Indy 500: Sato, Grosjean, Johnson into Top 12, P13-33 set

After Ed Carpenter Racing’s Rinus VeeKay took full advantage of the favorable temperatures at the start of the day to set the third fastest qualifying run in Indy history, cars ran again to attempt to break into the top 12 spots to go for pole tomorrow.

Track temperature had dropped to 101degF by the end of the initial runs (minus Colton Herta and Stefan Wilson, both of whom were having engine changes).

Callum Ilott of Juncos Hollinger Racing-Chevrolet was the first to do a retake run and improved by 0.7mph but only gained three places, and lost two of those straight afterward when Dale Coyne Racing put rookie David Malukas and veteran Takuma Sato in line. The latter had to run again having had his first morning run invalidated when he interfered with Marco Andretti’s warm-up lap, having failed to follow IndyCar’s instruction to go to the deceleration lane on his slow-down lap.

Rookie Malukas improved, and got the Coyne with HMD car into 12^th, but he was bumped out by his two-time Indy 500-winning teammate. Sato bounced off Turn 2’s SAFER barrier on his third lap but kept his foot in for the remainder of his run and claimed 12^th.

Ironically, Marco Andretti was next up again, having suffered an electrical issue on his initial run, but he could claim only 24th. Meyer Shank Racing-Honda’s defending race winner Helio Castroneves produced an average of 229.630mph. Herta’s first run resulted in 25^th, with a 230.235mph average.

Alexander Rossi elected to go to Lane 1, the priority lane, for his second run, which means a driver has to pull his first time, and could not improve, instead dropping himself from 15^th to 21^st.

Sage Karam was on his warm-up lap when the rain moved in, and the caution flag came out. There were also advisories of lightning within an eight-mile radius. However, there were still 3hrs30mins to go, so the action would resume once the track was dried and the lightning departed.

When the session restarted after 1hr20min, Karam improved his average speed by 0.5mph in the dense air, but gained only two places.

Remarkably, Team Penske-Chevrolet had elected to pull the times of Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin, despite them sitting 14^th and 15^th on the grid, and go into the Priority lane. The hope was that the lower track temperatures could spring them into the Top 12 for Sunday’s shootout.

But McLaughlin’s second run dropped him from 15^th to 26^th, as he was 1.4mph slower than in his initial run. Teammate Newgarden got lucky because he was only his warm-up lap when lightning returned to within an eight-mile radius of the Speedway and the caution was thrown. Then came the rain and with an hour to go before the 5.50pm session, IndyCar had to admit the day was over.

Because he had not taken the green flag, Newgarden will be allowed to reclaim his 14^th slot on the grid.

Positions 13-33 – now set