Mother Nature made up Saturday afternoon for all the forecasted rain withheld Friday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It bucketed in several waves. So much for Indianapolis 500 Qualifying, which got a late start at 12:25 pm ET due to earlier rain. What we had was 34 Verizon IndyCar drivers all dressed up and no place to go. Everyone who was smart took cover.
Mercifully, after two huge downpours, someone called Uncle and all of Saturday’s activities were officially canceled and deleted at 2:15pm ET.
Two drivers made full qualifying runs and one got in a single lap prior to the caution.
Ryan Hunter-Reay/No.28 DSL Honda was first at 229.845 mph, followed by Carlos Huertas/No.18 Dale Coyne Racing Honda at 228.235 mph.
Scott Dixon/No.9 Target Chip Ganassi Chevrolet got in a single lap in excess of 231 mph, but couldn’t complete his run.
However, as only two cars qualified, their times will be erased and it’s back to zero for Sunday’s runs.
Earlier on, before the rain and everyone was queued up for their qualifying runs, one of the Yellow Shirts guarding The Line between the public and private parts of the Pit Lane queue kept trying to bar entry to Derrick Walker, INDYCAR President of Competition and Operations. Tony George was standing on the public side of the line, amused. Finally someone more senior to the Yellow Shirt convinced him that Walker did indeed belong where he tried to go. The hapless guard evidently hadn’t gotten the memo.
The Qualifications Update Schedule for Sunday May 17th.
•8:00-8:20am – Practice Group 1
•8:20-8:40am – Practice Group 2
No Guaranteed Green Flag Time
•10:00 – 1:00pm Qualifications – All Cars one time thru
•1:45pm – 2:30pm – Fast Nine
•3:00 – 3:45pm – Qualifying 2 as per Rule Book (Cars 31-33 and any unqualified cars)
Sunday’s forecast isn’t encouraging – 84 degrees F and thunder showers.