Today marked the first day of qualifying for the 2020 Indianapolis 500. If you’ve been following along, Saturday qualifying determines the starting position of most of the grid—the final eight rows, or starting positions 10 through 33. On Sunday, we’ll see positions one through nine settled. Here’s what we can expect from the starting grid so far.
The Andretti team absolutely dominated in qualifying, with four of its six drivers securing the top four positions on their first qualifying attempts. Chevrolet cars—including, surprisingly, the historically dominant Team Penske—struggled more than their Honda counterparts, with several of the Indy 500’s past champions unable to pull themselves out of the 20s.
Drivers in Fast Nine Shootout
Tomorrow, the nine fastest drivers from Saturday’s session will hit the track from 3-5pm Eastern to determine their starting lineup. Here’s the qualifying order, which is determined by Saturday’s speeds (from slowest to fastest):
1. Takuma Sato – 230.792 mph
2. Graham Rahal – 230.822 mph
3. Alex Palou – 231.034 mph
4. Rinus Veekay – 231.115 mph
5. Scott Dixon – 231.155 mph
6. James Hinchcliffe – 231.195 mph
7. Alexander Rossi – 231.268 mph
8. Ryan Hunter-Reay – 231.330 mph
9. Marco Andretti – 231.351 mph
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Starting Grid So Far
Row 4: Colton Herta, Marcus Ericsson, Spencer Pigot
Row 5: Josef Newgarden, Felix Rosenqvist, Patricio O’Ward
Row 6: Ed Carpenter, Zach Veach, Conor Daly
Row 7: Santino Ferrucci, Jack Harvey, Oliver Askew
Row 8: Will Power, Tony Kanaan, Dalton Kellett
Row 9: Simon Pagenaud, Fernando Alonso, James Davison
Row 10: Helio Castroneves, Charlie Kimball, Max Chilton
Row 11: Sage Karam, J.R. Hildebrand, Ben Hanley