Bourdais reaches top of Indy speed chart before rain delay

The crowd roared each time the speed went up on the videoboards and when Dixon pulled back into pit lane after his 10-mile ride, everyone knew the nine-car pole shootout was over.

Qualifying for most IndyCar races is pretty simple, but this is the Indianapolis 500: a race steeped in its own traditions and unique ways of doing things. “I wasn’t expecting that”. The vehicle slid through the second turn and then hit the wall again before skidding to a stop. The French driver also fractured his right hip in a frightening crash Saturday.

“It feels damn good”, he said after Carpenter came up just short.

He had surgery Saturday night after crashing violently into Turn 2. INDYCAR will release updates on Bourdais’ condition when they become available.

Andretti had four of his six drivers – Sato, Spain’s Alonso, defending champion Alexander Rossi and Marco Andretti – advance to Sunday’s shootout.

Cars 10-33 on Saturday’s speed chart will make the field but all times are erased and each vehicle must make another four-lap run Sunday to determine the grid for the last eight rows.

After getting out of the vehicle, Alonso said a slight hiccup on the final corner of the final lap kept him from producing an even bigger number. Usually for the [Indianapolis] qualifying, I’m not enjoying. Bourdais and Dixon are teammates in the Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT program in sports cars, and race in separate cars at endurance races in both the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and 24 Hours of Le Mans, the latter of which is next month. “This is an absolute team effort”. Later attempts were run under cloudy skies. I think we expected him to be up to speed very quickly.

“It was definitely a new experience because you run at those speeds for the whole lap”.

Two-time Formula One world champion Fernando Alonso has qualified an impressive fifth for his Indy 500 debut.

“There’s nothing really to say about it because everything felt normal”, Alonso said when asked about the engine. You are going very fast, you feel the degradation of the tyres. “Hopefully, we will have a very strong auto tomorrow if the weather stays the same and we’ll see what happens”. Barely two laps into his four-lap trek, he got loose in Turn 2 and made a beeline for the wall, going almost nose-first into the SAFER barrier.

Japan’s Takuma Sato was third quickest with a 231.969 miles per hour and Alonso fourth best with 231.827 miles per hour in his McLaren Andretti Autosport Honda.

We were speaking early Saturday afternoon during the rain delay that turned what is normally a nerve-wracking day – qualifying Saturday at IMS – into a neurological nightmare.

Carpenter, his teammate JR Hildebrand and Power are the only Chevrolet drivers in the top nine. That sessions runs from 2:45-4:45 p.m. ET. The 1996 victor was also slowest, posting just a 219.640mph lap. The Californian famously won the 100th Running of the Indianapolis 500 after starting 11th in 2016.

Alonso has completed four days of the opening week of practice for his first Indy 500, which he is contesting in a McLaren-Honda entry run by Andretti Autosport.