An uneventful early afternoon saw all thirty-three drivers qualify for the 110th Running of the Indianapolis 500, and set the last seven rows of the starting grid. During a 90-minute window, where the teams that found themselves in the front four rows, went back and made some adjustments on their cars. Their goal? To make the Fast Six. Then those final six would battle it out for the pole.
I suppose we now know that the Andretti cars were not sand-bagging. Marcus Ericsson was the fastest Andretti Global car, and he qualified a forgettable eighteenth. Will Power will start twentieth in his first start with his new team. Kyle Kirkwood, who is currently second in points starts twenty-sixth, alongside Katherine Legge.
This used to be an event where you could always count on the Andretti cars to up front. From 2005 to 2017, this team won five Indianapolis 500s. Don’t blame it on the Honda engines, which seem to be at a slight disadvantage this year on this track. Chip Ganassi put all three of his Honda-powered cars into the Top-Twelve. If you had told me no Andretti cars would qualify to battle for the pole a week ago, I would’ve said you were nuts!
The Top-Twelve consists of three Ganassi cars, two Penske cars, two Foyt cars and one each from Dreyer & Reinbold, Meyer Shank, ECR, Juncos Hollinger and one from McLaren.
Some of the disappointments were Christian Lundgaard a dn Josef Newgarden failing to make the cut. I was also surprised to see the Rahal cars falter again, after the good week Graham Rahal seemed to have, he will start thirtieth, while rookie teammate Mick Schumacher start twenty-eighth. Takuma Sato barely missed out on the Top-Twelve, and will start thirteenth, while Louis Foster will start twenty-second.
The ECR cars were good, but only one was good enough to transfer to the next round – Alexander Rossi. Ed Carpenter will start in the middle of Row Five, while Christian Rasmussen will be just behind him starting inside of the sixth row. Starting to Carpenter’s right will be four-time winner Helio Castroneves, just behind Carpenter, will be Helio’s teammate Marcus Armstrong.
Of course their MSR teammate, Felix Rosenqvist, was the fastest of the early session. His average speed was 232.599 in the first session. That earned him the privilege of going last in the second session featuring the Top-Twelve cars. It served him well, as he was also the fastest in the second session; with a four-lap average of 232.065 mph.
Some of those that did not do as well as some might have thought in gthat second session were local favorite Conor Daly, Scott McLaughlin and Scott Dixon. Dixon will start in the middle of the fourth row, and may have been the biggest disappointment of the session. He mentioned that all month, the runs have been so unpredictable. Just when you think you’ve nailed it, something changes and the whole setup is off. That’s apparently what happened on Dixon’s car today.
Kyffin Simpson barely missed the Top-Six and fighting for the pole. Still, he has to be happy to be starting inside Row Three in only his third Indianapolis 500.
During the break between the second and third sessions, Kevin Lee told Alexander Rossi, who was the slowest of the remaining cars, that he was guaranteed a second-row start and asked if he could get to the front-row in the final session. He laughed and quickly said “No! No way!” Well Rossi got the last laugh. He went out first and posted a speed of 231.990 mph. Four of the other five drivers took their shot, and he survived. But Alex Palou posted a 232.8 speed on his first lap, and you knew Rossi was about to be knocked off the pole. He was. Palou posted a speed of 232.248.
The biggest letdown was Felix Rosenqvist. Not only did he not have anything for Palou, he had nothing for the front-row. After leading both of the previous sessions, Rosenqvist will start on the inside of Row Two..
The front row will consist of Alex Palou on the pole, Alexander Rossi in the middle of Row One and David Malukas on the outside.
That will do it for us tonight. We need to get on the road. Here are a few shots Susan took of the post-qualifying press conference. I will have something here for tomorrow, but I can’t promise it will be there when you first wake up. We are looking at a fairly late hour getting back home tonight. If there is nothing here, check back later. Something will be here. Thanks to those who followed along through this somewhat disjointed rainy weekend.
George Phillips
