The qualifying format has changed for this year’s Indianapolis 500, with multiple rounds of knockout qualifying taking place Sunday afternoon to decide the pole winner.
The format is shaken up from time to time in order to attempt to draw more interest from fans, as is the case this year which will see running culminate in a Fast 6 shootout rather than the Fast 9.
Graham Rahal was one driver to say he feels a procedure should be decided upon and then left alone, even going so far as to say that he’s not quite sure how the format works himself.
The veteran is competing in his fifteenth Indy 500 this year, and has seen a few different qualifying formats over that time.
“I’m good with whatever, and I don’t mind changing it every once in a while,” said Rahal. “In my opinion, they need to find something and stick with it.
“When you look at Indy, it’s about tradition. And that’s one thing they change a little too often.
“To relate to fans, you come here and it’s different rules each time. You gotta at least know what’s going on. I think once they find something that works, they should stick with it.”
As in recent years, qualifying will be run as an average of four laps with only one car on track at a time.
Saturday’s running, which is currently forecast to be under threat of rain for most of the afternoon, will decide the positions from 13th on back.
The top 12 drivers will then run again on Sunday, with the fastest six drivers in that session advancing to another round to directly compete for the pole.
Due to the final runs being scheduled in short succession for the qualifiers of the first two rows, a couple pace laps are scheduled in between in order to give drivers a chance to cool the cars effectively before running them at full tilt again.
The pole winner will be decided on Sunday afternoon at 5:00PM Eastern, with only a few hours of practice allocated over the next week to get back in the race mindset.
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