Rossi opens Indy 500 qualifying with 233.528mph salvo
Arrow McLaren’s Alexander Rossi led Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou in the speed charts after 32 of the 34 cars completed their first qualifying runs at the for the 107th running of the Indianapolis 500, as Penske elected to pull two of its aces out of the qualifying line before setting a time.
Ryan Hunter-Reay kicked off the initial qualifying runs and 5h50m of action. The 2014 winner set an average of 231.613mph in his Dreyer & Reinbold Chevrolet with a first lap of 232.319mph and a fourth lap of 230.870. Colton Herta’s Andretti Autosport Honda average was 0.34mph faster.
2018 winner Will Power suffered less than 1.1mph dropoff from his initial 232.913mph and delivered a solid 232.330mph average, but his former Team Penske teammate Helio Castroneves had a couple of alarming moments. His Meyer Shank Racing Honda suffered severe understeer at Turn 1 on lap three that forced him to back off before sliding up the track in Turn 2 on lap four, scraping the wall.
The sixth runner, defending winner Marcus Ericsson, was the first driver to turn a lap of 233mph – a 233.324mph – and lost only 1mph over the four laps, moving to the top of the speed charts with an average of 232.735mph. But his moment didn’t last long as Alexander Rossi’s Arrow McLaren Chevy was a 234.177 on the opening lap and, while he dropped into the 232s on his final lap, his average was an excellent 233.528mph.
Five-time Indy polesitter Scott Dixon, the 2008 race winner, had an overnight engine change – as did Ganassi teammate Alex Palou – and produced a very consistent run, losing only 0.729mph from first lap to last. It produced second, a hair quicker than Ericsson. The 2019 pole- and race-winner Simon Pagenaud in the second MSR car redefined consistency, all laps within 0.322mph, but his average was 231.687.
Rookie Benjamin Pedersen won the admiration of all with third fastest (at the time), his AJ Foyt Racing-Chevy splitting Dixon from Ericsson, but fellow Scandinavian Felix Rosenqvist made it an Arrow McLaren 1-2 with an average of 233.099mph. Teammate Tony Kanaan, prepping for his final Indy 500, clocked sixth to knock Power down to seventh, and the pair of them were demoted by three-time Indy polesitter Ed Carpenter.
RC Enerson, for first-time Indy participants Abel Motorsports, did an excellent job to land a 231.129mph average, appearing to keep himself – for now – clear of having to battle for the last row of the grid on Sunday. His efforts were highlighted by Rahal Letterman Lanigan’s continued struggles. While Christian Lundgaard and Jack Harvey looked consistent but slow, poor Graham Rahal had a horrendous run, the car appearing to understeer in and oversteer out. His average was 228.526, a 5.3mph dropoff from first lap until last.
Rinus VeeKay, who has never started the 500 lower than fourth, grabbed second with a 233.395mph average to go second, while Pato O’Ward made it three McLarens in the top four with a 233.252mph average. Both of those efforts were particularly impressive as track temperature was now well over 100 degrees.
By contrast, Juncos Hollinger Racing’s chassis switch for Callum Ilott has not (yet) paid off, as the former Formula 2 ace was wrestling hard throughout his run, almost brushing the Turn 1 wall.
Two-time Indy 500 winner Takuma Sato was worryingly close to the SAFER barrier at Turn 3 but he kept his throttle flat and produced sixth fastest average.
Santino Ferrucci confirmed the pace of the Foyt cars, his stars ’n’ stripes livery streaking around the track at an average of 233.147mph to snatch fourth from Rosenqvist, while teammate Pedersen was still firmly in the top 12.
Ganassi’s fourth bullet, Alex Palou, produced an opening lap of 234.248mph – stronger than Rossi’s first – but the dropoff was greater and slotted into second on average.
Kyle Kirkwood became the fastest Andretti Autosport car, slotting into 14th, just ahead of Power, while series returnee Katherine Legge was comfortably in, well ahead of her RLL colleagues with an average over 231mph. Agustin Canapino in the second Juncos Hollinger car did a similarly impressive job to take 22nd.
Team Penske elected to pull Scott McLaughlin and Josef Newgarden out of the qualifying line. The pair had drawn 32nd and 34th in the running order for their first attempts, so as team president Tim Cindric explained to NBC, taking the cars back to the garage allowed them unlimited setup changes (as opposed to the four allowed while in the qualifying line).
P No Name QSpeed QLap0Speed QLap1Speed QLap2Speed QLap3Speed QLap4Speed QStatus Engine Team 1 7 Alexander Rossi 233.528 219.550 234.177 233.757 233.389 232.796 Qualified – Opening Day Chevy Arrow McLaren 2 10 Alex Palou 233.398 222.526 234.248 233.698 233.113 232.540 Qualified – Opening Day Honda Chip Ganassi Racing 3 21 Rinus VeeKay 233.395 218.594 233.902 233.608 233.132 232.940 Qualified – Opening Day Chevy Ed Carpenter Racing 4 5 Pato O’Ward 233.252 218.272 233.829 233.381 232.943 232.857 Qualified – Opening Day Chevy Arrow McLaren 5 14 Santino Ferrucci 233.147 216.114 233.564 233.237 233.111 232.676 Qualified – Opening Day Chevy AJ Foyt Enterprises 6 6 Felix Rosenqvist 233.099 218.654 233.547 233.130 233.052 232.669 Qualified – Opening Day Chevy Arrow McLaren 7 9 Scott Dixon 232.914 221.799 233.297 233.050 232.743 232.568 Qualified – Opening Day Honda Chip Ganassi Racing 8 11 Takuma Sato 232.857 221.026 233.533 233.245 232.799 231.857 Qualified – Opening Day Honda Chip Ganassi Racing 9 55 Benjamin Pedersen 232.739 220.250 233.297 232.847 232.573 232.242 Qualified – Opening Day Chevy AJ Foyt Enterprises 10 8 Marcus Ericsson 232.735 220.931 233.324 232.681 232.629 232.309 Qualified – Opening Day Honda Chip Ganassi Racing 11 33 Ed Carpenter 232.620 217.234 233.374 232.767 232.445 231.897 Qualified – Opening Day Chevy Ed Carpenter Racing 12 66 Tony Kanaan 232.446 217.477 233.504 232.796 231.880 231.615 Qualified – Opening Day Chevy Arrow McLaren 13 20 Conor Daly 232.433 218.174 233.129 232.703 232.153 231.752 Qualified – Opening Day Chevy Ed Carpenter Racing 14 27 Kyle Kirkwood 232.390 222.873 233.129 232.506 231.974 231.955 Qualified – Opening Day Honda Andretti Autosport 15 12 Will Power 232.330 214.367 232.913 232.416 232.116 231.877 Qualified – Opening Day Chevy Team Penske 16 28 Romain Grosjean 231.997 223.608 232.580 232.099 231.758 231.554 Qualified – Opening Day Honda Andretti Autosport 17 26 Colton Herta 231.951 222.840 232.469 231.873 231.753 231.708 Qualified – Opening Day Honda Andretti Autosport w/Curb-Agajanian 18 60 Simon Pagenaud 231.687 219.938 231.514 231.836 231.735 231.665 Qualified – Opening Day Honda Meyer Shank Racing 19 98 Marco Andretti 231.682 222.207 232.331 231.999 231.202 231.198 Qualified – Opening Day Honda Andretti 20 23 Ryan Hunter-Reay 231.613 215.815 232.319 232.142 231.127 230.870 Qualified – Opening Day Chevy Dreyer & Reinbold Racing 21 24 Stefan Wilson 231.356 220.326 231.882 231.357 230.802 231.386 Qualified – Opening Day Chevy Dreyer & Reinbold Racing 22 78 Agustin Canapino 231.320 219.379 232.514 231.615 230.832 230.330 Qualified – Opening Day Chevy Juncos Holling Racing 23 29 Devlin DeFrancesco 231.273 223.073 231.885 231.389 231.018 230.805 Qualified – Opening Day Honda Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport 24 50 RC Enerson 231.129 217.207 231.966 231.433 230.899 230.224 Qualified – Opening Day Chevy Abel Motorsports 25 44 Katherine Legge 231.070 208.683 231.596 231.380 230.679 230.627 Qualified – Opening Day Honda Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 26 18 David Malukas 230.779 206.997 231.134 231.058 230.522 230.403 Qualified – Opening Day Honda Dale Coyne Racing with HMD 27 45 Christian Lundgaard 230.522 221.539 230.724 230.487 230.643 230.233 Qualified – Opening Day Honda Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 28 06 Helio Castroneves 230.410 222.224 231.860 231.388 228.501 229.924 Qualified – Opening Day Honda Meyer Shank Racing 29 30 Jack Harvey 230.098 217.415 230.470 230.205 229.917 229.802 Qualified – Opening Day Honda Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 30 51 Sting Ray Robb 229.955 210.445 230.313 230.084 229.676 229.747 Qualified – Opening Day Honda Dale Coyne Racing w/RWR 34 15 Graham Rahal 228.526 217.336 230.561 229.724 228.700 225.194 Bumped Honda Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 35 77 Callum Ilott 227.720 218.807 229.959 228.174 226.745 226.041 Bumped Chevy Juncos Hollinger Racing
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Source: RACER
