Dixon tops Indy 500 qualifying, Power in last row shootout

Six-time IndyCar champion Scott Dixon leads the field after the first day of qualifying for the 105th Indianapolis 500 while Team Penske’s Will Power faces a last-row shootout on Sunday.

Dixon was drawn to be the first driver to hit the 2.5mile oval and his 231.827mph effort would remain unbeaten throughout the six-hour session.

At the opposite end of the field, it was drama for Team Penske as Power failed to make it out of the bottom 30 after two runs. Penske-affiliated Paretta Autosport would also fail to secure a place in the race, despite a last-ditch run for Simona De Silvestro seconds before the session ended.

This means for the first time since 1995, two Penske cars would fail to make the field on the first day of qualifying.

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The weather played a large role in proceedings as the cool, overcast conditions during the morning running allowed teams to make the most of the optimal running time, however, the sun broke through in the afternoon raising track temperatures and make the surface far more slippery.

Andretti Autosport’s Colton Herta continued to show his strong pace as he would again follow behind Dixon as second fastest, same as he did on Fast Friday.

Chip Ganassi cars proved to be hot on the pace as Kanaan would line up in third ahead of the two ECR cars of Ed Carpenter and Rinus Veekay who was one of a few drivers whomade improvements with a second run.

Helio Castroneves only needed the one attempt to secure his Fast Nine spot while team-mate Jack Harvey would continue his poor run of luck, the Briton needed a second run after his first run was scuppered by a heavily damaged right rear tyre and will start next weekend’s race from 20th.

Alex Palou suffered the only crash of the day as he tried to better his first run despite making it into the Fast Nine despite being classified seventh, the No.10 NTT Data car got loose into Turn 2 and the Spaniard ended up sliding into the outside wall ending his day.

Ryan Hunter-Reay and Marcus Ericsson would round out the final two places inside the Fast Nine.

Despite 18 wins at the Brickyard, Penske’s day proved to be difficult as rookie Scott McLaughlin would be their highest qualifier in 17th, while Josef Newgarden and Simon Pagenaud will start from 21st and 26th respectively.

Dreyer and Reinbold’s Sage Karam will once again have to fight for a place on the final row despite showing  consistent speed all weekend, he will have to do battle against Power, De Silvestro, Charlie Kimball and R.C. Enerson.

Sunday’s 75 minute last-row shootout session will begin at 13:15 EDT and will whittle the final five drivers down to three, with two being bumped out of competing in the Indy 500. After that, the Fast Nine shootout will commence at 15:00 EDT to decide the order of the first three rows.

Full results for today’s qualifying, with the top nine and the bottom five finalizing their starting orders tomorrow: