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.
