Continuing the theme of the 2025 season, Alex Palou was the fastest man on Saturday, hitting 233.043mph for an average over the course of four laps. He will be the last driver on track tomorrow when the top 12 qualifiers try to make their way into the Fast 6.
Joining Palou will be Scott McLaughlin, Josef Newgarden, Pato O'Ward, Scott Dixon, Robert Schwartzman, David Malukas, Felix Rosenqvist, Takuma Sato, Will Power, Marcus Ericsson, and Christian Lundgaard.
However, the biggest story is at the other end of the grid. Avoiding another Bump Day experience, Graham Rahal narrowly escaped being part of the last-chance qualifier by just 0.004mph. The driver on the other side of that was Marco Andretti, who ran out of time in his efforts to go out again at the very end.
Andretti will be joined in the last-chance-qualifier by Marcus Armstrong, Jacob Abel, and Rinus VeeKay.
"Two of the guys that ran there at the very end -- Rinus and Marco -- are two of the guys I respect the most around here," said Rahal. "Those are guys who have been exceptionally fast and extremely talented at this place. And so, you never know. I think we improved our car. A tip of a cap to the No. 15 team because this day didn't start off well. You guys knew that. The last couple days have been tough. But we found a lot and we improved a lot as this day went on.
"Had we gotten another shot at it, I think, honestly, we would have gone faster. But the reality of the situation is that our guys kept their cool today, their heads down. Really proud of everybody. That beer is gonna taste good tonight. I was just praying that somehow this would happen. Thanks so much to the team for making it happen."
Qualifying rundown
Ericsson was the first driver on track, reaching 232.132mph over the course of a four-lap run, but it was O'Ward who set the early benchmark at 232.820mph.
There were several nervous race cars as they battled high winds, but most were able to hang onto it -- the keyword being most. Colton Herta was not as fortunate. The Andretti Global driver spun out in Turn 1 on his first flying lap, going completely upside down in a frightening wreck. Thankfully, he was okay, but the team was forced to bring out the backup car. Impressively, this was not the last time we saw him on track today.
.@ColtonHerta goes airborne and upside down! 💥 Scary crash early in #Indy500 qualifying, but he has since climbed from the car. 👏
— Motorsport.com (@Motorsport) May 17, 2025
🎥 @IndyCarOnFOX pic.twitter.com/QBUSwej2fN
While Rahal was breathing a sigh of relief at the end of the day, that was not the case after his first run. He radioed to the team: "I just got no grip. The grip is absolutely nothing. I'm struggling like hell. The car is all over the place."
Felix Rosenqvist went faster than anyone on both Lap 1 and Lap 2, but he was forced to lift quite a bit on the third lap. If he had been able to maintain, he would have easily been the fastest man at IMS.
O'Ward remained on top until the 25th driver in the qualifying order pulled out on track -- championship leader Palou. He rocketed to the top with the first 233mph run and remained there for the rest of the day.
Conor Daly, who put down a solid lap of 231.596mph, actually had his first run disallowed after failing post-qualifying inspection.
Both Helio Castroneves and Josef Newgarden moved out of line, opting out of their first run. After everyone had the opportunity to go out, Jacob Abel, Graham Rahal, and Rinus VeeKay were the slowest cars that had actually put down times. Rahal later dragged himself just above the danger zone, but it wasn't much of a buffer.
Alexander Rossi was the first driver to make a second run, trying to punch up into the top 12 but to no avail. After Power pulled out of line, the track sat empty for a little bit as there was a lull in the action. As things picked back up, one of those who made a big improvement was Kyle Larson, who jumped from 27th to 16th, reaching 231.326mph.
The final hour
The session moved into the final hour with temperatures dropping and drivers growing more desperate. Ed Carpenter came within a few inches of the wall as he pushed his car up into the top 15, provisionally.
But the driver on track after him was quite the comeback story: within five hours of flipping upside down, Herta returned to the track in his backup car.
Herta got dangerously close to the wall during his late run, but he managed a 230.192mph run, putting himself 29th, just inside the field. He bumped his teammate Marco Andretti out, and apparently did the entire run without being able to use the weight jacker to help the car’s balance.
As the clock ticked down to under an hour, Christian Lundgaard was the final driver inside the top 12 as Rahal was now on the bubble in 30th.
Another impressive comeback involved Marcus Armstrong, who had to undergo concussion protocols after a massive crash in Saturday morning practice. He was cleared and after modifying a road course car, Armstrong made his first qualifying run with just 45 minutes left in the day. Unfortunately, the run was called off as the speed simply was not there.
Rossi remained the first driver outside the top 12 and the only hope Ed Carpenter Racing had in making the top 12, but he failed to improve on his previous time. Meanwhile, Sato and Malukas were able to make slight improvements, further strengthening their position inside the top 12.
Ferrucci had his run called off after a massive lift on his second lap through Turn 2, but thankfully, he kept the car out of the wall.
Andretti misses out and Daly goes for it
Trying to drag himself out of the drop zone, Andretti came back out, but just missed out by only 0.004mph. VeeKay and Armstrong both had their runs called off as Andretti's team scrambled to have another go.
Unfortunately for them, they never got the chance as Daly beat them out onto the track. Daly was attempting to fight his way into the top 12 for Juncos Hollinger Racing, improving from 21st to 13th and just missing out on advancement.
"I really wanted to get that Fast 12," said Daly. "I investigated holding sixth gear through Turn 1 and 2 and it worked for those middle two laps. But, didn't get the weight jacker back in time for Turn 1 on the last lap. Literally, the team deserves to be in the Fast 12, but I made the mistake of just trying to push it too much and not getting the weight jacker back in time. Just got a little bit tight in Turn 1 and 2."
For those following Larson's attempt to finally complete the Indy 500/Coke 600 'Double,' he qualified 21ST and will start from the outside of Row 7 for the 109th running of the Indianapolis 500.
On Sunday, Fast 12 qualifying will begin at 4pm EST, followed by the LCQ at 5:15pm EST, and the Fast 6 shootout for the pole at 6:25pm EST.
Photos from Indianapolis 500 - Qualifying 1
2025 Indianapolis 500 - Qualifying 1
2025 Indianapolis 500 - Qualifying 1
2025 Indianapolis 500 - Qualifying 1
2025 Indianapolis 500 - Qualifying 1
2025 Indianapolis 500 - Qualifying 1
2025 Indianapolis 500 - Qualifying 1
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2025 Indianapolis 500 - Qualifying 1
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2025 Indianapolis 500 - Qualifying 1
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2025 Indianapolis 500 - Qualifying 1
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2025 Indianapolis 500 - Qualifying 1
2025 Indianapolis 500 - Qualifying 1
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| Cla | Driver | # | Laps | Time | Interval | Mph |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A. PalouChip Ganassi Racing | 10 | 4 |
2'34.4781 |
233.043 | |
| 2 | S. McLaughlinTeam Penske | 3 | 4 |
+0.0198 2'34.4979 |
0.0198 | 233.013 |
| 3 | J. NewgardenTeam Penske | 2 | 4 |
+0.0255 2'34.5036 |
0.0057 | 233.004 |
| 4 | P. O'WardArrow McLaren | 5 | 4 |
+0.1476 2'34.6257 |
0.1221 | 232.820 |
| 5 | S. DixonChip Ganassi Racing | 9 | 4 |
+0.2546 2'34.7327 |
0.1070 | 232.659 |
| 6 | R. ShwartzmanPrema Racing | 83 | 4 |
+0.3047 2'34.7828 |
0.0501 | 232.584 |
| 7 | D. MalukasA.J. Foyt Enterprises | 4 | 4 |
+0.3299 2'34.8080 |
0.0252 | 232.546 |
| 8 | F. RosenqvistMeyer Shank Racing | 60 | 4 |
+0.3945 2'34.8726 |
0.0646 | 232.449 |
| 9 | T. SatoRahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | 75 | 4 |
+0.4170 2'34.8951 |
0.0225 | 232.415 |
| 10 | W. PowerTeam Penske | 12 | 4 |
+0.5979 2'35.0760 |
0.1809 | 232.144 |
| 11 | M. EricssonAndretti Global | 28 | 4 |
+0.6062 2'35.0843 |
0.0083 | 232.132 |
| 12 | C. LundgaardArrow McLaren | 7 | 4 |
+0.8223 2'35.3004 |
0.2161 | 231.809 |
| 13 | C. DalyJuncos Hollinger Racing | 76 | 4 |
+0.8787 2'35.3568 |
0.0564 | 231.725 |
| 14 | A. RossiEd Carpenter Racing | 20 | 4 |
+0.8944 2'35.3725 |
0.0157 | 231.701 |
| 15 | K. SimpsonChip Ganassi Racing | 8 | 4 |
+0.9346 2'35.4127 |
0.0402 | 231.641 |
| 16 | E. CarpenterEd Carpenter Racing | 33 | 4 |
+0.9399 2'35.4180 |
0.0053 | 231.633 |
| 17 | S. FerrucciA.J. Foyt Enterprises | 14 | 4 |
+0.9672 2'35.4453 |
0.0273 | 231.593 |
| 18 | D. DeFrancescoRahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | 30 | 4 |
+0.9794 2'35.4575 |
0.0122 | 231.575 |
| 19 |
R. Robb StingJuncos Hollinger Racing
|
77 | 4 |
+1.0555 2'35.5336 |
0.0761 | 231.461 |
| 20 |
C. RasmussenEd Carpenter Racing
|
21 | 4 |
+1.0708 2'35.5489 |
0.0153 | 231.438 |
| 21 | K. LarsonArrow McLaren/Rick Hendrick | 17 | 4 |
+1.1461 2'35.6242 |
0.0753 | 231.326 |
| 22 |
L. FosterRahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
|
45 | 4 |
+1.3268 2'35.8049 |
0.1807 | 231.058 |
| 23 | C. IlottPrema Racing | 90 | 4 |
+1.3708 2'35.8489 |
0.0440 | 230.993 |
| 24 | H. CastronevesMeyer Shank Racing | 06 | 4 |
+1.3811 2'35.8592 |
0.0103 | 230.978 |
| 25 | K. KirkwoodAndretti Global | 27 | 4 |
+1.4218 2'35.8999 |
0.0407 | 230.917 |
| 26 |
N. SiegelArrow McLaren
|
6 | 4 |
+1.6561 2'36.1342 |
0.2343 | 230.571 |
| 27 | R. Hunter-ReayDreyer & Reinbold Racing/Cusick Motorsports | 23 | 4 |
+1.7971 2'36.2752 |
0.1410 | 230.363 |
| 28 | J. HarveyDreyer & Reinbold Racing/Cusick Motorsports | 24 | 4 |
+1.8072 2'36.2853 |
0.0101 | 230.348 |
| 29 | C. HertaAndretti Global | 26 | 4 |
+1.9129 2'36.3910 |
0.1057 | 230.192 |
| 30 | G. RahalRahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | 15 | 4 |
+2.1371 2'36.6152 |
0.2242 | 229.863 |
