Rinus VeeKay led the 33 drivers after the first day of qualifying for the Indianapolis 500.
The Ed Carpenter Racing driver is one of the 12 who advance to Sunday’s two-stage knockout qualifying to determine the pole-winner for the 106th running of the race.
The qualifying session that was affected by two lengthy delays for rainfall and lightning. VeeKay was the second driver out on track and put together a sensational four-lap run, clocked at an average speed of 233.655mph (376.031kph).
The first stoppage came at 2:12pm local time for rain. After over an hour and a half of waiting for the rain to stop and the track to dry, just ten minutes of running commenced before a second stoppage due to lightning strikes near Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
VeeKay’s run surpassed that of McLaren SP’s Pato O’Ward, who was the first driver out on track when time trials began at 11:00am. O’Ward qualified at an average speed of 233.037mph, ahead of his team mate Felix Rosenqvist at 232.775mph.
Defending IndyCar Series champion and 2021 Indy 500 runner-up Alex Palou was fourth after a run at 232.774 mph, ahead of his team mate and 2013 Indy winner Tony Kanaan (fifth) and Jimmie Johnson (sixth). The seven-time NASCAR champion was the fastest of the Indy 500 rookies in the field.
Also making the cut for the Fast 12 Qualifying session tomorrow were three-time Indy pole winner Ed Carpenter, Marcus Ericsson, Indy rookie Romain Grosjean, 2008 winner Scott Dixon, 2018 winner Will Power and two-time winner Takuma Sato – the fastest man in practice leading up to the event.
But Sato had a hard road to make the cut: His first run was invalidated after he impeded Marco Andretti’s first qualifying attempt, then he brushed the wall at turn two on the penultimate lap of his second and final run.
The top 12 drivers will qualify again tomorrow, with the fastest six qualifiers advancing to a Fast Six shootout (similar to IndyCar’s…