INDIANAPOLIS – For the six drivers still seeking a spot in the 103rd Indianapolis 500, an extremely long week is about to transition into an even more nerve-wracking Sunday afternoon.
And the waiting game might be just beginning for Fernando Alonso, James Hinchcliffe, Sage Karam, Max Chilton, Pato O’Ward and Kyle Kaiser.
With a sketchy weather forecast hanging over Indianapolis Motor Speedway, IndyCar officials informed teams Saturday morning that the battle to make the last row of the race – three spots to be settled among six drivers – will be held regardless of whether rain washes out Sunday. That means the Last Row battle could take place Monday, if necessary (the Fast Nine and pole position would be set by Saturday’s speeds in the event of a Sunday cancellation).
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All six are involved in an uphill struggle to make the race. Alonso, Hinchcliffe, O’Ward and Kaiser are in backup cars after crashing during the past four days of practice and qualifying, and Karam and Chilton have been fighting handling problems all week.
The biggest surprises are Alonso, the two-time Formula One champion who made an impressive Indy 500 debut in 2017, and Hinchcliffe, the popular Canadian who was on the 2016 Indy 500 pole position.
Practice for the Last Row Shootout drivers begins at 10:15 a.m. ET, followed by a one-hour session starting at 12:15 p.m. on the 2.5-mile oval.
After being bumped from a guaranteed top 30 spot in the final 10 minutes Saturday, Alonso struck a philosophical tone about having one more shot.
“We’ll try to do these four laps clean, no mistakes, try to be flat all four, and then if it’s enough to be in the top three of the six, we’ll take it, and we will try to do a good race,” Alonso said. “If it’s not enough and we are fourth of six, it’s what we deserve. There were maybe three cars quicker than us. So nothing we can do more than that. Try to execute the runs (Sunday) the best we can, and same thing with did today, stay calm, stay focused, and yeah, try to do a good job.”
While it’s been a long slog for Alonso, who crashed Wednesday, didn’t get on track Thursday and then has lacked speed the past two days in his backup, Hinchcliffe seemed to be sailing along before disaster struck Saturday on his second qualifying lap in Turn 2.
The Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports team scored a moral victory by getting his backup No. 5 Dallara-Honda on track in less than three hours, but his two attempts weren’t fast enough in a car that is tailored for road courses.
“It doesn’t have the love on it that ovals and superspeedway cars have,” Hinchcliffe said. “We made some changes, had some speed, but obviously, it wasn’t enough. I have a lot of faith in the crew. We just have to put our heads together and come out tomorrow and put it in the show. … There are tricks of the trade to find some speed.”
It was the latest cruel twist at Indy for Hinchcliffe, who wryly noted that Saturday at least “isn’t the worst qualifying day we’ve had here.”
Karam probably couldn’t say the same after fruitlessly searching for speed over more than six hours and scraping the wall on his first attempt. But the Dreyer & Reinbold driver, whose teammate J.R. Hildebrand was 21st fastest, struck a more optimistic tone than Friday.
“I’m not discouraged at all,” Karam said after his first attempt. “The car is still really, really fast. I’m not worried. We’re just going to have to make some adjustments. It’s all about getting in right now.”
Carlin Racing teammates Chilton and O’Ward will be trying to match the pace that teammate Charlie Kimball (20th) had. Kaiser is trying to write a Cinderella story for Juncos Racing after the team lost a sponsor earlier this week.