Ryan Hunter-Reay, driver of the No. 26 DHL Honda, qualified in the third position just outside the front row for the 100th Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
He was the second to last car to go out for his four lap qualifying run and almost knocked Josef Newgarden, who was currently on the pole off but on his last lap his time fell off just a little and he ended up second. James Hinchcliffe went out last and got the pole from Newgarden and ended up bumping Hunter-Reay into the third position.
It was so close,” Hunter-Reay said. “Had a really good run. The car was the best we’ve had in qualifying in a long time. Just on rails those first few laps. I knew it would start to go loose as I went through the run. It started to where I couldn’t feel the rear much. Great run. That’s all we had in it.
“I’m super happy for Hinch, he’s one of my really good friends. To be sitting in his hospital bed a year ago. I was there with him, his first Road America test. And I thought to myself, because I was asking my guys, I thought to myself, it’s going to take him a day to get back in the mix. That’s a big jump back in. I remember asking him like two hours into the test, ‘How quick is Hinch?’
“‘You know, he’s a tenth and a half quicker than us right now.’ I was blown away. I couldn’t believe right away he was back into it.”
Seeing what Hinchcliffe went through last year with a major crash during qualifying that ended his season, to sitting on pole this year, Hunter-Reay added it’s incredible as to what he was able to do, showing resilience and courage.
“I don’t think anybody can really describe almost losing your life out here on the same track and get back in and doing 240 into the corner and doing what he is doing. It is just incredible. Absolutely incredible. Very deserving pole winner,” Hunter-Reay continued. “Congratulations to Schmidt and the whole Schmidt team and obviously to James. That’s an incredible story to do it, be the last car running. I thought I had it. They were telling me P1, Lap Two you’re P1, Lap Three, you’re P1, it’s going to be close. I was willing that car on. It’s great to have two Hondas in the front row, P1 and P3. Very good job by Honda, really stepped it up and threw a big punch here today. I’m just really happy to have DHL up front. You know, for the 100th running to be starting on the front row is a great spot.”
Hunter- Reay has had his up and downs at IMS. In 2011, her originally got bumped out of the race and didn’t make it. He has been on the last row to start the race and in 2014 he won the race. With his starting position this year he has a good chance of repeating that 2016 win.
“I’ve been to a couple Last Row parties, and I know how that goes,” Hunter-Reay said laughing. “Every year I’m not at one, I’m just so happy. It really helps when you have a good chance like it was here today. When you have a fast car at IMS, there’s no better feeling in the world. It’s funny, you can be 13th or 14th, even back to 25th. Nothing is right in the world when you’re slow at IMS.
“Then when you’re fast, it’s just you feel like you’re on Cloud 9. You feel everything is right. That’s how my whole world kind of revolves around that. Absolutely love this place. I hope we have a good race car. We’ll be dialing it in tomorrow. We had a good race car in cooler conditions, but everything is going to change. This weekend has been incredibly stressful so I’m happy it’s over and we’re focusing on the race now.”
This isn’t RHR’s first time being on the front row for the start of the Indy500. He started the 2012 race on the front row coincidentally with Hinch as well.
“Good memories. Obviously spent years as teammates together. That was a lot of fun then. So I’m sure this is just great, it’s the 100th Running of the race, you know, to be on the front row. I thought I had the pole there for a second. But, you know, it’s just the emotions are always so drastic here and that’s what I love about this place. It’s just there’s so much invested emotionally, physically, financially in this whole effort. To have a shot at pole, that’s all I can ask for. It was a good fight today, great show at the end there. To be that tight.”
When Hinch laid down the final lap that took the pole from Newgarden, it was only six hundreths off of his lap.
“No way?” Hunter-Reay added. “So I missed pole by less than a tenth of a mile an hour? I thought I was five hundredths of a mile off of Newgarden is what they told me. OK, jeez. That makes it worse. Literally, a half of a gust of wind. You know, just a little bit of a gust can do it.
“It’s such a long lap around here and you’re going so fast, the smallest of condition changes can ruin or make a qualifying run. But obviously it was the three of us being so close in speeds. And they were all achieved differently, which is pretty cool. Newgarden had that big, big lap and then he fell off drastically which is a completely different approach than, let’s say, what I did, you know, try and be smooth and steady through it. I’m not sure where Hinch was on it, but obviously they nailed it.
“Great to see the fan reception. I took my boy out to the wall for that last pass as he came by start-finish to finish it off. Hung him out kind of — not over the wall, parents. But right there and just to hear the fans. That’s what it’s all about. That’s what this place is all about. That’s why it’s so special. Where else in the world does qualifying actually matter? It’s here.”
To prepare for qualifications at IMS the teams set up their cars for sprint laps. However, the race would be considered marathon laps, so the teams try different set ups to help prepare them for the race once quals are over.
“Tomorrow is a big day,” Hunter-Reay stated. “Next Sunday is forecast to be hotter than we’ve had all month, which is not ideal. But it’s going to favor someone. We’re going to try a bunch of different packages tomorrow, try to get a variety of different reads on different downforces, combinations, things like that. Hopefully we’ll be prepared for it.
“I had a really good race car the whole week of practice and you never — you can only count on that race car in the same conditions in the same wind direction. When the wind changes and the conditions change, track temp comes up, you have to recalibrate everything. Everything is different.”