Starting grid for the 2012 Indy 500

1. Ryan Briscoe

 

2. James Hinchcliffe

3. Ryan Hunter-Reay

 

4. Marco Andretti

5. Will Power

6. Helio Castroneves

 

7. Josef Newgarden

8. Tony Kanaan

9. EJ Viso

 

10. Rubens Barrichello

11. Alex Tagliani

12. Graham Rahal

 

13. Ana Beatriz

14. Charlie Kimball

15. Scott Dixon

 

16. Dario Franchitti

17. James Jakes

18. JR Hildebrand

 

19. Takuma Sato

20. Townsend Bell

21. Justin Wilson

 

22. Michel Jourdain

23. Simon Pagenaud

24. Sebastian Saavedra

 

25. Sebastien Bourdais

26. Wade Cunningham

27. Oriol Servia

 

28. Ed Carpenter

29. Mike Conway

30. Katherine Legge

 

31. Bryan Clauson

32. Simona de Silvestro

33. Jean Alesi

 

Alesi and de Silvestro are at a distinct disadvantage, because they are using the slower, more suck-filled Lotus engines. They tried to get IMS to allow Lotus to remove some of the suck from the engines, but with no luck. The only way they're going to do well is if they are far enough back that they avoid some of the early race accidents. Alesi is also a top-notch Formula1 driver, and so his experience should give him an edge over all of the rookies, and many of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th year drivers. He may not win, but he won't finish where he started either. Looking for him to crack the top 25.