Felix Rosenqvist posted a four-lap average of nearly 234 mph, beating his teammate Alexander Rossi’s longtime record and the first day of qualifying for the 107th edition of the Indianapolis 500. In fact, all four Arrow McLaren Chevrolet drivers secured a spot in Sunday’s Fast 12 session where they meet opponents from the Honda quartet of Chip Ganassi Racing, the surprisingly strong AJ Foyt Racing entries of Santino Ferrucci and rookie Benjamin Pedersen, and individual entries from Team Penske and Ed Carpenter Racing .
After exiting the original qualifying line, Penske’s Scott McLaughlin was the first to enter the track from Lane 1 – the right of way lane – and while his first lap clocked in at an impressive 233.515mph, there was a loss of over the course of the four laps 2.2 mph, and managed well to average 232.503 mph, which was good enough for 12th place at the time.
Ryan Hunter-Reay’s Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Chevy managed a second heat and the 2014 Indy 500 champion improved to 17th, Colton Herta didn’t improve on his second attempt and then Josef Newgarden’s first heat was just enough to take ousting McLaughlin from the top 12.
Helio Castroneves’ second heat was far more comfortable than his first and he managed well out of the danger zone of having to fight for the last row on Sunday, finishing 20th at 231.954mph. Teammate Pagenaud had a metronomic speed – three times 231.9 mph and one 231.6 mph – in his second run and finished 22nd.
Reigning Indy 500 winner Marcus Ericsson lost just 1mph over his four laps to improve to 10th place, but Graham Rahal’s problems continued, he was only faster than Junco’s Hollinger Racing’s Callum Ilott. Another RLL car, Christian Lundgaard’s, delivered the opposite type of run to Rahal, the #45 Hy-Vee car looked comfortable, albeit slow, and he moved up to 29th place.
Penske’s 2018 winner Will Power’s original run had dropped to 17th in the order when he got back on track, but he easily moved up to 11th at a 232.719 mph average and edged his team-mate Newgarden out of the top 12 drivers eligible to start again on Sunday in the battle for pole position.
Ilott jumped from 34th to 27th in his second heat after the JHR team tweaked the new chassis they built overnight, but another troubled RLL driver, Jack Harvey, had to make his second qualifying attempt of IndyCar when his first three laps were up to 230 mph, and David Malukas suffered the same fate for Dale Coyne Racing.
Tony Kanaan was 15th when he took to the track for the second time and he clocked the same time as Ed Carpenter’s original run to the ten-thousandth of a second, but because he matched it later he was classified 13th and therefore still wasn’t in the The group will run again on Sunday.
Scott Dixon, five-time polesitter at Indy, retired again with 2 hours to go and ran three laps faster than 233mph and a fourth lap faster than 232.6mph for an average of 233.375mph – enough , to pick him up from the lower reaches of the top 10 to fourth place.
Andretti Autosport’s Colton Herta tried to improve but failed, teammate Kyle Kirkwood improved but stayed outside the top dozen and Romain Grosjean’s next attempt was dismissed.
Ed Carpenter tried to improve but went off lane 2. As his fourth lap dragged his average down, he stayed in the top 12 at his original pace.
Junco’s Hollinger sent rookie Agustin Canapino on a second run, but the always-impressive touring car ace had a spooky moment at Turn 1 when he smashed his right rear tire into the SAFER barrier just hard enough to damage his suspension, which was momentary a spooky tire wobble caused car #78, but he slowed it down and brought it into the pits.
With two hours to go, Takuma Sato, who was in eighth place, came out of lane 2 and immediately hit a speed of 234.085 mph on his first lap. The drop was quick and his fourth lap dropped to 232.779mph but he jumped to fifth place, slightly behind Dixon but ahead of Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward.
Marco Andretti made a run that he stopped after two laps before Ericsson went on a third run to try to get him more firmly into the top dozen. He managed to do so, albeit marginally, improving from tenth to ninth place, while Castroneves retired just a few laps in that third heat and Newgarden’s first lap of his second heat fell 1mph short of his first lap in his first attempt, so team president Tim Cindric called him in.
Kirkwood improved again, holding out all four laps and securing 12th place, knocking Carpenter out of the top dozen at 0.042 mph.
It was then time for Rahal to try to get into the field again – ideally in the top 30 so he didn’t have to do the bump session on Sunday. The car at least looked stable, but its first three laps were under 230mph and the run was abandoned.
Malukas made a third attempt and set the 30th fastest time, edging out Lundgaard so RLL pushed the Dane’s car into lane 1 to improve his time and get it out on track. When Coyne’s second driver, Sting Ray Robb, tried to force his way into the top 30 but failed, it was Lundgaard’s turn again. The Indy GP polesitter was just enough to set the 30th fastest speed and edge out Malukas.
Coming out on track with 75 minutes to go, Canaan was sensational – the 2013 Indy winner clocked an opening speed of 234.057 mph, followed by two 233.3 mph and a 232.663 mph to move up to fifth to jump to ensure all four Arrow McLarens were in the top 10. and Kirkwood was outside. That left Power on the bubble in the Fast 12.
Whatever TK could do, Rosenqvist could do even better. He did two laps over 234 mph, his third lap was 0.4 mph over Rossi’s third and even his fourth lap was well under 233 mph for an average of 233.947 mph. Eventually Rossi was ousted from the top spot, albeit by a different McLaren.
Carpenter tried in vain to get back into the top dozen despite a very brave looking run and if the SAFER barrier at Turn 4 had had an extra coat of paint he would have gotten there. He stayed 13.
Herta made a fourth attempt to improve his average but failed; Pagenaud stayed 22nd. Grosjean also fell short of an improvement.
McLaughlin then went again and did improve, but only to 14th place, while Penske teammate Power also improved slightly but stayed in 12th place. Then it was time for the pair from Dreyer & Reinbold Racing to start again. Stefan Wilson’s final attempt kept him in 24th place after a strange loss of speed on lap three, while Hunter-Reay started the heat in 18th and stayed there.
Rahal made another attempt to force his way into the field, but IndyCar flagged down after two laps, proving RLL hadn’t found the magic bullet for the #15 car, and Harvey’s next flagged run in the #30 car showed, that he had made it was in a similar dire situation.
In contrast, Malukas found a late speed turn and jumped to 23rd with an average of 231.769mph and the Dale Coyne Racing with HMD car was very safe in the field.
Penske valiantly drew on Newgarden’s standing time by pushing him to lane 1, but his wonderfully consistent run was only enough for 17th place, dropping a place.
The next car was the second Coyne machine, Robb’s RWR entry, but he couldn’t quite find the pace to secure his place in the field and neither did Lundgaard on his last breath.
Sunday’s four-way battle for the last three spots on the grid will involve three RLL drivers – Rahal, Harvey and Lundgaard – and Robb’s Coyne/RWR car.
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