Briscoe becomes first Australian to take Indy 500 pole
By
Speedcafe.com
Sunday 20th May, 2012 - 8:30am
Ryan Briscoe celebrates his Indianapolis 500 pole position
Ryan Briscoe has secured pole position for the Indianapolis 500, becoming the first Australian to do so.
In one of the closest sessions in history, the Team Penske driver set a 226.484mph average around the Brickyard, with Canadian James Hinchcliffe only 0.003mph off Briscoe’s speed.
Briscoe described the pole as “huge.”
“This is huge man, this is unbelievable,” Briscoe said.
“Those four laps were so good and so consistent. Getting the pole at Indy is huge. It feels good to get my first one here.”
Briscoe set a warm-up time of 223.506mph before launching into a fast 226.621mph on his first lap. While he gradually went slower on each of his next three laps, he says that his last lap was the difference.
“Lap 4 won me this pole,” Briscoe said.
“I’m proud of this team, this is a big one to win. Those four laps of Hinchtown’s it was nervous time for sure. When we saw that he didn’t get us, it was a great relief.”
Ryan Hunter-Reay will join Briscoe and Hinchcliffe on the front row of the grid.
Marco Andretti secured fourth place from Briscoe’s Australian team-mate Will Power. The third Team Penske car of Helio Castroneves will start from sixth.
Today’s qualifying set the grid for the top 24 places, with Bump Day to be held tomorrow.
The Indianapolis 500 will be held next Sunday.
Check out the video of Briscoe’s pole lap
Here is what the top 3 had to say
Qualifying
Pos
Driver
Average MPH
1
Ryan Briscoe
226.484
2
James Hinchcliffe
226.481
3
Ryan Hunter-Reay
226.240
4
Marco Andretti
225.456
5
Will Power
225.422
6
Helio Castroneves
225.172
7
Josef Newgarden
224.037
8
Tony Kanaan
224.751
9
EJ Viso
224.422
10
Rubens Barrichello
224.264
11
Alex Tagliani
224.000
12
Graham Rahal
223.959
13
Ana Beatriz
223.920
14
Charlie Kimball
223.868
15
Scott Dixon
223.684
16
Dario Franchitti
223.582
17
James Jakes
223.482
18
JR Hildebrand
223.422
19
Takuma Sato
223.392
20
Townsend Bell
223.134
21
Justin Wilson
222.929
22
Michel Jourdain
222.893
23
Simon Pagenaud
222.891
24
Sebastian Saavedra
222.811
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