Alex Palou won the NTT P1 award presented by Gainbridge on Sunday for the 107th Indianapolis 500 with the fastest pole speed in the history of The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.
2021 NTT INDYCAR SERIES Champion Palou gave Chip Ganassi Racing his third consecutive “500” pole with a four-lap average speed of 234.217 mph in the No. 10 The American Legion Honda. He was the first Spaniard to win poles at the Indy 500.
SEE: Qualifying Results
Rinus VeeKay will start second in the #21 Ed Carpenter Racing Bitnile.com Chevrolet with a four-lap average of 234.211. That’s the second-smallest speed difference between the top two qualifiers in Indy 500 history.
Felix Rosenqvist secured a spot outside the front row after qualifying third in the No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet with a 234.114.
All three front row starters were faster than the previous pole record of 234.046 set by Scott Dixon last year. Only Arie Luyendyk’s massive qualifying run of 236.986, set on the second day of qualifying in 1996, is faster.
Christian Lundgaard, Sting Ray Robb and Jack Harvey secured the last three places in a field of 33 cars in an unbelievably dramatic Last Chance Qualifying. Harvey beat his Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing teammate Graham Rahal by 44 ten-thousandths of a second in the final attempt of the session on the 10-mile qualifying run.
This is the fastest field in Indianapolis 500 history. The average speed of the 33-car field is 232.184, beating last year’s record of 231.023.
The 107th Indianapolis 500 is scheduled for Sunday, May 28 (11 a.m. ET, NBC, Peacock, Universo, INDYCAR Radio Network).
Stay tuned for the full report from the final day of PPG Presents Armed Forces Qualifying.