Canadian drivers confident following practice
Hinchcliffe, Tagliani both aiming to take checkered flag at Speedway on Sunday
INDIANAPOLIS— One Canadian took his time, the other had the hammer down.
While James Hinchcliffe of Oakville — who holds the pole position for the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500 this weekend — and Alex Tagliani of Montreal took different approaches to Friday’s practice, both were satisfied with their cars and their performances.
The final hour-long practice for Sunday’s race is held on “Carb Day,” named for a long-ago time when Indy-type racing cars actually had carburetors.
Hinchcliffe won the pole last Sunday with a heart-stopping, four-lap average of 230.760 m.p.h. to just pip Josef Newgarden’s 230.700.
Tagliani didn’t set a time after crashing while warming up for his qualifying run. But he showed Friday at Carb Day that just because he’s starting at the back doesn’t mean he won’t be heading for the front.
“I’m shooting for the hat track,” he said, shortly after climbing out of his car following the practice that was conducted in muggy weather under sunny but hazy skies. “I was rookie of the year in 2009, I won the pole in 2011and I’m now I’m going to win the 500.”
Hinchcliffe was also confident after his run.
“Carb Day has gone well for us so far,” he said. “The car was the best it’s been in race-running (trim). With the new tires and aero, we’ve had a bit of work this week getting the car balanced, but every time out the crew made it better, so hopefully one more set of small changes and we will nail it on Sunday.“
Veteran IndyCar racer Tony Kanaan set the pace Friday with a top speed for one lap of 226.280 m.p.h. It took him 39.7738 seconds to drive the 2.5-mile Motor Speedway. Kanaan qualified to start 18th on Sunday with a speed just a tick higher — 227.430.
Hinchcliffe didn’t want to push it — the worst thing for a driver to do, regardless of the series or the type of racing, is to crash a car that has qualified well — so the pole-sitter dawdled around the track in a slow (for him) 40.1921 seconds for a speed of 223.925 m.p.h.
Tagliani, on the other hand, was on it and turned a lap of 40.3346 seconds (223.133 m.p.h). Driving for the legendary A.J. Foyt’s team — he’s in the second car behind regular Foyt driver Takuma Sato, who will go off 12th on Sunday — the Montreal veteran said he’s optimistic about his chances.
“I feel good,” Tagliani said. “The car feels good, the best it’s felt the whole month. What a time to make it happen. We have a couple of little bits on the car that we‘re going to improve — aero changes; no springs, nothing mechanical, just wings (adjustments) — and we know what to do. I couldn’t be happier.”
A veteran of Champ Car and stock car races before driving in IndyCar, Tagliani pointed out he’s no stranger to the back row at Indianapolis (the field starts the race lined up in11rows of three cars each). In fact, in 2009 when he won the rookie title, he started 33rd and last and finished the marathon race in 10th place.
“The good thing about where we are is that we are not protecting any track position,” he said. “We’re going to be on the attack. And I only need the win to complete the hat trick.”
In other Carb Day activity, Helio Castroneves’s team won the annual Pit Stop contest — six drivers have gone on from winning the pit stop clash to winning the 500, which Castroneves saw as a good omen — and Dean Stoneman won the Indy Lights race.
What was interesting about the Lights race was that two Canadians scored their best finishes in the series.
Dalton Kellett of Toronto was third and Scott Hargrove of Vancouver finished fifth.