Late afternoon update from IMS
Ryan Hunter-Reay |
I caught up with Ryan Hunter-Reay and asked him about the decision to withdraw his time. Hunter-Reay, of course, qualified along with Carlos Huertas before the session was postponed due to rain. The defending race winner was okay with ruling noting, "Those are the rules. It would have been a different story had more cars qualified. Tomorrow's conditions will not be the same as today's were. And I should be able to get the same speed."
"The rules," Hunter-Reay referenced was specifically rule 8.4.8.1 pertaining to Saturday Indianapolis 500 qualifying:
If the time allotted for qualifications has expired on Saturday without every Car having been given its Guaranteed Attempt, INDYCAR shall determine the revised qualifications procedure. This may include without limitation all Cars qualifying on the next available day.
We also caught up with Dale Coyne and asked him what he thought the decision to eliminate Huertas' time. Coyne simply said, "I am OK with the decision. It was the luck of the draw."
Lucille Dust reporting from IMS