For Simon Pagenaud, the month of May in Indianapolis has been a really successful and rewarding time. The 35-year-old racer from Poitiers, France is back at the head of the pack with a win at the Indy Grand Prix and is now starting from the pole position in Sunday’s Big Dance May 26. In 2016, his first season as a member of the Penske Racing Team, Pagenaud won the IndyCar National Championship. However, in both 2017 and 2018 he found himself relegated to the No. 3 position in the 3 car team behind Will Power and Josef Newgarden. In 2018 he failed to register a single victory. There were even whispers that he might be on his way out as a team driver in favor of Alexander Rossi. Pagenaud has made a definite statement with his racing performance this month in that he is as formidable and competitive as he has ever been and the rest of the field had better be wary of him.
The Field is Set
Despite some seriously threatening weather, qualifications were successfully conducted May 18-19. Thirty-six cars qualified with Spencer Pigot winning the provisional pole and James Hinchcliffe along with Fernando Alonso in danger of being bumped out of the field. On Sunday the “Fast” Shoot Out was run and with the new “Last Row’ Shoot Out. As previously stated Simon Pagenaud won the pole and was joined on the front row by Ed Carpenter and his teammate Spencer Pigot. This made for an all Chevy front row. Chevy engines power 6 of the first 9 starters. Rookie Colton Herta will start 5th is the fastest Honda. Ed Jones will start 4th and defending champ Will Power will start 6th. The 3rd row will consist of Sebastien Bourdais. Josef Newgarden, and Alexander Rossi. Two-time winner Helio Castroneves will start 12th. 2017 winner Takuma Sato will start 14th. Tony Kanaan starts 16th. Scott Dixon starts 18th, and Ryan Hunter-Reay starts 22nd. After being bumped out of the 2018 500, a tearful Pippa Mann was back in this year’s field starting in 30th position.
It was the last row shoot out that provided the real thrills for the fans. Two highly regarded drivers found themselves in jeopardy. The very popular James Hinchcliffe was in danger of missing his second in Indy 500 in a row. Hinchcliffe had crashed his #1 car and had his backup machine. Two-time World Formula 1 Champion and 2016 Indy 500 Rookie of the Year Fernando also just could not find the right set up to get the speed he needed to make the show. Series regular Max Chilton and Patricio O’Ward, a highly regarded rookie, were also in trouble. Sage Karem was looking to start his 6th Indy 500, and another rookie Kyle Kaiser was in his backup machine after crashing his main car.
So it turned out that Karem was the fated last row qualifier followed by Hinchcliffe (to everyone’s relief), and the rookie Kaiser. For the Carlin Racing Team it meant that 2 of their 3 entered drivers would not make the show including Chilton who was considered their #1 driver. But of course the biggest shock was Alonso, The 37-year-old Spaniard was considered a lock to be in the field. When it was announced with much hoopla last fall that Team McLaren would field a racing team in this year’s Indy 500 with Alonso as their driver, much ado was made bout McLaren possibly building a car and Alonso becoming an IndyCar series regular. Well, forget that. McLaren made some inquiries about buying Alonso a ride in the race but when the former F1 champ heard that in order for this to happen a qualified driver would be removed from his car, Alonso nixed that idea.
So now all is ready, it looks like it’s going to be a very exciting and competitive race. We all have our favorites and this year I think the stars seem to be aligned with Simon Pagenaud. So he is my pick to win the race. Oh, and Colton Herta wins rookie of the year.
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