Danica Patrick has admitted she has exceeded her own expectations after qualifying in the fast nine for the 102nd running of the Indianapolis 500.
Ahead of what will be the final motor race of her career, Patrick was uncertain of qualifying for what will be her final race event before heading into retirement after only running at 208mph in her initial runs in testing.
"This exceeded (expectations), I have high expectations for doing well here," Patrick told Indycar.com.
"But to think that I was going to come back and be in the fast nine right off the bat? I’m going to tell you, I was doing 208 at the test on the first day and thought, ‘I might not be able to do this.
"I definitely am relieved, the tough thing is that I feel like there’s so much race running and not that much qual sim running (in practice) that it makes it hard to tell exactly where everyone really is at.
"It used to be easier back in the day when the whole first week was dedicated to qualifying. You really got a good feel for it. So there’s a little bit of a question about how fast people are, at least from my perspective."
Having been away from IndyCar since 2011 after her switch to NASCAR, she believes her inexperience with the new aero kit is less of a handicap as other drivers in the field are still getting accustomed to its handling, especially in the superspeedway configuration.
"I’m getting so old I can’t even remember,” she added. “I mean, honestly, it’s been such a gap in time that coming back to downforce just feels the same to me. It’s hard to remember the finite details. I think a lot of people are dealing with new nuances with the car, just saying how it handled in the past in traffic versus now.
“I would say if anything it’s just really about getting the rhythm back with lift points and downshifts and upshifts, things like that. Little things that you can do in an Indy car that I wouldn’t have done in a stock car."
Patrick will start her final race from the third row in seventh place for the Indianapolis 500 on May 27.
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