Saturday’s marathon Indianapolis 500 qualifying session took place beginning at 11:00 AM and lasted for six total hours.
The four-lap qualifying runs served to lock in positions 13-30, and set the stage for Sunday’s pole runs.
A majority of the 34 drivers attempting to qualify for the Indy 500 locked in their positions, but those at the top and the bottom of the charts have work to do yet.
Some of the usual suspects placed themselves in the top 12 positions, including Scott McLaughlin, Josef Newgarden, and Pato O’Ward.
At the very top of the pylon was the #10 of Alex Palou, who set a four-lap average time of 233.043 MPH.
Scott Dixon was fifth quickest and rookie Robert Shwartzman stunned everyone by completing a set of laps that locked him into the Fast 12 qualifying on Sunday in the PREMA.
Also advancing were David Malukas, Felix Rosenqvist, and Takuma Sato, who were sixth, seventh, and eighth quickest.
Will Power, Marcus Ericsson, and Christian Lundgaard were the final three at the top of the field that will fight it out for pole on Sunday.
The final run of the day was completed by Conor Daly, who was only 0.084 MPH too slow to advance into the Top 12. He and the next 17 slower drivers were locked in on Saturday’s runs alone.
Counter to how Saturday typically progresses, there were a lot of times set in the middle to late portion of the afternoon.
Track temperatures actually dropped due to clouds moving in, which gave drivers a bit of an advantage to run later in the day.
Narrow margins
On the outside of the cut line looking in were Rinus VeeKay, Jacob Abel, Marcus Armstrong, and Marco Andretti.
Just 12 minutes before the end of the session, Andretti completed a fourth qualifying attempt and nearly guaranteed himself a spot in the field.
In the end, he was 0.004 MPH slower than Graham Rahal, which left Andretti on the outside and Rahal with a locked in spot.
Those four drivers will have to take the track again on Sunday and will compete for three total positions at the back of the grid.
Most drivers chose to use a very slow deployment of the car’s hybrid system. The strategy involved a slow trickle of power that was sustained throughout the fourth and final lap.
The result was that there was very little fall-off during the four lap run as the extra power overcame the degradation of the tires.
Colton Herta did not even get a chance to utilize the hybrid power as he crashed on his first flying lap.
Herta’s car flipped over, slid down the track upside down, then slammed into the wall again directly on the Aeroscreen.
Fortunately the 25-year-old was unhurt and was cleared to climb back behind the wheel, and amazingly his crew was able to prepare a backup car before the end of the day.
Herta completed a set of laps that was just quick enough to lock him in the show, and he will start from 29th.
Drivers at the top and the bottom will fight it out on Sunday. The final row will be decided at 5:15 PM, followed by the pole shootout at 6:30 PM.
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