Townsend Bell fastest after initial qualifying runs

Bell has shown some impressive pace throughout practice and it seems to have carried over into qualifying. The one-off competitor currently leads the way with a 230.452mph average. He also has the fastest single lap at 231.582mph.

After a slightly disappointing 227mph average from Tony Kanaan, Simon Pagenaud who is currently dominating the IndyCar Series championship, set three laps of 230 on his way to an average of 230.102mph .

Marco Andretti started off with a 230.7 lap in the #27 Andretti Autosport-Honda, but his pace dwindled to a 227.6 on his fourth lap, so that he was unable to topple Pagenaud. Afterward he said that he had known it wouldn’t be a great run, as he wrestled with understeer at Turn 1.

Teammate Alexander Rossi had a similar issue, dropping from 230s for the first three laps to 228.9 on the last, to take P2.

In the #11 KVSH Racing entry, Sebastien Bourdais’ speeds were all over the place, going from 226, to 228 to 227s, but finally Josef Newgarden went to the top with a 230.229 average for Ed Carpenter Racing.

Oriol Servia was the first driver to crack the 231mph barrier on his first lap, during which a piece of his headrest flew out of his car down the back straight. He clocked 231.277 but he lost pace on each lap, dropping to a 228.6 and falling to P4 at the time.

JR Hildebrand’s lost 3mph from first to second lap, but recovered a little before falling away again to sit at the bottom of the table.

Mikhail Aleshin flirted with the wall and disaster at least three times on his way to a 229.190mph average, whereas Team Penske’s Will Power had a very composed-looking run with four 229mph laps that placed him fifth at the time, until getting bumped down the order by three-time Indy 500 winner teammate Helio Castroneves.

Bryan Clauson’s average was a 227.110mph in the #88 Dale Coyne Racing-Honda, while rookie Matt Brabham set a consistent 226.390mph for Team Murray KV Racing.

Last year’s polesitter and 2008 Indy 500 winner Scott Dixon fell from 230.1 on his opening lap to a 226 to set a 228.8 average, but Alex Tagliani started off disappointing and got worse, falling from 225s to a 222mph lap.

Tag’s teammate Takuma Sato went the opposite way, getting faster over his first three laps to clock an average of 228.1, but this was put in perspective on the very next run as Townsend Bell shot to the top of the speeds with a 230.452mph average, including a 231.5mph opening lap that involved him pitching his car into Turn 1 at 242mph.

Gabby Chaves dropped 4mph over this four laps in the #19 Coyne car, while Spencer Pigot set a tidy and consistent 227.1 average in the RLLR-Honda.

Charlie Kimball (Ganassi), who finished third here last year and 2014 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay (Andretti Autosport) put up disappointing initial runs compared with their teammates, but KV Racing’s second rookie Stefan Wilson got safely in the show with a 225.560mph average.

That was enough to put him ahead of more experienced compatriot Jack Hawksworth in the third Foyt car, while defending race winner Juan Pablo Montoya was slowest of the four Penskes with a 228.8 average. Monty’s time was immediately nudged aside by James Hinchcliffe’s SPM-Honda, who nonetheless remained outside the Top 10.

Carlos Munoz’s pace, setting P3 at the time, suggested conditions remained strong for Andretti Autosport’s setup, as he set a 230.173mph average, before Pippa Mann embarked on her run and spun out at Turn 2.

The #63 Coyne car, appeared to go too far/too soon below the white line in the short chute, and she spun on exit. The new domed skids appeared to work perfectly, as the rotation was slow, the car’s forward momentum slowed dramatically, and made only light contact with the outside and then inside wall. Mann was unhurt.

Ed Carpenter basically matched his teammate Hildebrand, before Graham Rahal just failed to match his rookie teammate, held back by too much push.

Sage Karam clocked P16 at the time, with a 227.821mph, before 1996 Indy 500 winner Buddy Lazier got his car safely in the race with a 224.3mph average, despite loose handling.

Following Mann’s crash, teammate Conor Daly’s car was taken out of line to make an adjustment.