Palou On Pole for the 110th Indianapolis 500!

Alex Palou takes his 2nd career Indianapolis 500 pole and will lead the field to green!

This marks Chip Ganassi Racing’s 6th Indy 500 pole position.

After all of Saturday’s practice and qualifying sessions were rained out, everything was pushed to Sunday with an updated qualifying format.

Each driver had one qualifying attempt in draw order to set positions 13–33, while the top 12 advanced to the Fast 12 session. Those 12 drivers then had one more run to determine who advanced to the Firestone Fast Six, where the pole position would ultimately be decided.

The early morning practice session wrapped up, and Scott Dixon was the first car out for qualifying.

There were a couple of shockers in the opening round, starting with the #60 Meyer Shank Racing Honda of Felix Rosenqvist proving to be the class of the field. None of the Andretti Global cars made the Fast 12, with their highest qualifier starting back on Row 6. They weren’t the only team that struggled, either. The Arrow McLaren drivers also had a difficult session. Outside of Pato O’Ward, the team qualified 18th, 20th, and 22nd, respectively.

Team Penske reestablished themselves as contenders, except for two-time Indy 500 winner Josef Newgarden. During his run, he stated, “That’s all she’ll turn,” clearly suggesting that the #2 team was more focused on race trim than outright qualifying speed.

Throughout the session, track conditions were constantly changing. The track temperature continued to rise, while unpredictable wind conditions made every run different from the last.

Drivers advancing to the Fast 12

Rosenqvist, Malukas, Daly, McLaughlin, Veekay, Rossi, Collet, Dixon, O’Ward, Ferrucci, Palou, Simpson

FAST 12

This session became all about consistency over a four-lap run. Rinus Veekay showed that perfectly. After an incredibly strong opening lap that looked capable of topping the charts, he ultimately faded to 12th by the end of the run.

Drivers spent more time fighting their cars than chasing speed. O’Ward even said he was “so busy” inside the cockpit during his run.

Meanwhile, Felix Rosenqvist once again jumped to the top of the timing sheets, making himself look like the clear favorite for pole.

Drivers advancing to the Firestone Fast Six

Rosenqvist, Palou, Malukas, Ferrucci, O’Ward, Rossi

FIRESTONE FAST SIX

As the track temperature began to fall, conditions shifted back in the drivers’ favor. However, both Rosenqvist and O’Ward struggled on their runs, qualifying 4th and 6th respectively. Both drivers appeared to make mistakes early in their four-lap attempts, hurting their average speeds.

Santino Ferrucci delivered an incredible performance, placing the A.J. Foyt Racing #14 machine in 5th.

After being unhappy with his ECR #20 car earlier in the day, Alexander Rossi bounced back to qualify 2nd, but it was IndyCar’s main man, Alex Palou, who stole the show once again. One year after winning the Indianapolis 500, Palou now adds another Indy 500 pole to his resume.

During post-qualifying inspection, both the #4 of Caio Collet and the #24 of Jack Harvey had their qualifying runs disallowed due to technical infractions. They will officially start 32nd and 33rd for the race.

Full Starting Lineup for the 110th Indianapolis 500

Row 1

Alex Palou (1st) – Alexander Rossi (2nd) – David Malukas (3rd)

Row 2

Felix Rosenqvist (4th) – Santino Ferrucci (5th) – Pato O’Ward (6th)

Row 3

Kyffin Simpson (7th) – Conor Daly (8th) – Scott McLaughlin (9th)

Row 4

Scott Dixon (10th) – Rinus Veekay (11th) – Takuma Sato (12th)

Row 5

Ed Carpenter (13th) – Helio Castroneves (14th) – Christian Rasmussen (15th)

Row 6

Marcus Armstrong (16th) – Marcus Ericsson (17th) – Christian Lundgaard (18th)

Row 7

Will Power (19th) – Nolan Siegel (20th) – Louis Foster (21st)

Row 8

Ryan Hunter-Reay (22nd) – Josef Newgarden (23rd) – Romain Grosjean (24th)

Row 9

Kyle Kirkwood (25th) – Katherine Legge (26th) – Mick Schumacher (27th)

Row 10

Graham Rahal (28th) – Dennis Hauger (29th) – Jacob Abel (30th)

Row 11

Sting Ray Robb (31st) – Caio Collet (32nd) – Jack Harvey (33rd)

The 110th Indianapolis 500 takes place May 24th at 7 AM EST on FOX