Beyond the Flag
Fansided

IndyCar: 2021 Indy 500 – Full Saturday qualifying results

By Asher Fair

Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing, IndyCar, Indy 500
Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing, IndyCar, Indy 500 /
facebooktwitterreddit

IndyCar’s Saturday qualifying session for the 105th running of the Indy 500 is in the books, setting the stage for Sunday’s two sessions.

The first qualifying session for the 105th running of the Indy 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway is in the books, with all 35 drivers on the entry list for the biggest IndyCar race of the year having made at least one four-lap qualifying run earlier today.

The bottom five drivers from today’s qualifying session are set to advance to tomorrow afternoon’s Bump Day qualifying session, where three will lock themselves into the 11th and final row of the starting lineup for the 200-lap race around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) oval in Speedway, Indiana and two will see themselves miss out on the opportunity to compete.

Also. Danica Patrick's worst crash. light

Meanwhile, the top nine drivers from today’s qualifying session are set to advance to tomorrow afternoon’s Fast Nine Shootout to set the first three rows of the starting lineup, including the pole position.

More from IndyCar

The drivers who finished today’s session from 10th through 30th place are locked into their starting positions from the fourth row through the 10th row on the grid.

Leading today’s session was Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon, who recorded a top four-lap average speed of 231.828 miles per hour behind the wheel of his #9 Honda in what was the session’s opening qualifying attempt. He is set to be joined by teammates Tony Kanaan, Alex Palou and Marcus Ericsson, Andretti Autosport teammates Colton Herta and Ryan Hunter-Reay, Ed Carpenter Racing teammates Ed Carpenter and Rinus VeeKay, and Meyer Shank Racing’s Helio Castroneves in tomorrow’s Fast Nine Shootout.

Palou is set to advance to this battle for the pole position despite wrecking his #10 Honda in his second qualifying attempt, as he did not withdraw his initial speed before making that attempt. So all four Chip Ganassi Racing drivers are set to compete in this shootout.

The bottom five drivers who are set to make additional four-lap qualifying runs in tomorrow’s Bump Day qualifying session include Team Penske’s Will Power, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing’s Sage Karam, A.J. Foyt Enterprises’ Charlie Kimball, Paretta Autosport’s Simona de Silvestro and Top Gun Racing’s RC Enerson.

Interestingly, Power’s four-lap average speed of 229.228 miles per hour was actually quicker than that of 30th place qualifier Dalton Kellett of A.J. Foyt Enterprises (228.323 miles per hour), but because Power did not bump his way into the top 30 when he made that run, it was not officially classified as a speed.

Kellett was the penultimate driver on the track after withdrawing his initial speed of 229.250 miles per hour, which ranked 30th ahead of Power’s at the time, and could technically have gone as slowly as he wanted to since the bottom five drivers did not have official speeds.

De Silvestro was the last driver out and failed to better his speed of 228.323 miles per hour, but had Kellett gone slower, she would not have had the opportunity to even make another attempt.

Here are the full results of the first qualifying session for the 2021 Indy 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway among those with official times.

Rank – Driver – Car, Team, Engine – Speed (miles per hour)
1st – Scott Dixon – #9, Chip Ganassi Racing, Honda – 231.828
2nd – Colton Herta – #26, Andretti Autosport, Honda – 231.648
3rd – Tony Kanaan – #48, Chip Ganassi Racing, Honda – 231.639
4th – Ed Carpenter – #20, Ed Carpenter Racing, Chevrolet – 231.616
5th – Rinus VeeKay – #21, Ed Carpenter Racing, Chevrolet – 231.483
6th – Helio Castroneves – #06, Meyer Shank Racing, Honda – 231.164
7th – Alex Palou – #10, Chip Ganassi Racing, Honda – 231.145
8th – Ryan Hunter-Reay – #28, Andretti Autosport, Honda – 231.139
9th – Marcus Ericsson – #8, Chip Ganassi Racing, Honda – 231.104
10th – Alexander Rossi – #27, Andretti Autosport, Honda – 231.046
11th – Ed Jones – #18, DCR with Vasser-Sullivan, Honda – 231.044
12th – Pato O’Ward – #5, Arrow McLaren SP, Chevrolet – 230.864
13th – Pietro Fittipaldi – #51, Dale Coyne Racing with RWR, Honda – 230.846
14th – Felix Rosenqvist – #7, Arrow McLaren SP, Chevrolet – 230.744
15th – Takuma Sato – #30, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, Honda – 230.708
16th – James Hinchcliffe – #29, Andretti Autosport, Honda – 230.563
17th – Scott McLaughlin – #3, Team Penske, Chevrolet – 230.557
18th – Graham Rahal – #15, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, Honda – 230.521
19th – Conor Daly – #47, Ed Carpenter Racing, Chevrolet – 230.427
20th – Jack Harvey – #60, Meyer Shank Racing, Honda – 230.191
21st – Josef Newgarden – #2, Team Penske, Chevrolet – 230.071
22nd – J.R. Hildebrand – #1, A.J. Foyt Enterprises, Chevrolet – 229.98
23rd – Santino Ferrucci – #45, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, Honda – 229.949
24th – Juan Pablo Montoya – #86, Arrow McLaren SP, Chevrolet – 229.891
25th – Marco Andretti – #98, Andretti Herta-Haupert Autosport, Honda – 229.872
26th – Simon Pagenaud – #22, Team Penske, Chevrolet – 229.778
27th – Sebastien Bourdais – #14, A.J. Foyt Enterprises, Chevrolet – 229.744
28th – Stefan Wilson – #25, Andretti Autosport, Honda – 229.714
29th – Max Chilton – #59, Carlin, Chevrolet – 229.417
30th – Dalton Kellett – #4, A.J. Foyt Enterprises, Chevrolet – 228.323

dark. Next. Top 25 IndyCar drivers of all-time

Tomorrow’s two qualifying sessions, the Bump Day qualifying session and the Fast Nine Shootout, are scheduled to begin at 1:15 p.m. ET and 3:00 p.m. ET, respectively. NBC Sports Network is set to broadcast the Bump Day qualifying session live beginning at 1:00 p.m. ET, and NBC is set to broadcast the Fast Nine Shootout beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET. NBC is also set to broadcast the race itself beginning at 11:00 a.m. ET next Sunday, May 30.