Juan Pablo Montoya kicks up a rooster tail as he heads towards turn 10 at NOLA Motorsports Park. The rains washed out qualifying, giving Montoya the pole based on points for the inaugural Indy Grand Prix of Louisiana. Photo by Chris Jones
Faced with starting deep in the field for the inaugural Indy Grand Prix of Louisiana after spinning out early during a wet Verizon IndyCar Series qualifying session, points leader Juan Pablo Montoya benefited from a rainout that promoted him to the front of the grid.
Due to the cancelled session, the starting grid for the April 12 race at NOLA Motorsports Park will be set by entrant points, per INDYCAR rules. Since Montoya won the only race thus far in 2015 – the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on March 29 – he will start up front for the debut event on the 2.74-mile, 13-turn permanent road course outside New Orleans. The driver of the No. 2 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet was well aware of his good fortune.
“It kind of gave me a little smile,” Montoya said of the rainout, “but it is what it is. … We were lucky, but at the same time, that’s why you lead the points. When you have days like this, it will pay off.”
Will Power, the 2014 Verizon IndyCar Series champion and Montoya’s teammate, will start on the outside of row 1 in the No. 1 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet by virtue of his second-place St. Petersburg finish. Tony Kanaan (No. 10 NTT Data Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet) and Helio Castroneves (No. 3 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet) will occupy Row 2. When they take the green flag for the race, it will mark the 296th career start for Kanaan and 297th for Castroneves, with Kanaan also extending his Indy car record for consecutive starts to 235.
Fueled by the first victory of the season and strong starting positions among his teammates, Montoya feels prepared for the 75-lap race.
“I’m normally pretty good in the rain,” the 39-year-old Colombian and 2000 Indianapolis 500 winner said. “Today we struggled, but it is what it is. We think we know what happened and we made a change based on how you’re thinking you’re going to be good here and it wasn’t. … I felt we had a pretty good car (in practice). I still feel like to win the race we need a tenth or two (of a second), to be a little quicker. We’re just going to make some changes for tomorrow and we’ll see what happens with the weather. That’s the big question mark.”
Teams will have a final chance to dial in their cars in the April 12 warm-up session at 11 a.m. ET.
Clauson Planning To Complete ‘Indiana Double’ In May
Bryan Clauson, who will drive the KVSH/Jonathan Byrd’s Racing entry in next month’s Indianapolis 500, plans to complete his own racing double May 24 by also racing in the sprint car race at Indiana’s Kokomo Speedway that night. The Kokomo Klassic will run on the quarter-mile clay oval about an hour north of Indianapolis.
“I’m excited to race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Kokomo Speedway on the same day,” said Clauson, the USAC Silver Crown, sprint car and midgets star whose lone Indy 500 start to date came in 2012. “Kokomo’s my absolute favorite place to be on a Sunday night and I’m always telling people to get out there, so I’m pretty pumped to be running this double.”
Of Note:
Sir Patrick Stewart, best known for his roles in “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and the X-Men film franchise, will serve as grand marshal for the 41st Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach on April 19. The acclaimed stage and screen actor is a racing enthusiast who competed in the 2002 Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race on the streets of Long Beach. Adrian Fernandez, an 11-time Indy car race winner, will serve as the Verizon IndyCar Series race’s honorary starter.
Verizon IndyCar Series
NOLA Motorsports Park – Avondale, LA
Indy Grand Prix of Louisiana Qualifying – April 11, 2015
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Field set by entrant points after qualifications were rained out.
1. (2) Juan Pablo Montoya, Dallara-Chevy
2. (1) Will Power, Dallara-Chevy
3. (10) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Chevy
4. (3) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Chevy
5. (22) Simon Pagenaud, Dallara-Chevy
6. (11) Sebastien Bourdais, Dallara-Chevy
7. (28) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Honda
8. (41) Jack Hawksworth, Dallara-Honda
9. (20) Luca Filippi, Dallara-Chevy
10. (27) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Honda
11. (15) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda
12. (67) Josef Newgarden, Dallara-Chevy
13. (14) Takuma Sato, Dallara-Honda
14. (26) Carlos Munoz, Dallara-Honda
15. (9) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Chevy
16. (5) James Hinchcliffe, Dallara-Honda
17. (98) Gabby Chaves, Dallara-Honda
18. (25) Simona de Silvestro, Dallara-Honda
19. (8) Sage Karam, Dallara-Chevy
20. (4) Stefano Coletti, Dallara-Chevy
21. (83) Charlie Kimball, Dallara-Chevy
22. (7) James Jakes, Dallara-Honda
23. (19) Francesco Dracone, Dallara-Honda
24. (18) Carlos Huertas, Dallara-Honda
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