Honda optimistic of netting 10th consecutive Indy 500

Honda remains confident it can win a 10th straight victory in the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday despite being overshadowed in the extensive practice and qualifying runs.

Local hero Ed Carpenter produced a giant-killing performance when he steered his Chevrolet-powered machine to the pole.

In fact Chevrolet cars fill the first 10 places on the grid with veteran Alex Tagliani the best of the Honda runners to start from 11th position.

The next best Japanese-powered runners are Justin Wilson (14th) and the two Chip Ganassi drivers Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti in 16th and 17th.

Honda is unbeaten since Buddy Rice’s 2004 victory although put in perspective it has had precious little competition for the majority of that period.

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In 2012 Franchitti and Dixon finished one-two with the Scot claiming his third win at the Brickyard.

“Last year’s win by Dario and 1-2 finish for Honda was a milestone event for Honda Performance Development,” Art St. Cyr, HPD president, said.

“While we take a great deal of pride in the unprecedented record of performance and reliability achieved by HPD during our six-year run as sole supplier, the challenges provided by manufacturer competition validate Honda’s reason for racing.

“Once again, Chevrolet has presented a stern challenge for our engineers and partner teams but that simply encourages us to redouble our efforts.”

Seven teams are using the Honda HI13RT Indy V6 engine that is designed and manufactured by HPD at Torrance in California.

Indy 500 grid

1	Ed Carpenter	Carpenter Racing Chevrolet Dallara	228.762mph	Top-nine shootout
2	Carlos Munoz	Andretti Autosport Chevrolet Dallara	228.342	Top-nine shootout
3	Marco Andretti	Andretti Autosport Chevrolet Dallara	228.261	Top-nine shootout
4	E.J. Visoi	Andretti Autosport Chevrolet Dallara	228.150	Top-nine shootout
5	A.J. Allmendinger	Team Penske Chevrolet Dallara	228.099	Top-nine shootout
6	Will Power	Penske Chevrolet Dallara	228.087	Top-nine shootout
7	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Andretti Autosport Chevrolet Dallara	228.091	Top-nine shootout
8	Helio Castroneves	Team Penske Chevrolet Dallara	227.762	Top-nine shootout
9	James Hinchcliffe	Andretti Autosport Chevrolet Dallara	227.070	Top-nine shootout
10	JR Hildebrand	Panther Racing Chevrolet Dallara	227.441	First Day
11	Alex Tagliani	Barracuda Racing/BHA Honda Dallara	227.386	First Day
12	Tony Kanaan	KV Racing Technology Chevrolet Dallara	226.949	First Day
13	Oriol Servia	RR Panther Racing Chevrolet Dallara	226.814	First Day
14	Justin Wilson	Dale Coyne Racing Honda Dallara	226.370	First Day
15	Sebastien Bourdais	Dragon Racing Chevrolet Dallara	226.196	First Day
16	Scott Dixon	Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda Dallara	226.158	First Day
17	Dario Franchitti	Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda Dallara	226.069	First Day
18	Takuma Sato	A.J. Foyt Racing Honda Dallara	225.892	First Day
19	Charlie Kimball	Chip Ganassi Racing Honda Dallara	225.880	First Day
20	James Jakes	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda Dallara	225.809	First Day
21	Simon Pagenaud	Schmidt Hamilton Motorsports Honda Dallara	225.67	First Day
22	Townsend Bell	Panther Racing Chevrolet Dallara	225.643	First Day
23	Ryan Briscoe	Chip Ganassi Racing Honda Dallara	225.265	First Day
24	Simona de Silvestro	KV Racing Technology Chevrolet Dallara	225.226	Second Day
25	Josef Newgarden	Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Honda Dallara	225.731	Second Day
26	Ana Beatriz	Dale Coyne Racing Honda Dallara	224.184	Second Day
27	Sebastian Saavedra	Dragon Racing Chevrolet Dallara	224.929	Second Day
28	Graham Rahal	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda Dallara	225.007	Second Day
29	Tristan Vautier	Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda Dallara	224.873	Second Day
30	Pippa Mann	Dale Coyne Racing Honda Dallara	224.005	Second Day
31	Conor Daly	A.J. Foyt Racing Honda Dallara	223.582	Second Day
32	Buddy Lazier	Lazier Partners Racing Chevrolet Dallara	223.442	Second Day
33	Katherine Legge	Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda Dallara	223.176	Second Day