Chaves leads Coyne foursome in Indy 500 qualifying
Chaves leads Coyne foursome in Indy 500 qualifying
Indianapolis, IN (May 22, 2016) – After a tough day during the first day of qualifying for the 100th Running of the Indianapolis 500 on Saturday, the Dale Coyne Racing team had a better day on Sunday with all four cars completing their qualifying attempts and placing a car on the seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth rows.
At the end of the Group 1 qualifying session, Gabby Chaves found himself 21st, Conor Daly 24th, Pippa Mann 25th and Bryan Clauson 28th.
While the drivers were more pleased with the balance on their cars from yesterday, speeds were down due to the heat and changing weather conditions that proved to be tricky.
Teams will have two more practice sessions this coming week to prepare for the race, starting with three and half hours of practice on Monday, May 23rd and a final hour of practice on Carb Day, Friday, May 27th.
The following are notes and quotes for each driver following today’s activities.
Gabby Chaves – #19 Boy Scouts of America
21st – average speed: 227.191 mph
Lap 1: 227.406 mph
Lap 2: 227.417 mph
Lap 3: 226.682 mph
Lap 4: 227.261 mph
– Chaves’ 21st place on the starting grid is his best Indianapolis 500 start.
What he had to say:
“I was a lot happier with the car balance today, we’re just lacking a little bit of speed after yesterday. In trying to get back to the right set up we gave up a little bit on speed, but at least we have the car balance where we want it. I’m pretty confident that we’ll have a strong race car. I’m starting about nine positions better than I did last year and I was able to work my way into the top eight with only a few laps to go before suffering some damage to the car, so I expect to be able to overtake some cars, move my way forward and be there at the end. I’m just really happy to be here, and to have the opportunity to race in the 100th Running of the Indianapolis 500, I can’t thank Dale Coyne Racing enough for giving me this chance.”
Conor Daly – #18 ShirtsForAmerica.com
24th/ average speed: 226.312 mph
Lap 1: 226.749 mph
Lap 2: 226.840 mph
Lap 3: 226.231 mph
Lap 4: 225.434 mph
– Daly improved his best Indianapolis 500 qualifying result by one position with his 24th place today.
What he had to say:
“We’ve been struggling with the heat, as a group. It’s a shame, some people are dealing with the heat better than us and making it work but we didn’t do it today so I’m disappointed. The conditions are unpredictable, the wind is so strong and it’s sketchy. For us, to pad that you add downforce and that takes away speed. We have to work on our set up tomorrow and make it better, but that’s alright. I know our car is fast. We could do 228s yesterday but it just goes to show you that it’s all in the conditions. This place is really challenging.”
Pippa Mann – #63 Dale Coyne Racing supporting Susan G. Komen
25th – average speed: 226.006 mph
Lap 1: 226.469 mph
Lap 2: 226.126 mph
Lap 3: 225.808 mph
Lap 4: 225.622 mph
– Mann spun yesterday due to a rear wing end fence failure, but her crew got the car back together and after dealing with an issue in the morning practice session, she came back to qualify 25th.
What she had to say:
“It feels fantastic. Yesterday was so tough for the entire Dale Coyne Racing team and those guys stayed so late last night, they worked so hard, then to have issues this morning as well in morning warm-up, those were the first laps I turned at speed since I was backwards yesterday! Relief, happy, thrilled. We’ve had such a great race car all week, that in different circumstances, we’ve had liked to have gone faster, but for today I’m just so happy we got that taken care of and we can now get to working on our race car.
Bryan Clauson – #88 Cancer Treatment Centers of America
28th – average speed: 225.266 mph
Lap 1: 226.126 mph
Lap 2: 225.764 mph
Lap 3: 224.851 mph
Lap 4: 224.330 mph
– Clauson registered his best Indianapolis 500 qualifying position today with his 28th place on the starting grid. Previously, the American’s best start was 31st.
What he had to say:
“It’s been a lot of fun, it’s great to be back here at the Speedway. It’s also been great working with our Johnathan Byrd’s / Dale Coyne Racing team and to get back into the groove. We have a good group, we’re just trying to plug away and trying to get laps in. We seem to be getting better and better each time out. I can’t really ask for more.”