy Racing Radio Network.
INDIANAPOLIS 500 FIRST-DAY QUALIFYING SUMMARY:
Pos./Driver/Engine/Speed
1. Helio Castroneves/Toyota, 231.725 mph
2. Tony Kanaan/Honda, 231.006
3. Robby Gordon/Honda, 230.205
4. Scott Dixon/Toyota, 230.099
5. Dan Wheldon/Honda, 229.958
6. Kenny Brack/Honda, 229.509
18. Sam Hornish Jr., Chevrolet, 226.225
19. Buddy Rice, Chevrolet, 226.213
20. Jaques Lazier, Chevrolet, 225.975
21. Buddy Lazier, Chevrolet, 224.910
22. Robbie Buhl, Chevrolet, 224.369
24. Sarah Fisher, Chevrolet, 224.170
