Palou surges to surprise Indianapolis 500 pole position

The Spaniard surprised even himself after only qualifying 11th in the 33-car all-in session.

That paved the way for Palou’s pole run, setting the second-fastest four-lap average in the Top 12 behind Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist.

Palou ended the Fast Six with a 232.248 mph to his name while Rosenqvist couldn’t convert his blistering speed in the two previous segments to end up fourth fastest.

“These guys, just look at these guys. Incredible work they did today,” said Palou, pointing to his Chip Ganassi Racing team members.

“I have no words. Today, honestly, we didn’t expect to have that much speed.

“We started struggling. I mean, we were 11th not holding anything back.”

Palou joked that going late in the first leg of qualifying, ironically, paid dividends.

During the random qualifying draw, Palou’s wife drew him 31st in the running order.

“I have to say probably being 31st, thanks to my wife for drawing that number,” he said.

“Being there allowed us to work on those conditions.

“Wow. That was incredible. It just feels incredible. A great start to the Month of May, and I can’t thank everybody at CGR enough.”

Ed Carpenter Racing’s Alexander Rossi was the qualifying surprise packet.

The 2016 Indianapolis 500 winner was first up in the Fast Six and set the pace with a 231.990 mph four-lap average – an effort good enough for second.

Third went the way of David Malukas in his first Indianapolis 500 start for Team Penske with a 231.877 mph four-lap average.

Rosenqvist was left bemused by the fall-off, having been the man to beat all day.

“I don’t know, to be honest. It was quite a big gap from run two to run three, like 1.3 mph,” Rosenqvist explained.

“It felt good, it didn’t seem like there was that much in it. It just didn’t go as fast, I’d say.

“A shame. It’s kind of deja vu for me. I had this three times now when we’ve gone into the last round and want to finish it off and then… yeah. It’s kind of like a curse.

“It is what it is. I’m super proud of the team. Congrats to Alex and Honda on the pole.

“We’ll just focus on our race. If you don’t get the pole, it’s pretty easy to switch back to race mode.”

Behind Rosenqvist in fourth came AJ Foyt Racing’s Santino Ferrucci (230.846 mph) and Pato O’Ward (230.442 mph) for McLaren.

Results: 110th Indianapolis 500 Qualifying, Fast Six