Following the guaranteed runs available to all cars, Rossi took advantage of a favourably early draw inside the opening hour to set the four-lap average pace of 233.528mph, with a fastest single-lap at 234.177mph.
The primary target of today’s six-hour qualifying session is to get inside the top 12 positions, which allows drivers to transfer into Sunday’s Fast 12 session to decide the opening four rows of the Indy 500 grid. Positions from P13 to P30 will be decided at the end of today, with the slowest four cars also going into a Sunday shootout to decide the final row of the field – and which one of them goes home.
Rossi led Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou, who produced a strong four lap average of 233.528mph in much warmer track temperatures in the second hour of the session, following an overnight Honda engine change. He set the fastest single-lap speed of the day so far at 234.248mph.
“Really, really pleased with that,” said Palou. “When we drew 28th it was not the best for us, but kudos to my crew who stayed late last night and hopefully we can go even quicker. My third and fourth laps were really on the edge.”
Chevrolet users Rinus VeeKay (third for Ed Carpenter Racing), Pato O’Ward (McLaren), Santino Ferrucci (AJ Foyt Racing) and Felix Rosenqvist (McLaren) all lapped in the 233mph bracket to fill out the top six spots.
Weather conditions were fine for the opening day of qualifying runs, although there was a strong tailwind into Turn 1, which meant a headwind on the approach to Turn 3.
Helio Castroneves (Meyer Shank Racing) was the first driver to suffer a big moment on lap 3 of his run at Turn 1 – and then he brushed wall at Turn 2 on lap 4. That put him firmly towards the tail of the qualifiers thus far.
“It was pretty windy,” he said. “I had tremendous push, so I just had to lift [on lap three]. On the last lap I decided not to lift and realized it was going to be rough one!”
Another close call happened to practice pacesetter Takuma Sato, who got sideways on the exit of Turn 3 on his last lap of the run, which dropped him to seventh – just behind team-mate Scott Dixon.
“The car slid up on the last lap, it was challenging but we made the most of it,” said Sato. “The car was fast.”
Following unfavourable draws for when the track was at its hottest, Team Penske elected to wave-off its guaranteed runs for Scott McLaughlin and Josef Newgarden. Despite an early slot, their team-mate Will Power could only manage 15th.
