Marco Andretti took pole position for the Indianapolis 500, beating Scott Dixon with the final run of qualifying.
The Andretti-Hondas went into the ‘fast nine’ shoot-out as favourites to claim the leading spaces on the front three rows of the grid, having swept the top four places in qualifying yesterday. But Dixon had fired a warning shot at the end of that session with two quick laps in his Honda-powered Ganassi car.Dixon’s cover his four-lap run in the final shoot-out at an average speed of 371.84kph (231.051mph). The Andretti runners lined up to take shots at him, but one by one they fell short.
Alexander Rossi, the 2016 race winner, wound up last of the fast nine and will share the third row with Alex Palou and Graham Rahal. Two more Andretti drivers, Ryan Hunter-Reay and the returning James Hinchcliffe, took places on the third row with Rinus VeeKay – the only Chevrolet representative in the fast nine.
Takuma Sato, the 2017 race winner, fell short of Dixon’s mark by 0.5kph. That left Marco Andretti the last driver with a chance to beat Dixon.
The grandson of 1969 Indy 500 winner Mario Andretti opened the final four-lap run with laps of over 373kph. His average speed dipped over the second two runs, but at the line his run of 371.867kph (231.068mph) was enough to deny Dixon by just 0.027kph.
The remaining places on the 33-car grid were set yesterday. Colton Herta leads the remaining qualifiers in 10th place, followed by Marcus Ericsson and Spencer Pigot. The top Penske belongs to reigning champion Josef Newgarden in 13th.
Fernando Alonso, making his third attempt to win the race, will start 26th.
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2020 Indianapolis 500 grid
Position | Driver | Speed (kph) |
---|---|---|
1 | Marco Andretti | 371.867 |
2 | Scott Dixon | 371.84 |
3 | Takuma Sato | 371.315 |
4 | Rinus VeeKay | 371.281 |
5 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | 371.191 |
6 | James Hinchcliffe | 369.939 |
7 | Alex Palou | 369.627 |
8 | Graham Rahal | 369.15 |
9 | Alexander Rossi | 368.915 |
10 | Colton Herta | 371.395 |
11 | Marcus Ericsson | 371.059 |
12 | Spencer Pigot | 371.016 |
13 | Josef Newgarden | 370.625 |
14 | Felix Rosenqvist | 370.557 |
15 | Pato O’Ward | 370.491 |
16 | Ed Carpenter | 370.488 |
17 | Zach Veach | 370.085 |
18 | Conor Daly | 370.076 |
19 | Santino Ferrucci | 370.026 |
20 | Jack Harvey | 369.925 |
21 | Oliver Askew | 369.762 |
22 | Will Power | 369.667 |
23 | Tony Kanaan | 368.787 |
24 | Dalton Kellett | 368.346 |
25 | Simon Pagenaud | 368.275 |
26 | Fernando Alonso | 368.165 |
27 | James Davison | 368.132 |
28 | Helio Castroneves | 367.53 |
29 | Charlie Kimball | 366.54 |
30 | Max Chilton | 365.808 |
31 | Sage Karam | 365.48 |
32 | JR Hildebrand | 364.26 |
33 | Ben Hanley | 358.749 |
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IndyCar
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Txizzle (@txizzle)
16th August 2020, 22:49
Nice numbers to see.
I personally hope to see Fernando win, though i’m not expecting it. Of the top 5 in qualifying, my fellow Dutchie is nice to see up there, but personally i hope to see Takuma take his second win, that or someone who’s never won the 500.
skydiverian (@skydiverian)
20th August 2020, 0:11
It seems reasonable to ask, why all the speeds quoted in the article in kph and not mph? The race distance is in miles, speeds are reported in miles so I don’t understand why they’ve been converted.