Alex Palou puts Chip Ganassi on pole for 110th Indy 500 at 232.248 mph
Summary
Alex Palou captured the pole for the 110th Indianapolis 500 on Sunday with a four-lap average of 232.248 mph. It was the second Indianapolis 500 pole of Palou’s career. He will lead the 33-car field to the green as the defending race winner, driving the No. 10 for Chip Ganassi Racing, and he leads the NTT IndyCar standings with three wins.
Alexander Rossi qualified second with a four-lap average of 231.990 mph and David Malukas took third at 231.877 mph. Felix Rosenqvist started fourth, Santino Ferrucci fifth and Pato O’Ward sixth. The Firestone Fast Six shootout (Q3) featured six different teams, with the top-six four-lap averages ranging from 232.248 to 230.442 mph.
Saturday qualifying was washed out by rain, moving the full-field session to Sunday and extending qualifying to nearly seven hours, producing 51 clean runs under the format that advanced the fastest drivers from full-field qualifying to a Top 12 session and then the Firestone Fast Six to decide the pole. The completed session set the full 33-car starting grid for the May 24 race, with rookie Caio Collet reaching the Top 12 and starting 10th, Katherine Legge qualifying 27th as she prepares for an Indy and Charlotte double, and Mick Schumacher making his first Indianapolis 500 start from 28th.