Arrow McLaren respond to Chip Ganassi Racing’s Indy dominance in qualifying. (Photo: Wayne Riegle | The Podium Finish)
SPEEDWAY, Ind. – It was a tale of two stories during Saturday’s qualifying session for the 107th Indianapolis 500.
Arrow McLaren were able to put all four cars into the top-12, a step closer of pursuing a spot into the Firestone Fast Six with Felix Rosenqvist and Alexander Rossi leading the fray.
Meanwhile, all three full-time Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing cars will have to assure they keep Sting Ray Robb out of the 500-mile race Sunday. The one-off RLL entry of Katherine Legge merely escaped being a part of a harrowing time for the organization that has won two Indy 500s as she will start 30th.
For a majority of the day, Rossi’s four-lap average of 233.528 mph stood until teammate Rosenqvist set the third fastest four-lap average in Indy 500 history at 233.947 mph, highlighted with a single-lap speed of 234.329 mph.
It was a huge response from the team in what has been a Chip Ganassi Racing dominant week. The fastest Ganassi driver of the day was Alex Palou, whose average of 233.398 mph was third quickest.
Rosenqvist explained it was big day for the entire organization not because he led the four-car squad on opening day of qualifying, but to have all cars and represent Chevrolet as they are in prime position of fighting for the pole or even a front row lockout.
Felix Rosenqvist hopes he’ll be the one expecting to shine on Sunday. (Photo: Luis Torres | The Podium Finish)
“We’ve been good here the last couple years. To have all the cars in the top eight, in this competition, it’s really hard,” said Rosenqvist. “We saw with Tony (Kanaan) today, even if he’s doing a perfect job, still things that can outside factors that can play in, it can become really difficult in this field. Super proud of the whole team for executing. That last run we did was just phenomenal.
“Almost in a 234 average. That was pretty mind-blowing how we found so much speed. We weren’t super happy on our first run, so we had two or three reasons to think we were going to go quicker. We kind of put them all together, wow, what a run. Team Chevy as well, great job. Just a fun time to be in Arrow McLaren right now. Everything kind of resets for tomorrow, but we definitely feeling good right now.”
Arrow McLaren and Ganassi occupy 3/4 of the top-12 as AJ Foyt Racing is the only other team to have multiple cars advancing into the next round of qualifying. Leading the Foyt camp was Santino Ferrucci, who wound up ninth quickest while INDYCAR rookie Benjamin Pedersen ranks a few positions behind.
It was all smiles indeed from the two-car organization, including the boss man AJ Foyt.
“(AJ’s) really happy to see that car up on top,” said Ferrucci. “I think he’s more thrilled that both cars are equally competitive. I think he believes in what we’re doing. He believes in the program. It’s just one of those things where he’s ready to see what we can do on race day.”
AJ Foyt had plenty to smile about qualifying. (Photo: Luis Torres | The Podium Finish)
One man who won’t be fighting for the pole is two-time champion Josef Newgarden, who will roll off 17th. Although there is no pole on the horizon, the mind shifts on the race that has eluded him for over a decade.
“This is what Indy is all about. We had to go for it and try. Unfortunately we just weren’t good enough. I really wish we had just a little bit more. We were really, really going for it,” said Newgarden. “I felt like we were as aggressive as we could reasonably be at the end there. We definitely gave it a good attempt. It just was still not quite strong enough.
“Unfortunately we got to work towards the race now. Feel really confident that we can put together a good day next Sunday. Just sad that we’re not going to be in the fight tomorrow. But we are where we are.
“We’ll be working towards hopefully a great race day with Shell and Chevy. Team Chevy did a phenomenal job today. I don’t think we were lacking anything there. Really proud for the whole group.”
After a disastrous week, Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Callum Ilott was able to put the chassis once used by Agustin Canapino during the April test safely into the field. Ilott’s second attempt was good enough to start from the 28th position. Safe to say relief and worn out was an understatement for the INDYCAR sophomore.
“48 hours ago, I even put bets that I wasn’t going to make the race basically because you just knew it wasn’t going well,” said Ilott. “At that point then it becomes a pit of a panic, desperation. For sure for me, I was probably the first to be quite desperate as soon as I drove the car on Wednesday. But we had time to work with it.
“Coming into today, I was really confident. Honestly I just knew if we just got a clear couple of runs, the car had pace. Super special. In some ways it’s kind of one of those never-give-up situations, prove people wrong on that side. At the end of the day kind of feels like a win even though you’re 27th or something. That’s life sometimes.”
Hard work paid off for Juncos Hollinger Racing and Callum Ilott. (Photo: Luis Torres | The Podium Finish)
From having all three cars qualify in the top-eight during last week’s GMR Grand Prix to now looking to occupy the final row, RLL struggled finding pace.
Graham Rahal, the team’s senior driver, was the slowest qualifier as his four-lap average was a measly 228.526 mph. It was pure agony as Rahal hopes to avoid repeating history when his father Bobby Rahal missed the 1993 Indianapolis 500 as the reigning CART champion.
Robb’s teammate David Malukas was the last man to get out of the bottom four as his average of 231.769 mph brought jubilation and happy tears for the No. 18 Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Motorsports camp. Malukas went from being on the outside looking in multiple times to locking up the 23rd spot and when he set a run he needed to avoid re-qualifying Sunday, no more anxiety after self-proclaiming it was a “beautiful run.”
“It has been one of the hardest days of my life,” said Malukas. “The stress, the anxiety and the sadness. I really thought all hope was lost, but I really thought all hope was lost. But we still had a little bit left and we really pushed on it and we managed to find something with the car.
“The second to last run, I knew I had one more shot and this is it. I was so stressed, but I knew this was the one.”
A joyful David Malukas after avoiding the Last Row Shootout. (Photo: Luis Torres | The Podium Finish)
Some teams will sleep knowing they are safe in the 500. Others have long nights ahead as they will hope to either fight for the pole or simply not be motorsport’s outcast and fail to qualify.
Sunday’s chaos commences at 2 p.m. ET on Peacock to determine who will make the Fast Six which will begin at 5:20 p.m. ET.
Finally, NBC’s live coverage begins at 4:00 p.m. with Last Chance Qualifying as the broadcast will go all the way until a pole winner is crowned for the 107th Indy 500.
Sting Ray Robb hopes to send one Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing entry home on Sunday. (Photo: Wayne Riegle | The Podium Finish)
Top 12 Qualifying Results: Rosenqvist (233.947 mph), Rossi (233.528), Palou (233.298), VeeKay (233.395), Dixon (233.375), Kanaan (233.347), Sato (233.322), O’Ward (233.252), Ferrucci (233.147), Ericsson (233.030), Pedersen (232.739), Power (232.719)
107th Indianapolis 500 Starting Positions 13-30: Carpenter (232.689 mph), McLuaghlin (232.677), Kirkwood (232.662), Daly (232.433), Newgarden (232.402), Hunter-Reay (232.133), Grosjean (231.997), Castroneves (231.954), Herta (231.951), Pageanud (231.878), Malukas (231.769), Andretti (231.682), Wilson (231.648), DeFrancesco (231.353), Canapino (231.320), Ilott (231.182), Enerson (231.129), Legge (231.070)
Bottom 4 Qualifying Results: Lundgaard (231.058 mph), Harvey (230.098), Robb (229.955), Rahal (228.526)
