Indy 500 results: Andretti P6 in tough day for team; Hildebrand leads one-offs - MotorSportsTalk

INDIANAPOLIS – Beyond the top five and the couple other stories of note for drivers that ran in the top five yesterday (Tony Kanaan, Simon Pagenaud), here are a few other results of note at the end of Sunday’s 99th Indianapolis 500:

Marco Andretti ended sixth in the No. 27 Snapple Honda, for his seventh Indianapolis 500 top-10 finish in 10 starts. It led the five-car Andretti Autosport contingent on a tough day; teammates Ryan Hunter-Reay, Simona de Silvestro, Carlos Munoz and Justin Wilson ended 15th, 19th, 20th, and 21st, with the latter two coming up short on a late-race fuel gamble. Said Andretti, “It was a frustrating 500 miles, we lost some track position in the pits and I lost some more out on the track. It was just a hard fight to keep the car balanced, let alone try to win.”
JR Hildebrand ended eighth to lead the one-off drivers, in the No. 6 Preferred Freezer CFH Racing Chevrolet. Hildebrand ebbed and flowed between sixth and 17th after starting 10th. “I, along with a lot of other guys, was just hanging on for the first couple of stints. We had some dicing around in the pits, the stops kind of went both ways for us as we got through the race,” he said.
Hildebrand’s teammate Josef Newgarden ended ninth, for his best Indianapolis 500 result. Charlie Kimball (third) and Takuma Sato (13th) also either set or equaled their best ‘500 result.
Gabby Chaves ran as high as 10th and ended 16th to be top rookie (of two) in the field. A further post on him will come later this week.
The other one-off or month-of-May only results: Ryan Briscoe 12th, Townsend Bell 14th, Alex Tagliani 17th, de Silvestro 19th, Wilson 21st, Pippa Mann 22nd, Sebastian Saavedra 23rd, James Davison 27th, Tristan Vautier 28th, Bryan Clauson 31st and Conor Daly 33rd.
Daly is the first race starter to retire from a mechanical failure before the green flag since, ironically, his team owner Sam Schmidt (blown engine) and Alessandro Zampedri (oil leak) in the 35-car, rain-delayed 1997 Indianapolis 500 (race also featured an accident involving Affonso Giaffone, Stephane Gregoire and Kenny Brack before the green flag).
Meanwhile Sage Karam is the first driver to retire on the first lap from an accident since Davey Hamilton in 2010. Karam’s wreck was more reminiscent of the Mario Moraes/Marco Andretti crash exiting Turn 1 a year earlier, in 2009.

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IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar championship contender Tom Blomqvist put the Meyer Shank Racing Acura at the front of the starting lineup for the Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Road Atlanta.

Blomqvist turned a 1-minute, 8.55-second lap on the 2.54-mile circuit Friday to capture his third pole position for MSR this season. Earl Bamber qualified second in the No. 02 Cadillac for Chip Ganassi Racing.

Ricky Taylor was third in the No. 10 Acura of Wayne Taylor Racing, which enters Saturday’s season finale with a 19-point lead over the No. 60 of Blomqvist and Oliver Jarvis (who will be joined by Helio Castroneves) for the 10-hour race.

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With the pole, MSR sliced the deficit to 14 points behind WTR, which will field the trio of Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque and Brendon Hartley in Saturday’s race.

“We really needed to put the car in this kind of position,” Blomqvist said. “It makes our life a little less stressful tomorrow. It would have given the No. 10 a bit more breathing space. It’s going to be a proper dogfight tomorrow. The guys gave me such a great car. It’s been fantastic this week so far, and it really came alive. I’m hugely thankful to the boys and girls at MSR for giving me the wagon today to execute my job.

“That was a big effort from me. I knew how important it was. It’s just awesome for the guys to give them some sort of reward as well. It’s always nice to be quick. If you do the pole, you know you’ve got a quick car.”

Though WTR has a series-leading four victories with the No. 10, MSR won the Rolex 24 at Daytona and has five runner-up finishes along with its three poles.

The strong performances of the ARX-05s ensure that an Acura will win the final championship in IMSA’s premier Daytona Prototype international (DPi) division, which is being rebranded as Grand Touring Prototype in the move to LMDh cars next season.

Taylor qualified third despite sliding into the Turn 5 gravel during the closing minutes of qualifying while pushing to gain points.

“Qualifying was important for points,” Taylor said. “Going into it, if we outqualified the No. 60 Meyer Shank Acura, they had a lot to lose in terms of championship points. So, we were trying to increase the gap over 20 points which would’ve made a big difference for tomorrow. We would have loved to get the pole and qualify ahead of the No. 60, but in the scheme of the points, it didn’t change a whole lot. I’m feeling good since it’s such a long race, and the No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura team does such a good job strategizing and putting us in a good position.

“I’m very confident in our lineup and our team compared to them over the course of 10 hours. I’d put my two teammates up against those guys any day. I think we are all feeling optimistic and strong for tomorrow.”

In other divisions, PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports (LMP2), Riley Motorsports (LMP3), VasserSullivan (GTD Pro) and Paul Miller Racing (GTD) captured pole positions.

The broadcast of the 10-hour race will begin Saturday at 12:10 p.m. ET on NBC, moving at 3 p.m. to USA Network.

QUALIFYING

Results

Results by class

Fastest lap by driver

Fastest lap by driver after qualifying

Fastest lap by driver and class after qualifying

Fastest lap sequence in qualifying

Best sector times in qualifying

Time cards in qualifying

PRACTICE RESULTS: Session I l Session II l Session III