IndyCar: Will Pippa Mann bounce back from Indy 500 disappointment?

Pippa Mann was one of two IndyCar drivers who failed to qualify for the 102nd running of the Indianapolis 500 last year. Will she bounce back this year?

The entry list for the 102nd running of IndyCar‘s most prestigious race, the Indianapolis 500, featured 35 drivers, the highest driver total on an entry list for this race since the the race’s 95th running back in 2011 when 41 drivers attempted to qualify.

As a result, two drivers failed to qualify for last year’s running of the 200-lap race around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval in Speedway, Indiana.

One of these drivers was Dale Coyne Racing’s Pippa Mann, whose IndyCar schedule for the 2018 season contained only the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing”. Her unsuccessful 34th place qualifying effort for this 33-car race left her in tears.

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After Schmidt Peterson Motorsports’ James Hinchcliffe was bumped from the field, he attempted to make another qualifying attempt. He ended up aborting this attempt before it ended, giving Mann enough time to make one final qualifying attempt herself after Andretti Autosport’s Alexander Rossi tried to improve his time to break into the top nine and advance to the Fast Nine Shootout.

Meanwhile, Hinchcliffe had gotten back in line to make another qualifying attempt, but Mann’s final attempt, which truly never had a chance to be successful from the start given how low her speeds were, left no time on the clock since she completed it anyway, leading many fans to criticize her sportsmanship on social media since it prevented Hinchcliffe from making one final attempt.

Hinchcliffe himself condemned this criticism and placed the blame for not qualifying for the race where it belonged — solely on himself and his team.

Overall, Saturday, May 19 was not a good day for the 35-year-old Briton. Will she bounce back this year with a total of 36 drivers set to attempt to qualify for the 103rd running of the Indy 500?

As unfortunate as it seems, Mann very well may struggle to qualify for this year’s Indy 500 once again, especially since she will need to beat three of the other 35 competitors as opposed to only one or two.

Mann is set to drive for Clauson-Marshall Racing in this year’s Indy 500, and they have never fielded a car for an IndyCar race before. She is set to drive the #39 Chevrolet for this one-car team.

Overall, Mann’s track record at Indianapolis Motor Speedway isn’t great to begin with. In six career Indy 500 starts, she has never qualified higher than 22nd place, and she has never finished higher than 17th. Her average starting position is an underwhelming 27.00 and her average finishing position is an underwhelming 21.83.

At this point, Mann is one of the most popular picks when it comes to being bumped from the field, and justifiably so. That said, this added motivation to prove the doubters wrong could be the boost that she and the team need to be a part of the field of 33, and she has shown promising speed so far this week in practice for the race to go along with that motivation.

But it won’t be easy.

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Will Pippa Mann’s qualifying run for this year’s Indianapolis 500 be successful and land her a starting position on the grid for what would be her first IndyCar race since she competed in the 101st running of the race back in 2017? Qualifying for this race is scheduled to take place on Saturday, May 18 and Sunday, May 19.