Hearn, Giebler round off 500 grid
Jimmy Kite tried to bump his way back in, but couldn't
After losing his position on the grid earlier in the day, Kite got back in the No. 18 PDM Racing Honda/Dallara and tried to get back into the field for the 91st Indianapolis 500. However, as time ran out on the final day of qualifying, Kite couldn't find the speed and waved off his attempt.
"The speed we expected just wasn't there," Kite said. "It wasn't like the car wasn't handling or the engineers didn't work their tails off. It just didn't have the speed."
Kite lost his position when Phil Giebler, who crashed during a qualifying attempt Saturday, got his repaired No. 31 Playa Del Racing Panoz/Honda into the field Sunday afternoon. Kite, who had grabbed the 32nd position Saturday with a four-lap average of 214.528 mph, was bumped from the grid.
With five minutes remaining in Sunday's session, Kite got back in the car. It hadn't topped 215 mph in practice, and it didn't reach that speed on his first qualifying lap. "It falls squarely on my shoulders that we didn't make the show," said Paul Diatlovich, PDM's owner.
That left just two changes on the grid during the final day of qualifying for next Sunday's race. Giebler made it in and will start 33rd, and Richie Hearn will start 32nd in the No. 91 Hemelgarn/Racing Professionals Honda/Dallara.
"We could finish in the top 15," Hearn said. "You have to be optimistic. You don't want to say that your goal is to finish in the top 15 because you come here to win. But I'm not going to beat the other teams that do this all the time. Something really bad would have to happen to them for us to win."
Giebler's team rebuilt his Panoz and got him back on track for a four-lap average of 219.631 mph.
"They were here until 1:00 am last night and they were here again when the garage opened this morning," Giebler said. "Basically, they had to tear the whole car apart and check every nut and bolt. It was like building a whole new car."
Marty Roth ended up on the bubble, in jeopardy of being bumped out of the field if Kite could have reached 219 mph. On Saturday, Roth nearly re-qualified after being disappointed with his four-lap average of 218.922 mph. Instead, he held on to the 30th starting position.
"The price to pay is that you fall to the bubble," Roth said.
Roberto Moreno put Roth in that position by withdrawing his effort of 216.229 mph from Saturday and posting an impressive run of 220.299 mph in a Chastain Motorsports Panoz that had been rebuilt after Stephan Gregoire crashed on Thursday.
Moreno, the 48-year-old veteran of Formula One, Champ Car, IndyCars and sports cars, wept after Sunday's run.
"It's very difficult to describe," Moreno said, fighting back tears after qualifying. "You can't understand what this means without being in my position."
The effort didn't advance Moreno's position on the grid, but it gave him an extra 4 mph in protection against a bump attempt. It also was a better speed than Roth, putting him in the bubble instead.
Chastain, who's funding the effort out-of-pocket, got help from Rahal Letterman Racing and other teams in the effort to rebuild the car. Chastain bought two Panoz chassis from RLR, which then helped him with setup and other aspects of getting the cars race ready.
"They could have turned their back on a smaller team, but they didn't," Chastain said. "They even painted the cars for us."
The bulk of Sunday's action was the final serious practice for the top contenders, including the three teams that are favored to win - Target Chip Ganassi Racing, Team Penske and Andretti Green Racing.
Ganassi's Dan Wheldon and Scott Dixon led the way with laps in the 222.7 mph range, followed by AGR drivers Dario Franchitti, Tony Kanaan and Marco Andretti.
Drivers will have one final practice during Friday's Carb Day activities before Sunday's race.
The 91st Indianapolis 500 line-up:
Pos Driver Make Speed 1. Helio Castroneves Dallara-Honda 225.817 2. Tony Kanaan Dallara-Honda 225.757 3. Dario Franchitti Dallara-Honda 225.191 4. Scott Dixon Dallara-Honda 225.122 5. Sam Hornish Jr. Dallara-Honda 225.109 6. Dan Wheldon Dallara-Honda 224.641 7. Ryan Briscoe Dallara-Honda 224.410 8. Danica Patrick Dallara-Honda 224.076 9. Marco Andretti Dallara-Honda 223.299 10. Tomas Scheckter Dallara-Honda 222.877 11. Michael Andretti Dallara-Honda 222.789 12. Scott Sharp Dallara-Honda 223.875 13. Jeff Simmons Dallara-Honda 223.693 14. Ed Carpenter Dallara-Honda 223.495 15. Darren Manning Dallara-Honda 223.471 16. Buddy Rice Dallara-Honda 222.826 17. Kosuke Matsuura Dallara-Honda 222.595 18. A.J. Foyt IV Dallara-Honda 222.413 19. Vitor Meira Dallara-Honda 222.333 20. Davey Hamilton Dallara-Honda 222.327 21. Sarah Fisher Dallara-Honda 221.960 22. Buddy Lazier Dallara-Honda 221.380 23. Roger Yasukawa Dallara-Honda 222.654 24. John Andretti Dallara-Honda 221.756 25. Al Unser Jr. Dallara-Honda 220.876 26. Alex Barron Dallara-Honda 220.471 27. Jon Herb Dallara-Honda 220.108 28. Jaques Lazier Panoz-Honda 219.409 29. Milka Duno Dallara-Honda 219.228 30. Marty Roth Dallara-Honda 218.922 31. Roberto Moreno Panoz-Honda 220.299 32. Richie Hearn Dallara-Honda 219.860 33. Phil Giebler Panoz-Honda 219.637
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