INDIANAPOLIS — Three familiar faces were at the top of the Indianapolis 500 qualifying board after the first round of time trials, with two-time reigning IndyCar series champion Alex Palou holding the provisional pole.
Palou, also the winner of four of the first five races this season as he seeks his fourth championship in a five-year stretch, qualified at 233.043 mph in a Honda-powered Chip Ganassi Racing entry Saturday to top the Chevrolets of Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin and Josef Newgarden, the latter the winner of the past two editions of the Indy 500.
“It was an amazing day for us,” Palou said. “In practice we were not able to finish a full qualifying run. It was tough conditions. But we had a ton of speed in the car.”
McLaughlin went 233.013 mph, with Newgarden third at 233.004. A year ago, all three Penske cars — including Will Power’s — swept the front row at the Indianapolis 500, and Newgarden used a last-lap pass to put himself in position to become the first driver to win “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” three consecutive years in the May 25 race.
Palou, McLaughlin and Newgarden took the rest of the day off after their initial qualifying runs. It was a far more stressful session for some other top stars, including Marco Andretti, who failed to lock himself into the field of 33 on the first day of qualifying.