OzRacingWrap

Qualifying for the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500 proved to be a mixed bag for Will Power and Ryan Briscoe of Team Penske.

Power qualified on Saturday though he would have entered the session hoping for better than 5th on the grid.  The result snapped hsi 4 race Pole Winning streak.  His average speed was 226.773 mph.

For Briscoe he was forced into the dreaded 'bump day' and faced the prospect of potentially not making the starting grid.

However after a crash in practice on the Saturday, saw him try to qualify the spare car, the team did a great job to have his car ready for the Sunday and time before the race to further work on the repair job.

In the end he was able to Qualify with a average speed of 224.639mph though the lowly 27th place means any chances of Victory in the famous race are likely remote.

"It was interesting to experience the excitement of Bump Day from where I was sitting this morning," said Briscoe. "I saw Tony Kanaan going through this last year, thinking how awful it must have been. Then here I am in his shoes. It felt great to put together four solid laps during our qualifying session this morning and put together an average that stood up all day."

The young Australian went on to praise the work of the team in getting the car ready and giving him shot at glory "I have thank the No. 6 IZOD Team Penske crew again for getting this car ready as quickly as they did, and continuing to work on it until we put it in the race," added Briscoe. "Now we'll turn our attention to getting the best possible result in the Indianapolis 500 next weekend."

Meanwhile Power acknowledged they maybe got caught out "It was a bit of a surprising day really,” said Power, who saw his pole winning streak snapped at four races but secured his second consecutive top-five Indy 500 starting position. “We maybe got caught out a little, but the Verizon car was strong today and we have a great race car. I am really happy to be in the show. Row two is a good place to start this race. Congratulations to (Alex) Tagliani and Sam Schmidt – they have been showing good speed all week and they deserve to win this pole. Thanks to Verizon Team Penske for all they do to give me a shot at winning this historic race."

Their teammate Helio Castroneves will start from 16th after being caught put by rain before his second run and a chance to run in the Fast Nine.

Alex Tagliani won the pole for Sam Schmidt Motorsports with an average speed of 227.472 mph.

The Indianapolis 500 will take place next weekend on May 29.