Bourdais leads second-day qualifiers; Carpenter completes 33-car field with run in backup car
With no potential Bump Day deals on the horizon, the 33-car field for the 96th Indianapolis 500 is likely set.
Sebastien Bourdais’ four-lap average of 223.760 mph — which would have put him on Row 5 had he qualified yesterday — is the fastest so far on the second day of qualifications, which is meant to fill positions 25-33 on the grid. However, with both Chevrolet and Honda not expected to provide engines to anyone else outside those on the entry list, the normal bumping that ensues after the grid is filled up will probably not occur.
With that, expect plenty of race set-up work from teams in the remaining hours today at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Here’s how the final three rows currently look and will likely look at the 6 p.m. ET closing gun:
Row 9
7-Sebastien Bourdais, 223.760 mph.
41-Wade Cunningham, 223.258 mph.
22-Oriol Servia, 222.393 mph.
Row 10
20T-Ed Carpenter, 222.324 mph.
14-Mike Conway, 222.319 mph.
6-Katherine Legge, 221.624 mph.
Row 11
39-Bryan Clauson, 214.455 mph.
78-Simona de Silvestro, 214.393 mph.
64-Jean Alesi, 210.094 mph.
You’ll notice a big drop-off from Row 10 to the final row. Clauson came back out with the repaired primary car he wrecked during yesterday’s proceedings (which had a Band-Aid on one of its sidepods) and put down an easy four-lap run. There was no need to really push it considering the lack of bumping.
As for the Lotus-powered De Silvestro and Alesi, their situation is self-explanatory: Slow engine. Interesting to note, however, is that De Silvestro apparently has a new Lotus motor worth about 30 more horsepower (which helps explain the difference between her and Alesi on speed). Not that it’ll matter much for her, or Alesi if he’s due a new Lotus as well, come Sunday.
