Ryan Briscoe edges out James Hinchcliffe for Indianapolis 500 pole
Penske's Ryan Briscoe will start next weekend's Indianapolis 500 from pole position after edging out James Hinchcliffe in a tight battle at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Briscoe's time across four laps of 2m38.9514s was a scant 0.0023 seconds quicker than Andretti Autosport's Hinchcliffe to deliver the closest qualifying gap by time in the race's history. The Australian's average speed was 226.464mph.
Andretti locked out positions two through to four on the grid, with Ryan Hunter-Reay just beating Marco Andretti for third, and Penske duo Will Power and Helio Castroneves just behind them.
Sarah Fisher Hartman rookie Josef Newgarden was quickest of the Honda-powered runners in sixth, while Ganassi's standard-bearers Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti will start from 15th and 16th respectively. Rubens Barrichello (KV) will start his first oval race a handful of places ahead of the Ganassis in 10th.
Several cars still need to make the field on Sunday's Bump Day after missing the top 24 on Saturday, including both Lotus-powered entries (HVM's Simona de Silvestro and Fan Force's Jean Alesi), Dragon's Sebastien Bourdais and Katherine Legge, AJ Foyt Racing's Mike Conway, and Sarah Fisher Hartman rookie Bryan Clauson.
Pos Driver Team/Car Speed 1. Ryan Briscoe Penske DW12-Chevy 226.484 2. James Hinchcliffe Andretti DW12-Chevy 226.481 3. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti DW12-Chevy 226.240 4. Marco Andretti Andretti DW12-Chevy 225.456 5. Will Power Penske DW12-Chevy 225.422 6. Helio Castroneves Penske DW12-Chevy 225.172 7. Josef Newgarden Fisher DW12-Honda 224.037 8. Tony Kanaan KV DW12-Chevy 224.751 9. EJ Viso KV DW12-Chevy 224.422 10. Rubens Barrichello KV DW12-Chevy 224.264 11. Alex Tagliani Herta DW12-Honda 224.000 12. Graham Rahal Ganassi DW12-Honda 223.959 13. Ana Beatriz Andretti/Conquest DW12-Chevy 223.920 14. Charlie Kimball Ganassi DW12-Honda 223.868 15. Scott Dixon Ganassi DW12-Honda 223.684 16. Dario Franchitti Ganassi DW12-Honda 223.582 17. James Jakes Dale Coyne DW12-Honda 223.482 18. JR Hildebrand Panther DW12-Chevy 223.422 19. Takuma Sato Rahal DW12-Honda 223.392 20. Townsend Bell Schmidt DW12-Honda 223.134 21. Justin Wilson Dale Coyne DW12-Honda 222.929 22. Michel Jourdain Jr Rahal DW12-Honda 222.893 23. Simon Pagenaud Schmidt DW12-Honda 222.891 24. Sebastian Saavedra AFS/Andretti DW12-Chevy 222.811
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About this article
| Series | IndyCar |
| Drivers | James Hinchcliffe |
| Author | Mark Glendenning |
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