Alex Palou topped the first day of Indy 500 qualifying on a day of high pressure at the famous oval.
Despite four days of practice sessions, many questions remained ahead of Indy 500 qualifying. A relatively quiet start to practice came to an abrupt end on Friday when Kyle Larson dramatically flipped his car.
A more dramatic crash took place in the final session before qualifying. Marcus Armstrong suffered a 100g impact into the concrete walls. Meyer Shank Racing worked hard to try and rebuild the car. However as qualifying approached, questions remained on whether the New Zealander could race, should his car be ready.
Practice sessions indicated that Alex Palou as a candidate for pole position. Will Power, Felix Rosenqvist and Graham Rahal just some of the other names in contention.
All 34 cars would take to the track on the first day of qualifying. Each driver was guaranteed at least one run. The top 12 would progress to day two. Positions 13th to 30th would be locked by the end of today’s Indy 500 qualifying session.
Those unfortunate enough to be in positions 31 to 34 will need run again tomorrow to get on the back rows of the race.
First runs begin
As the first runs began Marcus Ericsson got action underway at Indianapolis. A consistent run, he lacked overall performance. He admitted afterwards that he did not have the cleanest of runs. He now faced an anxious wait to see if his average speed of 232.132mph would be enough to clear the top 12.
Another driver in trouble was Graham Rahal. His disastrous run saw him rooted to the bottom of the standings. Jacob Abel, on his maiden attempt to qualify for the Indy 500, replaced Rahal after a difficult run.
Conor Daly failed post-qualifying scrutineering checks, and his lap time was subsequently deleted.
Pato O’Ward immediately impressed for McLaren, showing solid consistency to jump to the top of the times with an average speed of 232.659.
Robert Shwartzman was equally impressive for Prema, leaping into third place after the likes of Christian Lundgaard and Scott Dixon had completed their times. Dixon described his second placed lap time as conservative.
Colton Herta’s dramatic crash
But the most dramatic moment of the first hour belonged to Colton Herta. Losing control of his car, he launched into the air upside down and skidded across the famed tarmac. A visibly shaken Herta climbed from his destroyed Andretti. The session was stopped while the wreckage was cleared.
The major players made their appearance before the end of the session. Two-time Indy 500 winner Takuma Sato’s consistency saw him end his run in sixth place.
Alex Palou, chasing his first oval win, lapped with rapid minimal speed, his Chip Ganassi on rails. He knocked O’Ward off the top of the timesheets with a stunning average speed of 233.043.
Scott McLaughlin moved into second place after his lap, just three hundredths of a mile per hour slower than Palou.
Progressing to Sunday Fast 12: Alex Palou, Scott McLaughlin, Pato O’Ward, Scott Dixon, Robert Shwartzman, Felix Rosenqvist, David Malukas, Takuma Sato, Marcus Ericsson, Will Power, Kyffin Simpson, Alexander Rossi
The first Second runs
After a few minutes of quiet activity, Josef Newgarden, going for the three-peat, went onto the track to set his first run. It was an extremely consistent run which put him third behind Palou and McLaughlin. He became the third driver to set a 233.0, being only 0.039mph slower than Palou over the four lap average.
Next was another Indy 500 winner, the tied-record holder of Helio Castroneves, aiming for a record fifth win and a second with Meyer Shank Racing. His run wasn’t strong, as he set a 229.634 mph four lap average.
The first driver to do his second run was another Indy 500 winner in Rossi in 13th, which didn’t him down to the back as he was in lane two as per the format. He did not improve his position or time, remaining in 13th.
After Rossi was Indiana native Daly. It was a consistent run, losing only 0.3 mph over the four laps, he was quick as well, going 16th with a 231.221. Despite going 16th, Daly didn’t sound happy.
Andretti vs Power
Andretti was next. Before the run he was in 28th. He didn’t improve on his run, but entered in lane two, so he didn’t drop down a spot to what his speed was. Siegel also didn’t improve from 20th.
After Andretti was Power in 11th. Power’s four lap average was consistent and he improved from 11th to 10th, jumping ahead of Ericsson.
Larson needed to improve, as he was only 27th. By contrast to Siegel and Andretti, Larson did improve up to 16th, with less downforce on the car than previously.
Ericsson, who had just dropped to 11th, went back out onto the track. He also didn’t improve, aborting it on his third lap after being flagged by the chief steward. Abel also got flagged. Deja vu came later for Ericsson as again he was flagged.
Ferrucci followed the Swede. The first three laps for the Foyt driver were consistent, but a 0.6 mph drop off put him 13th.
Graham Rahal went out for his second run of the afternoon. Rahal had struggled throughout the week and was in the cut-off point. He did a better four lap average to go 28th, but was still at risk.
Struggles and lack of improvement befalls qualifying runners
Abel attempted to go onto the circuit, but suffered a mechanical fault. Another driver who was struggling was Sting Ray Robb. In 25th before his run, Robb improved ten spots, going ahead of his teammate, Daly, to 15th.
The first to do his third run was Rossi, who was aiming to get back into the top 12. He did, but it was really tight – 0.06 mph. He had quite a significant drop-off from lap one to two however, and didn’t get the best out of his ECR machine.
20th placed Kyle Kirkwood, winner in Long Beach earlier this season, was after Rossi, who he replaced at Andretti. Unlike Rossi, Kirkwood didn’t improve.
The last driver to go before there was under two hours to go was Castroneves. The Brazilian improved to 20th from 30th. DeFrancesco later made ten spots as well.
McLaren’s Lundgaard was next. It was a far better four-lap average, moving him into the Fast 12 after being at risk. He went 12th.
Simpson, who was impressing in 14th, abandoned his four lap average as he was 0.4 mph down with a lap still to go.
Dixon and O’Ward both did a lap before coming in as they were safe and were running tests.
Rasmussen, another second-year driver in 17th, didn’t improve, but didn’t abandon his run like Simpson.
Drivers throw caution to the wind
VeeKay was the first driver to go into lane one, which meant that he would lose his time if he didn’t improve, but VeeKay already was in the drop zone so he had nothing to lose. He didn’t improve however, continuing the struggles of Dale Coyne Racing as Abel was also in the drop zone. VeeKay complained of understeer.
Ilott was aiming to match teammate Shwartzman’s speed. He didn’t however and improved to 22nd.
Hunter-Reay in 28th made a slight improvement to jump teammate Harvey but like Ilott, improvements were miniscule going from 28th to 27th. When Harvey went later, he didn’t manage to have payback.
One driver who made improvements was Carpenter, who overtook Robb, DeFrancesco and Ferrucci to go 15th.
After hours of repairs, Herta was back on the circuit for Indy 500 qualifying, which was incredible considering the damage done. In the backup car, Herta went 29th, meaning he was still at risk but it was still incredible that he went 29th. He bumped Andretti with the lap. Herta’s weightjacker didn’t work either, which costed him time. Andretti went soon after but didn’t improve, meaning he was still in the bottom four places.
Sato, already in the Fast 12, went even quicker. He went from ninth to eighth which contrasted his teammates who were in 17th, 26th and 30th.
Another driver who returned to the track after repairs was Armstrong. Armstrong was in the road course car which was modified for the speedway. After two laps, the Kiwi came in.
Final 30 minutes of Indy 500 qualifying
As the clock ticked down, Andretti, Veekay Abel and Armstrong found themselves in the dangerous position of being the bottom four.
Hope still remained for Armstrong to qualify away from the dreaded shootout tomorrow, but time was quickly running out.
Marco Andretti took to the track with 15 minutes to go. Losing time on his second lap, he deployed the hybrid system, on the third lap. He failed to progress, lifting on his second lap.
Armstrong was next to attempt to move out of the bottom four. Taking to the track after his epic crash earlier in the day, he had a steep mountain to climb. His opening laps were 0.3mph short of what was needed. Meyer Shank opted to box him.
Daly’s attempt narrowly missed the time needed to break into the top 12, leaving, Veekay, Armstrong, Abel and Andretti in the Last Chance Shootout on Sunday.
Drivers taking part in bottom four shootout:
Final Classification
- Alex Palou
- Scott McLaughlin
- Josef Newgarden
- Pato O’Ward
- Scott Dixon
- Robert Schwartzman
- David Malukas
- Felix Rosenqvist
- Takuma Sato
- Will Power
- Marcus Ericsson
- Christian Lungaard
- Conor Daly
- Alexander Rossi
- Kyffin Simpson
- Ed Carpenter
- Santino Ferrucci
- Devlin DeFrancesco
- Sting Ray Robb
- Christian Rasmussen
- Kyle Larson
- Louis Foster
- Callum Illot
- Helio Castroneves
- Kyle Kirkwood
- Nolan Siegel
- Ryan Hunter-Reay
- Jack Harvey
- Colton Herta
- Graham Rahal
- Rinus Veekay
- Marcus Armstrong
- Jacob Abel
- Marco Andretti
