F1 News

McLaren seize command in Indy 500 qualifying opener

Published

1y ago

May 21, 2023 / 5120 Views

Evan Walker

Felix Rosenqvist led a McLaren 1-2 on the first day of qualifying for the Indianapolis 500.

The Swedish driver set the fastest four-lap average speed of 233.947mph at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway almost five hours into the six-hour first session, with the fastest single-lap speed clocked at 234.329mph.

Teammate Alexander Rossi was his nearest challenger with his four-lap average registered as 233.528mph, with Chip Ganassi Racing's Alex Palou third.

Rosenqvist is yet to secure pole, however, with the top 12 drivers from the opening session set to battle it out across a further two segments to lock in their positions.

Positions 13-30 are locked in and will not run again, but the bottom four will fight for a place in the 33-car field after struggling for pace.

Those four drivers are Christian Lungaard, Jack Harvey and Graham Rahal – all for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing – and Dale Coyne Racing rookie Sting Ray Robb.

Only three can make the grid for next weekend's event, meaning one driver will face the end of their 'Month of May' early.

Position	Driver	Team	Mph
1	Felix Rosenqvist	Arrow McLaren	233.947
2	Alexander Rossi	Arrow McLaren	233.528
3	Alex Palou	Chip Ganassi Racing	233.398
4	Rinus Veekay	Ed Carpenter Racing	233.295
5	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing	233.375
6	Tony Kanaan	Arrow McLaren	233.347
7	Takuma Sato	Chip Ganassi Racing	233.322
8	Patricio O'Ward	Arrow McLaren	233.252
9	Santino Ferrucci	A.J. Foyt Racing	233.147
10	Marcus Ericsson	Chip Ganassi Racing	233.030
11	Benjamin Pedersen	A.J. Foyt Racing	232.739
12	Will Power	Team Penske	232.719
13	Ed Carpenter	Ed Carpenter Racing	232.689
14	Scott McLaughlin	Team Penske	232.677
15	Kyle Kirkwood	Andretti Autosport	232.662
16	Conor Daly	Ed Carpenter Racing	232.433
17	Josef Newgarden	Team Penske	232.402
18	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	232.133
19	Romain Grosjean	Andretti Autosport	231.997
20	Helio Castroneves	Meyer Shank Racing	231.954
21	Colton Herta	Andretti Autosport	231.951
22	Simon Pagenaud	Meyer Shank Racing	231.878
23	David Malukas	Dale Coyne Racing	231.769
24	Marco Andretti	Andretti Herta Autosport	231.682
25	Stefan Wilson	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	231.648
26	Devlin DeFrancesco	Andretti Autosport	231.353
27	Agustin Canapino	Juncos Hollinger Racing	231.320
28	Callum Ilott	Juncos Hollinger Racing	231.182
29	R.C. Enerson	Abel Motorsports	231.129
30	Katherine Legge	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	231.070
31	Christian Lungaard	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	231.056
32	Jack Harvey	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	230.098
33	Sting Ray Robb	Dale Coyne Racing	229.955
34	Graham Rahal	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	228.526