The final rounds of qualifying for the 110th Indianapolis 500 took place on Sunday afternoon, and six drivers earned a chance to fight for pole as the grandstands began shading the front stretch.
Each driver got just one attempt to run four laps in the Fast Six session, making for a high pressure situation with the world watching on.
Alexander Rossi was the first to go out, and he laid down a time that appeared unbeatable.
READ MORE: IndyCar Indy 500 – Full Qualifying Results
First Pato O’Ward, then Santino Ferrucci, then David Malukas could not unseat Rossi as he waited nervously at the NTT P1 Pit Box with all the cameras pointed towards him.
But then, Alex Palou started his run and his first lap was the second quickest single lap of the entire day. He pushed onwards from there, and successfully unseated Rossi from the hot seat.
Palou’s total time was 2:35.0066, giving him an average speed of 232.248 MPH. His speed was over half of a MPH faster than his Top 12 run, an incredible improvement in a short amount of time.
The speed easily outlasted Felix Rosenqvist’s attack, and allowed Palou to secure his second Indy 500 pole just 12 months after winning the race itself last year.
Rossi ended up in second place, and Malukas wrapped up the front row with his effort.
Fourth place on the grid belongs to Rosenqvist, Ferrucci is in fifth, and O’Ward will start on the outside of the second row next week.
Top 12 results
Earlier in the afternoon, six drivers completed their second runs but could not run fast enough to advance further.
Kyffin Simpson was just below the cut line, losing out on advancing to the Fast Six by 0.122 MPH.
Fan favorite Conor Daly was cheered on the moment he left the pits, but the crowd quieted a bit when they saw him slip down the order and secure the eighth starting spot.
Scott McLaughlin’s first two laps were good enough to advance him into the Fast Six, but each lap that went by was slower than the last.
Despite touching 242 MPH in the Turn 3 speed trap, he floated down to ninth by the end.
Caio Collet and Scott Dixon secured the 10th and 11th starting positions, with 21 years of age difference between the two but only 0.192 MPH splitting them.
Rinus VeeKay has the worst handling car of the bunch after his team trimmed too much downforce off the car. He had to lift multiple times throughout this lap in order to make the turns.
He narrowly kept control of his Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevy, but did so successfully and ensured the backup chassis would not have to be brought out.
Drivers have a couple more short practice sessions over the next week, then will make plans to tackle the biggest race on the IndyCar calendar.
Discussion about this post