Experienced IndyCar substitute Ryan Briscoe will start from the middle of the final row of the grid as his place in the Indianapolis 500 was formally confirmed.
As previously reported Briscoe will stand in for Canadian James Hinchcliffe who suffered pelvic and thigh injuries in the Schmidt Peterson Honda earlier this week.
Briscoe will be wedged between fellow Australian James Davison (outside) and Bryan Clauson on row 11 in the 33-car line-up.
Briscoe is confident his experience will see him re-acclimatise quickly after being left without a full-time drive in IndyCar this season after parting ways with Chip Ganassi at the end of last year.
“First and foremost, I feel absolutely terrible for Hinch,” Briscoe said.
“I wish him the best and a speedy recovery.”
“You sort of prepare for this race a year out. You visualise how you’re going to go through practice, all the prep you’re going to do, and something like this comes up and you throw that all out the window.
“I feel with my experience and the experience the team has, the experience that Hinch has had with (race engineer) Allen McDonald putting this car in really good condition for the race, I feel really confident that even with a few laps I’ll be able to find my groove again.”
Briscoe will be given special dispensation to undertake a one-hour familiarisation run at the 4km super speedway ahead of the final practice on Carb day Friday (Indianapolis time).
It will be the 33-year-old’s 10th Indy 500 start and 130th in the IndyCar series.
He won pole at Indianapolis in 2012 before finishing fifth which equalled his previous best finish in 2007.
Indianapolis 500 starting line-up
ROW 1 |
||
| Inside | Middle | Outside |
| #9 Scott Dixon (W) |
#1 Will Power |
#22 Simon Pagenaud |
 |
 |
 |
| Avg. Speed 226.760 MPH |
Avg. Speed 226.350 MPH |
Avg. Speed 226.145 MPH |
| ROW 2 | ||
| Inside | Middle | Outside |
| #10 Tony Kanaan (W) |
#3 Helio Castroneves (W) |
#25 Justin Wilson |
 |
 |
 |
| Avg. Speed 225.503 MPH |
Avg. Speed 225.504 MPH |
Avg. Speed 225.279 MPH |
| ROW 3 | ||
| Inside | Middle | Outside |
| #11 Sebastien Bourdais |
#27 Marco Andretti |
#21 Josef Newgarden |
 |
 |
 |
| Avg. Speed 225.193 MPH |
Avg. Speed 225.189 MPH |
Avg. Speed 225.187 MPH |
| ROW 4 | ||
| Inside | Middle | Outside |
| #6 JR Hildebrand |
#26 Carlos Munoz |
#20 Ed Carpenter |
 |
 |
 |
| Avg. Speed 225.099 MPH |
Avg. Speed 225.042 MPH |
Avg. Speed 224.883 MPH |
| ROW 5 | ||
| Inside | Middle | Outside |
| #32 Oriol Servia |
#83 Charlie Kimball |
#2 Juan Pablo Montoya (W) |
 |
 |
 |
| Avg. Speed 224.777 MPH |
Avg. Speed 224.743 MPH |
Avg. Speed 224.657 MPH |
| ROW 6 | ||
| Inside | Middle | Outside |
| #28 Ryan Hunter-Reay (W) |
#15 Graham Rahal |
#18 Carlos Huertas |
 |
 |
 |
| Avg. Speed 224.573 MPH |
Avg. Speed 224.290 MPH |
Avg. Speed 224.233 MPH |
| ROW 7 | ||
| Inside | Middle | Outside |
| #29 Simona de Silvestro |
#7 James Jakes |
#48 Alex Tagliani |
 |
 |
 |
| Avg. Speed 223.838 MPH |
Avg. Speed 223.790 MPH |
Avg. Speed 223.722 MPH |
| ROW 8 | ||
| Inside | Middle | Outside |
| #8 Sage Karam |
#43 Conor Daly |
#24 Townsend Bell |
 |
 |
 |
| Avg. Speed 223.595 MPH |
Avg. Speed 223.482 MPH |
Avg. Speed 223.447 MPH |
| ROW 9 | ||
| Inside | Middle | Outside |
| #14 Takuma Sato |
#63 Pippa Mann |
#98 Gabby Chaves (R) |
 |
 |
 |
| Avg. Speed 223.226 MPH |
Avg. Speed 223.104 MPH |
Avg. Speed 222.916 MPH |
| ROW 10 | ||
| Inside | Middle | Outside |
| #17 Sebastian Saavedra |
#41 Jack Hawksworth |
#4 Stefano Coletti (R) |
 |
 |
 |
| Avg. Speed 222.898 MPH |
Avg. Speed 223.738 |
Avg. Speed 222.001 MPH |
| ROW 11 | ||
| Inside | Middle | Outside |
| #88 Bryan Clauson |
#5 Ryan Briscoe (*) |
#19 James Davison (**) |
 |
 |
 |
| Avg. Speed 221.358 MPH |
Avg. Speed 223.519 MPH |
Avg. Speed 223.747 MPH |
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