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Just as last year, the battle for pole at the Indianapolis 500 will be decided by a field made up mostly of Honda-powered entries.
At the front of the field, Honda's dominance means that seven cars from Andretti Autosport and Chip Ganassi Racing will join two Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolets in tomorrow's Fast Nine shootout session that will determine pole. Scott Dixon (Ganassi), Colton Herta (Andretti), and Tony Kanaan (Ganassi) make up the top three, with Dixon's lead time of 231.828 MPH the clear fastest single-car run of the Month to date. The two Ed Carpenter Racing cars, Carpenter himself and Indianapolis GP winner Rinus VeeKay, are still alive for Chevrolet, and VeeKay seems to have considerable pace after putting down a 231.483 MPH run on a hot, greasy track that was not conductive to speed late in the day.
One car in the Fast Nine, Ganassi's No. 10 entry of Alex Palou, will have to be re-built after Palou crashed during a mid-day run. He will not have to go to a back-up car, and the repaired entry will still be alive with a chance at winning the pole tomorrow. Palou will be lucky if the car returns to the track with pole-level pace, but he is fortunate to at least keep his guaranteed starting spot in the top nine after a fairly significant hit.
Further back in the field, more parity between Honda and Chevrolet made up for a divided 10th-30th. Chevrolet, however, powers all five of the cars set to compete for the final three spots on the grid tomorrow. Headlining that group is Will Power, whose No. 12 showed a disastrous lack of pace on its final run on the cool track in the closing minutes of the day. His struggles demonstrate the worst of a consistent day of issues for Penske Racing, whose normally-dominant four car stable would be led by rookie Scott McLaughlin, who starts just seventeenth.
A slow final run was enough to get AJ Foyt Racing's Dalton Kellett locked into the field in its last position, 30th. He benefitted from Power's final time, quick enough to make the show in normal circumstances, being thrown out for not beating the par time of 30th set by Kellett earlier in the day. He benefitted even more when Paretta Autosport's Simona de Silvestro, driving a No. 16 Chevrolet supported by the usually-dominant Penske Racing, was forced to lift in turn 2 on the first lap of the final run of the day and was never able to find the speed necessary to bump Kellett. Top Gun Racing's RC Enerson, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing's Sage Karam, and Kellett's AJ Foyt Racing teammate Charlie Kimball will join Power and de Silvestro in tomorrow's last row shootout.
Power and de Silvestro, who struggled today but should be able to compare notes with three Penske cars that made the show, will be the favorites to continue on. Karam will have his hands full with a car that has struggled without a teammate, while Kimball will be looking to find speed in a car that has struggled throughout the Month with the help of three other AJ Foyt Racing teams, all qualified between 30th and 22nd. Enerson, who drives for the one-off Top Gun Racing, will have to find the speed to make the race with minimal help. That car is a major underdog to make the field, and a successful qualifying session tomorrow would mark a miraculous performance for the team.
The first nine and final three spots on the Indianapolis 500 grid remain up in the air. They will be decided tomorrow afternoon, in two separate sessions on a hot, greasy afternoon track that promises to be unforgiving.
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May 23, 2021 at 05:12AM
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