Christian Fittipaldi qualified twice on Saturday for the Indianapolis 500. His famous uncle Emerson and defending champion Al Unser Jr. couldn't manage the feat once.
While the two veteran drivers still struggled for speed, the younger Fittipaldi, a 24-year-old rookie from Brazil, had a problem with his primary car in the morning practice and wound up putting his backup into the tentative lineup for the May 28 race.Car owner Derrick Walker, deeming his average speed of 224.246 mph might not be good enough to keep him in the field, withdrew that entry and sent the youngster out again in his primary car in the waning moments of Saturday's time trials.
Fittipaldi responded with a four-lap, 10-mile run at 226.375, putting him solidly into his first Indy 500.
"I feel so much better. ... We're solid in the field and I'm really happy. I'm really happy because I had to withdraw the other car and chance everything," he said.
The humbled Team Penske duo of Fittipaldi and Unser, both two-time Indy winners, continued their uncharacteristic struggle just to make the race that car owner Roger Penske's drivers have won a record 10 times.
Thanks to rival Rahal-Hogan Racing, the Penske team switched its drivers from its own Penske-Mercedes cars, slowed by a mysterious handling problem, to two borrowed Lola-Mercedes.
The Penske duo was so confident that the new cars would easily put them in the field that they spent a good portion of Saturday working on race-day setups rather than trying to find additional speed for qualifying.
But when the cooler portion of the day finally came, and the expected flurry of qualifying activity began, Fittipaldi and Unser were caught short again.