Good luck in the draw was revealed on Saturday, as the riders who played early qualifying numbers were rewarded with the best conditions of the day to establish their speed.
Rinus Vik came out second and set the fastest average qualifying result in four laps on Saturday at the Indianapolis racetrack. With a staggering speed of 234.702 mph the Dutchman at number 21 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevy continued to spin around the 2.5-mile oval at 233.655 mph to lead the day and earn his place in Sunday’s Fast 12 qualifying session where he and the next pilot on the speed table fight for the pole position. With a speed of 234.702 km / h, VeeKay also became the third fastest qualifying lap in the history of the Indy 500.
“I was very impressed with 234.7 miles per hour,” VeeKay said. “I was surprised. It was good to get into Fast 12 and go for the pole tomorrow.”
It gained momentum thanks to Chevrolet’s impressive power with its 2.2-liter twin-turbo V6, which topped the top three, while Pata O’Ward of the third-ranked Arrow McLaren SP took second place with an average speed of 233.037 mph. in the room. 5 car and his AMSP teammate Felix Rosenquist was close behind at 232.775 mph.
“It’s a really strong day for us. I am very happy with the balance of our car, ”O’Ward said. “I’m glad our first race was fast enough to introduce us to Fast 12. Tomorrow it’s all about who can get through twice as fast as we have to get through to Fast Six and then fight for the front row. I’m excited to see what we can achieve. We drive very well in our car, and the car № 7 is also very strong. I want to thank Arrow McLaren SP and Chevrolet for giving us such strong cars. ”
The best among Honda was NTT IndyCar series champion Alex Palu, who accelerated at 232.774 mph – just 0.001 mph less than Rosenquist – in the 10th issue of Chip Ganassi Racing. In hotter conditions it was a great effort by Palu, who led the Ganassi P4-5-6 as Tony Canaan on the Honda № 1 (232.625 mph) and Jimmy Johnson on the Honda № 48 (232.398 mph). take into account the potential of the team.
Teammate VeeKay and team owner Ed Carpenter was next in seventh place with Chevy № 33 (232.397 miles per hour); Marcus Ericksins of Ghana ranked eighth with a Honda № 8 (232.275 mph), and the only representative of Andretti Autosport Fast 12, Ramen Grosjean, hit as a newcomer ninth (232,201 mph). Fast 12 finished Scott Dixon of Ghana – surprised that he was the slowest in his team of five recesses – which took place later in the afternoon (232,151 mph), the only Team Penske driver on the 11th (Will Power at 231,842 miles per hour) and Dale Coyne Race with Takuma Sato from Rick Weir Racing (231,708 miles per hour) which angered Marco Andretti and IndyCar in their first launch.
The 5-hour, 50-minute qualifying session was halted twice – the first with modest rainfall when Sage Karam tried to improve his qualifying position. After that hour-long delay was resolved, Karam ran again, as did Scott McLaughlin of Penske, before heavy rain fell, causing IndyCar to cut the day by one hour. The challenge has fixed positions 13 to 33 for the race, and according to the qualifying rules these drivers are executed before the start of the two-hour training session on Monday.
If one of the qualifiers lost more than the others on Saturday, it was McLaughlin of Penske who earned a P15 in his first run but fell to a P26 after gaining his speed to make a second qualifying attempt. Elsewhere in the pen, a surprising lack of pace made Andretti’s team wonder how four of the five cars missed Fast 12, and in the extended Andretti family with seven cars, both Meyer Shank Racing drivers were also close to switching to Sunday.
The Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing of the three cars was wary of uncompetitive, as Graham Rahal (21st place) was much further away from teammates Christian Lundgaard (31st) and Jack Harvey (32nd).
Stefan Wilson was the only racer who was unable to start the qualifying race due to a mechanical error; it starts 33rd and will be the last without the specified speed. Adversity reigned in other corners of Gasoline Alley, like Colton Hertha and others days to forget.
More positively, JR Hildebrand of AJ Foyt Racing found some of the speed and balance of the chassis he lacked all week on the way to the 17th (231.112 mph), and Calum Helot of Juncos Hollinger Racing who did a second shot in qualifying later in the league. afternoon, got 19th place as a newcomer (230.961 mph).
Action resumes Sunday at 12:30 p.m. ET with a 90-minute workout for Fast 12 before the Fast 12 and Fast Six sessions at 4 p.m.
https://racer.com/2022/05/21/veekay-leads-saturday-indy-500-qualifying/
