Penske Entertainment: Amber Pietz

Indy 500 Qualifying: Palou on pole after record-breaking speed

Alex Palou will start the 107th running of the Indy 500 on pole position after taking his Chip Ganassi car to the top of the leaderboard in the ‘Fast Six’ shootout. On his way to pole, he set a new track record for the fastest four-lap average pole speed.

He will be joined on the front-row by Ed Carpenter’s Rinus VeeKay and Arrow McLaren’s Felix Rosenqvist.

On the second row, it will be A. J Foyt’s Santino Ferrucci, Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward and the highest starting previous Indy 500 race winner, Scott Dixon of Chip Ganassi Racing.

With the grid limited to only 33 drivers, with 34 enteries, one had to be elminated and that was Graham Rahal of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. He was ‘bumped’ out of the show at the dying seconds when team-mate Jack Harvey decided to do one final run, his third of the hour and narrowly pipped Rahal by 0.007 mph.

It marked a bittersweet session for the team, who managed to get three of their four drivers into the main event next weekend. Christian Lungaard of the same team is joined by Sting Ray Robb (Dale Coyne Racing w/ Rick Ware Racing) and Harvey on the final row of the grid.

 

Qualifying for the Indy 500 isn’t what we are used to across other motorsport series, with it being a two-day event.

Saturday saw the grid set between positions 13 and 30, with Katherine Legge becoming the fastest female ever over both a qualifying lap and a four-lap average to confirm the final guaranteed spot on the grid next weekend.

The grid from 13th to 30th, lines up as follows: 13th: Ed Carpenter (Ed Carpenter Racing), 14th: Scott McLaughlin (Team Penske), 15th: Kyle Kirkwood (Andretti Autosport), 16th: Conor Daly (Ed Carpenter Racing), 17th: Josef Newgarden (Team Penske), 18th: Ryan Hunter-Reay (Dreyer & Reinbold Racing), 19th: Romain Grosjean (Andretti Autosport), 20th: Helio Castroneves (Meyer Shank Racing), 21st: Colton Herta (Andretti Autosport w/ Club-Agajanian), 22nd: Simon Pagenaud (Meyer Shank Racing), 23rd: David Malukas (Dae Coyne Racing w/ HMD Motorsports, 24th: Marco Andretti (Andretti Herta Autosport w/ Marco Andretti & Curb-Agajanian), 25th: Stefan Wilson (Dreyer & Reinbold Racing w/ Cusick Motorsports), 26th: Devlin DeFrancesco (Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport), 27th: Agustin Canapino (Juncos Hollinger Racing), 28th: Callum Ilott (Juncos Hollinger Racing), 29th: R. C. Emerson (Abel Motorsports) & Katherine Legge (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing).

 

The 107th running of the Indianapolis 500 will take place on Sunday 21st May 2023, just a few hours after the conclusion of the Formula One Monaco Grand Prix.

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