INDIANAPOLIS — Ryan Hunter-Reay finished the rain-shortened first day of Indianapolis 500 qualifying in the same spot he finished last year’s race — No. 1.
Now he’ll have to do it all over again Sunday.
After Hunter-Reay posted the faster of two four-lap qualification runs Saturday, finishing with an average speed of 229.845 on the 2.5-mile oval, heavy rain washed out the rest of qualifying and both times from the completed runs.
“You just have to wait for it and keep your thoughts cool and calm and collected and get on with the job,” he said. “It’s not a big deal. It’s OK.”
Sunday’s schedule gives him one chance to requalify at a faster speed. The only other driver to finish a qualifying run was Colombia’s Carlos Huertas. He had a four-lap average of 228.235, which temporarily gave Honda a rare chance to celebrate having the top two cars on the starting grid.
Chevrolet has dominated the early part of the season, taking all five poles and winning four of the first five races. The washout, the revised schedule and the high expectations for Pole Day might not help Hunter-Reay.
If weather permits, all drivers including Huertas and Hunter-Reay will get one attempt Sunday morning. The top 30 cars will be locked into the 33-car starting grid for the May 24 race with the nine fastest competing in the afternoon pole shootout.
Organizers also have scheduled a 45-minute session to determine the final three starting spots. Thirty-four cars are attempting to make the 33-car field.
The forecast is calling for a 50 percent chance of rain and temperatures almost 20 degrees warmer than Saturday.
Even worse for Hunter-Reay and the other Honda drivers is that most believe it will take a significantly faster speed this year than last year to win the pole.
In 2014, owner-driver Ed Carpenter went 231.067 to take his second straight pole. Nobody has ever won three consecutive poles at Indy.
Even worse, the favorites were all running faster than Hunter-Reay in Saturday morning’s practice.
Team Penske drivers took four of the top five spots with three-time Indy winner Helio Castroneves leading the way with a best lap of 233.474. The only driver to break up the Penske monopoly was American J.R. Hildebrand, the 2011 Indy runner-up and Carpenter’s teammate, who went 232.985.
The fastest five cars in practice were all Chevys, too.
Castroneves, of Brazil, has won this race three times and is attempting to become the second driver to claim the pole five times for the 500. He’s tied with A.J. Foyt and Rex Mays for second all-time behind only Rick Mears (six).
Will Power is attempting to pull off the first May sweep. Last week, the defending series champ won the Grand Prix of Indianapolis from the pole.
“People will be, definitely, quicker than last year if it doesn’t get really hot,” Power said. “It’s going to make the day really interesting tomorrow. When you make your first run, depending on where you are in the line, it’s going to be very cool and these cars are very, very affected by track temps so if it goes up, you’ve drastically got to change your set up.”
The other big challenge could come from the five cars fielded by Chip Ganassi Racing.
Three-time series champion and one-time Indy winner Scott Dixon, of New Zealand, started his qualifying run with a lap of 231.357. But before he could finish the second lap, the yellow flag came out for light rain. Heavier rain soaked the asphalt track for most of the next two hours before speedway officials called off the rest of the day.
Two of Dixon’s teammates, American Charlie Kimball and Brazilian Tony Kanaan, finished ninth and 12th in practice.
But for Hunter-Reay, all he can do now is wait, watch and hope that his one attempt Sunday is good enough to put him in contention for a chance at back-to-back wins.
“I don’t really know where I stand yet, so I can’t say I confidently have a shot at it,” he said. “Certainly the Penske and Ganassi cars have seemed very strong in outright pace, and they’ve also seemed very strong in race trim. So we’ve got our work cut out for us to repeat.”
Notes: Despite the rainout, speedway officials said Dale Coyne Racing still plans to use Tristan Vautier as a substitute driver for Australia’s James Davison, who is racing in Canada this weekend. If the French driver qualifies in the top 30 Sunday, he will be locked into the field. But if Davison replaces Vautier for the race, as expected, the No. 19 car would start from the back of the field.
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