Photo credit: Penske Entertainment | Joe Skibinski
Arrow McLaren’s Felix Rosenqvist became the third driver ever to record a four-lap average over 234 mph at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to lead Fast 12 qualifying for the 2023 Indianapolis 500. He took the top spot on the final run of the session with an average speed of 234.081 mph.
He displaced the surprise of the weekend thus far, AJ Foyt Racing and Santino Ferrucci, who set an early speed of 233.911 mph that stood for most of the session.
In third was Rinus Veekay from Ed Carpenter Racing, who clocked in at 233.801 mph, and is looking to continue a sharp qualifying career at the Speedway: in three previous races, his lowest starting position in the 500 has been fourth.
Behind them came two of Chip Ganassi Racing’s cars, with current points leader Alex Palou recording a speed of 233.779 mph ahead of two-time defending polesitter and 2008 Indy 500 winner Scott Dixon’s 233.430 mph.
Pato O’Ward took the final spot in the Fast 6, setting a speed of 233.229 mph in the run after Ferrucci’s that just held on to the end of the session.
The remaining Arrow McLaren and Chip Ganassi cars took the next four spots, with Alexander Rossi slipping from second in Saturday’s running to the seventh fastest speed at 233.110 mph, joined on row three by Ganassi’s two-time winner Takuma Sato with 233.098 mph and the fourth Arrow McLaren car of Tony Kanaan, taking his victory laps from ninth after clocking a speed of 233.076 mph. Defending race winner Marcus Ericsson will defend his title from the inside of row four after coming in with an average of 232.889 mph, ahead of the other surprisingly fast AJ Foyt car of Benjamin Pedersen at 232.671 mph and the fastest of the surprisingly sluggish Team Penske cars, Will Power, who did not improve from a hard-fought twelfth position yesterday and came in at 232.635 mph.
