Andretti denies Dixon Indy 500 pole with final lap of qualifying

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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

PositionDriverSpeed (kph)
1Marco Andretti371.867
2Scott Dixon371.84
3Takuma Sato371.315
4Rinus VeeKay371.281
5Ryan Hunter-Reay371.191
6James Hinchcliffe369.939
7Alex Palou369.627
8Graham Rahal369.15
9Alexander Rossi368.915
10Colton Herta371.395
11Marcus Ericsson371.059
12Spencer Pigot371.016
13Josef Newgarden370.625
14Felix Rosenqvist370.557
15Pato O’Ward370.491
16Ed Carpenter370.488
17Zach Veach370.085
18Conor Daly370.076
19Santino Ferrucci370.026
20Jack Harvey369.925
21Oliver Askew369.762
22Will Power369.667
23Tony Kanaan368.787
24Dalton Kellett368.346
25Simon Pagenaud368.275
26Fernando Alonso368.165
27James Davison368.132
28Helio Castroneves367.53
29Charlie Kimball366.54
30Max Chilton365.808
31Sage Karam365.48
32JR Hildebrand364.26
33Ben Hanley358.749

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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2 comments on “Andretti denies Dixon Indy 500 pole with final lap of qualifying”

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

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