The Indy 500 field is set in Indianapolis for Sunday's race and there are a number of women making the cut this year, including Ana Beatriz, Pippa Mann, Katherine Legge and Simona De Silvestro, but there will be no Danica Patrick after she said earlier in the year that she would not race.
The first three made it on Saturday to qualify for the race and Beatriz will be in the 29th spot, while teammate Mann will be in 30th and Legge will be in 33rd after coming in to see if she was bumped on the day. Brazil's Ana Beatriz and Britain's Pippa Mann and Katherine Legge joined Swiss Simona De Silvestro, who was among the 24 cars that qualified on Saturday for next Sunday's race. Legge, whose deal to race at Indy came together just before qualifying, was 33rd fastest and then waited nervously to see if she would be bumped from last spot by a faster car.
American Ed Carpenter upstaged IndyCar's biggest names and teams on Saturday beating out an eight car challenge from Team Penske and Andretti Autosport to grab pole for the 97th Indianapolis 500.
Beatriz qualified 29th and will start in middle of row 10 while her Dale Coyne Racing stable mate Mann will go from 30th spot on the grid. Carpenter, IndyCar's only owner/driver, delivered the big surprise at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, clocking a four-lap average speed of 228.762 mph in his Chevrolet powered Dallara around the sprawling 2.5 mile oval to take first spot in the front row ahead of another surprise package rookie Colombian Carlos Munoz.
Munoz, who currently leads the Indy Lights (IndyCar's development series) drivers standings will do double duty with the Freedom 100 and Indy 500 next week.
Starting on the outside of row one in next Sunday's race is a more familiar name, Marco Andretti, grandson of former-Formula One champion and Indy 500winner Mario Andretti.
(Reuters Quotes)
