VeeKay leads rain-shortened first day of Indy 500 qualifying as speeds soar

Rinus VeeKay led the 33 drivers after the first day of qualifying for the Indianapolis 500.

The Ed Carpenter Racing driver is one of the 12 who advance to Sunday’s two-stage knockout qualifying to determine the pole-winner for the 106th running of the race.

The qualifying session that was affected by two lengthy delays for rainfall and lightning. VeeKay was the second driver out on track and put together a sensational four-lap run, clocked at an average speed of 233.655mph (376.031kph).

The first stoppage came at 2:12pm local time for rain. After over an hour and a half of waiting for the rain to stop and the track to dry, just ten minutes of running commenced before a second stoppage due to lightning strikes near Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

VeeKay’s run surpassed that of McLaren SP’s Pato O’Ward, who was the first driver out on track when time trials began at 11:00am. O’Ward qualified at an average speed of 233.037mph, ahead of his team mate Felix Rosenqvist at 232.775mph.

Defending IndyCar Series champion and 2021 Indy 500 runner-up Alex Palou was fourth after a run at 232.774 mph, ahead of his team mate and 2013 Indy winner Tony Kanaan (fifth) and Jimmie Johnson (sixth). The seven-time NASCAR champion was the fastest of the Indy 500 rookies in the field.

Also making the cut for the Fast 12 Qualifying session tomorrow were three-time Indy pole winner Ed Carpenter, Marcus Ericsson, Indy rookie Romain Grosjean, 2008 winner Scott Dixon, 2018 winner Will Power and two-time winner Takuma Sato – the fastest man in practice leading up to the event.

But Sato had a hard road to make the cut: His first run was invalidated after he impeded Marco Andretti’s first qualifying attempt, then he brushed the wall at turn two on the penultimate lap of his second and final run.

The top 12 drivers will qualify again tomorrow, with the fastest six qualifiers advancing to a Fast Six shootout (similar to IndyCar’s road and street course events) to determine the pole winner. They will also earn championship points based on their qualifying position.

Positions 13 through 33 have been set and include more than a few notable names. Josef Newgarden was almost set to withdraw his time and requalify, but because the second stoppage came out before he took to the track, the two-time IndyCar champion kept his 14th place starting position.

Rookie Callum Ilott qualified 18th, one place ahead of 2016 Indy 500 winner Alexander Rossi. Last week’s Indianapolis Grand Prix winner Colton Herta starts 25th after having to delay his run due to an engine problem.

Defending Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves will start 27th as he bids for a record fifth victory in the race.

All 33 entrants were guaranteed a starting position in the field of 33, including Stefan Wilson, who did not set a time after pulling out of the qualifying queue because of a gearbox and engine issue.

Putting VeeKay’s sensational run into perspective, it was the third-fastest qualifying run in the history of the Indianapolis 500, behind Arie Luyendyk and Scott Brayton’s 1996 qualifying efforts in what was then an open-chassis, open-tyre category using larger-displacement turbocharged engines.

The Fast 12 qualifying shot-out begins on Sunday at 21:00 BST (16:00 EDT).

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Indianapolis 500 qualifying results after day one

Position	Car	Driver	Team	Engine
1	21	Rinus VeeKay	Carpenter	Chevrolet
2	5	Pato O’Ward	McLaren SP	Chevrolet
3	7	Felix Rosenqvist	McLaren SP	Chevrolet
4	10	Alex Palou	Ganassi	Honda
5	1	Tony Kanaan	Ganassi	Honda
6	48	Jimmie Johnson	Ganassi	Honda
7	33	Ed Carpenter	Carpenter	Chevrolet
8	8	Marcus Ericsson	Ganassi	Honda
9	28	Romain Grosjean	Andretti	Honda
10	9	Scott Dixon	Ganassi	Honda
11	12	Will Power	Penske	Chevrolet
12	51	Takuma Sato	Coyne/RWR	Honda
13	18	David Malukas	Coyne/HMD	Honda
14	2	Josef Newgarden	Penske	Chevrolet
15	23	Santino Ferrucci	DRR	Chevrolet
16	60	Simon Pagenaud	Meyer Shank	Honda
17	11	JR Hildebrand	Foyt	Chevrolet
18	20	Conor Daly	Carpenter	Chevrolet
19	77	Callum Ilott	Juncos Hollinger	Chevrolet
20	27	Alexander Rossi	Andretti	Honda
21	15	Graham Rahal	RLL	Honda
22	24	Sage Karam	DRR	Chevrolet
23	98	Marco Andretti	Andretti	Chevrolet
24	29	Devlin DeFrancesco	Andretti Steinbrenner	Honda
25	26	Colton Herta	Andretti	Honda
26	3	Scott McLaughlin	Penske	Chevrolet
27	06	Helio Castroneves	Meyer Shank	Honda
28	14	Kyle Kirkwood	Foyt	Chevrolet
29	4	Dalton Kellett	Foyt	Chevrolet
30	6	Juan Pablo Montoya	McLaren SP	Chevrolet
31	30	Christian Lundgaard	RLL	Honda
32	45	Jack Harvey	RLL	Honda
33	25	Stefan Wilson	DragonSpeed/Cusick	Chevrolet

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