Heavy rainfall and puddling on track forced qualify for the Grand Prix of Indianapolis at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course to be delayed until 10:30 a.m. ET this morning. With the delayed qualifying session, the morning warm-up session will not take place.
Through two practice sessions, Álex Palou was the fastest over the combined results with his best lap at 70.0904 seconds. Palou is attempting to win three consecutive races for the third time in his career. He would become the eighth driver in IndyCar history to have three separate streaks of at least three consecutive victories in a career. The Catalan driver is also going for his fourth consecutive victory in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and he has won the last two years from pole position.
Graham Rahal started second last year along side Palou, and Rahal was second over the combined practice results, 0.1075 seconds off the top time. Rahal's winless streak is up to 145 races. After finishes of third and eighth, he could have three consecutive top ten finishes for the first time since summer 2021 when he was sixth at Mid-Ohio, fifth at Nashville and seventh on the IMS road course. This weekend will be Rahal's 315th start, tying him with Johnny Rutherford for tenth all-time.
Kyle Kirkwood was 0.1242 seconds off Palou in practice as Kirkwood enters 17 points back in the championship. Dating back to last season, Kirkwood has been the top Andretti Global finisher in six consecutive races. He has started in the top five in the last two races after failing to start in the top five in the previous 11 races.
Felix Rosenqvist will be looking for his third pole position on the IMS road course, and Rosenqvist was 0.1257 seconds behind Palou. It has been 97 starts since Rosenqvist's only career victory at Road America in 2020. Since then, he has five podium finishes, three of which were runner-up finishes, including the last race at Long Beach.
David Malukas rounded out the top five and he was the top Chevrolet driver. In the last two races, Malukas has set personal-best finishes at those circuits, fourth at Barber Motorsports Park and seventh at Long Beach. Malukas has been the top Penske starter in four consecutive races.
Kyffin Simpson was sixth in practice, 0.329 slower than his teammate at the top. Simpson is coming off his second top ten finish of the season. He was tenth at Long Beach for the second consecutive year. The only time he has had consecutive top ten finishes was last season when he was sixth at Road America and tenth at Mid-Ohio. Last year, Simpson unable to start this race due to a gearbox issue.
Marcus Armstrong was a fraction behind Simpson in seventh. In the last two Grand Prix of Indianapolis, Armstrong has finished in the top ten. He is coming off a 24th-place result at Long Beach, snapping a string of three consecutive top ten finishes. Armstrong has yet to start worse than 13th this season.
Scott Dixon is eighth in the championships and he was eighth fastest in combined practice results. Dixon has three consecutive top five finishes on the IMS road course and six consecutive top ten finishes at this circuit. He has started outside the top ten in four of those six races, including three starts of 15th or worse. Dixon picked up his best qualifying run of the season at Long Beach where he started sixth.
Alexander Rossi was ninth quickest in practice. Rossi's most recent IndyCar victory was on the IMS road course in July 2022. It has been 59 starts since that day. Rossi has started in the top ten in five consecutive races from the IMS road course, and he had four consecutive top ten finishes at this circuit before finishing 14th last year.
Christian Lundgaard rounded out the top ten. Lundgaard is coming off his worst finish of the season in 20th at Long Beach, and he has yet to start better than tenth this season. The Dane has completed every lap through the first five races. Lundgaard will be making his 75th career start this weekend.
Marcus Ericsson was just on the outside the top ten in 11th from the two practice sessions. Over his last nine starts, Ericsson has three top ten finishes and five finishes outside the top fifteen. Ericsson's only top five finish on the IMS road course was fourth in May 2022, the race before he won the Indianapolis 500.
Louis Foster was the final driver within a half-second of Palou on top in 12th. Foster was 12th in this race last year after starting third. It remains his best finish in IndyCar. Foster had six starts in the top ten last season, but his only top ten start this season was ninth at St. Petersburg.
Christian Rasmussen was 13th based on Friday’s on-track activities. Thirteenth would be his best finish this season. Rasmussen has finished 19th or worse in three of five races this season. In his first two IMS road course starts, Rasmussen has finished 20th and 19th.
Will Power found himself 14th based on practice times. Power has made it out of the first round of qualifying in 16 of 17 events at this track. Through the first five races, this is the third-worst season for Power as he has an average finish of 14.4. Only 2013 (16.0) and 2008 (14.8) were worst starts to a season for Power. He has twice won the sixth race of the season, Belle Isle in 2014 and the 2018 Indianapolis 500.
Patricio O'Ward led a pair of Arrow McLaren cars in the middle of the field. For O’Ward, he was 15th. With four top five finishes through the first five races, this is the best start of a season for O'Ward since 2023 when he also opened with four top five finishes in five races. However, O'Ward did not win a race that season.
Nolan Siegel was a little over two-hundredths of a second slower than O’ Ward in 16th. Siegel has started outside the top twenty in three of the first five races, and he started 18th in this race last year. While Siegel was 12th at Long Beach, he has not had a top ten finish in his last 12 starts.
Scott McLaughlin was only 17th in practice. At Long Beach, McLaughlin broke a trend of his finishing position regressing from each race as he was sixth. Last year, McLaughlin matched his career-best finish on the IMS road course when he finished fourth.
Dennis Hauger was the top rookie in 18th. Since starting third on debut in St. Petersburg, Hauger has not started better than 19th this season. Both his 19th starting positions have come on the street courses of Arlington and Long Beach. Hauger has been the top Dale Coyne Racing finisher in three of five races this season.
Caio Collett was less than five-hundredths of a second slower than Hauger in practice. After scoring his first top fifteen finish in Arlington in 12th, Collet has finished outside the top twenty in the last two races. In four Indy Lights starts on this track, he was on the podium twice.
Mick Schumacher made it three rookies in a row on the time chart, and he closed out the top twenty drivers in practice. Schumacher's father Michael won five times on the IMS road course in the United States Grand Prix. Michael was the only driver to win multiple races on the IMS road course in Formula One.
Santino Ferrucci does not have a great track record on the IMS road course, and Friday did not start off on a positive note as he was 21st. Ferrucci has finished outside the top ten in his last six starts on the IMS road course. He has finished outside the top fifteen in every race on this circuit with A.J. Foyt Racing.
Romain Grosjean ended up 22nd in practice. Grosjean has made the Fast Six twice this season and has started 15th or worse in the other three races. Grosjean is one of three drivers with multiple runner-up finishes on the IMS road course to not win at the circuit. Graham Rahal has finished runner-up here three times while Patricio O'Ward has been second on this circuit twice.
Josef Newgarden’s best practice time was 23rd on the day, 0.8846 seconds off Palou. Newgarden has started outside the top ten in three of four road/street course races this season with his best grid position being ninth. He has started in the top six in the last two visits to this circuit, but he has not finished in the top ten in his last three starts here. This weekend marks Newgarden's 238th start, which will put him level with Jimmy Vasser for 19th all-time.
Juncos Hollinger Racing had the slowest two drivers in practice, and neither driver ran a sub-71 second lap. Rinus VeeKay’s best lap was a 71.0636. With four consecutive results outside the top ten, VeeKay is looking to avoid his worst slump since 2023 when he had a nine-race run without a top ten finish.
Sting. Ray Robb was slowest, 1.2591 seconds off Palou in first. Robb has yet to finish in the top twenty this season. His best finish in four starts on the IMS road course is 21st, which came in last year's race. Robb has started outside the top twenty in three consecutive races.
Qualifying will begin at 10:30 a.m. ET on FS2 before FS1 picks up coverage at 11:00 a.m.
Fox's coverage of the Grand Prix of Indianapolis begins at 4:30 p.m. ET on Saturday May 9 with green flag scheduled for 4:47 p.m. ET. The race is scheduled for 85 laps.
