With second-fastest four-lap cut in an Indy 500 qualifying session, Scott Dixon claims pole for the fifth time – Romain Grosjean on row 3 – Jimmie Johnson drifts
Scott Dixon (Ganassi-Honda) is the pole setter for the 106th running of the Indianapolis 500, which takes place next Sunday (May 29) at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as the culmination of the 2022 IndyCar season.
With an outstanding best on the second day of qualifying at the “Brickyard”, Dixon not only secured the fifth Indy 500 pole of his career (following 2008, 2015, 2017 and 2021), but he also posted the second-fastest four-lap average ever in an Indy 500 qualifying session: 234.046 miles per hour (376.580 km/h).
“This place is just unbelievable, with all the ups and downs it keeps bringing out over all these days. This is just the result of a lot of hard work from a lot of people. A huge thank you to my teammates,” said Dixon, whose four Ganassi teammates all finished in the top 12 for Sunday.
234.046 miles per hour: record average for an Indy 500 pole
With the air temperature just 18 degrees Celsius and partly cloudy skies, conditions were near perfect Sunday afternoon in Indianapolis. In terms of a pole, Dixon’s four-lap cut is actually a new record, beating the previous pole record – set in 1996 by Scott Brayton at 233.718 miles per hour!
The fastest pole speed in Indy500 HISTORY!@ScottDixon9‘s average speed of 234.046 mph breaks the late Scott Brayton’s record of 233.718 mph. pic.twitter.com/i82tcKVwF3
– NBC Sports (@NBCSports) May 22, 2022
Dixon is still some way short of the absolute best value over four laps – set by Arie Luyendyk in 1996 in the qualifying segment not relevant for pole with 236.986 miles per hour (381.310 km/h). But there is a reason for that: The Indianapolis Motor Speedway was completely resurfaced for the month of May 1996, not since.
Shortly before the Top 6 Shootout – the last segment (Q3) of the new Indy 500 Qualifying – took place on Sunday, there was a parade lap. This was led by Rick Mears, who is the record holder in this respect at the Indy 500 with six poles. Mears was in this year’s pace car, a Chevrolet Corvette Z06, and had the six final Shootout participants in their IndyCars behind him on the parade lap.
Ganassi with four cars in the top-six shootout
In the top-6 shootout, six-time IndyCar champion Scott Dixon then edged out his five competitors with his four-lap average of 234.046 miles per hour. Second fastest was Ganassi teammate Alex Palou with a four-lap average of 233.499 miles per hour.
As a result, reigning IndyCar champion Palou will start from the middle of the front row next Sunday. On the outside of the front row, Rinus VeeKay (Carpenter-Chevrolet) lines up third fastest. The second row on the grid is made up of Ed Carpenter (Carpenter-Chevrolet; 4th), Marcus Ericsson (Ganassi-Honda; 5th) and Tony Kanaan (Ganassi-Honda; 6th).
The Chip Ganassi team thus had four of its five cars in the top-6 shootout, and the fifth in the top-12 shootout immediately preceding it. Incidentally, pole-sitter Dixon had only been in P10 after the first day of qualifying (Saturday), but that was good enough for a top-12 finish and thus a repeat appearance on Sunday.
Romain Grosjean on row 3 – Jimmie Johnson with wild drift
The Top 6 shootout was preceded by the Top 12 shootout (Q2) on Sunday. In this second segment of the two-day qualifying session, the top 12 from Saturday (Q1) took to the track in reverse order for four flying laps. The six fastest drivers in this segment then went out for another four flying laps in Q3.
Before Kanaan, Carpenter, Ericsson, Palou, VeeKay and Dixon decided the first two rows of the grid among themselves in this order in the top-6 shootout, grid positions 7 to 12 were already firmly allocated in the top-12 shootout.
The drivers qualified for the places on the third and fourth rows of the grid in the following order: Patricio O’Ward (McLaren-Chevrolet; 7th), Felix Rosenqvist (McLaren-Chevrolet; 8th), Romain Grosjean (Andretti-Honda; 9th), Takuma Sato (Coyne-Honda; 10th), Will Power (Penske-Chevrolet; 11th) and Jimmie Johnson (Ganassi-Honda; 12th). (Result: Qualifying 2 (Top-12 Shootout) for the 106th Indy 500)
For Indy 500 rookie Romain Grosjean, P9 in the top-12 shootout was not enough to make it into the top-6 shootout. Nevertheless, the place on the outside of the third row of the grid is extremely respectable for the former Formula 1 driver. Speaking of former Formula 1 drivers, tenth on the grid is a disappointment for Takuma Sato, who had led all three days of practice for this year’s Indy 500 before the two-day qualifying session.
Current IndyCar points leader Will Power did not sound overjoyed either in view of his eleventh place on the grid. Still, for him it’s no comparison to the drama of last year, when he had to dither his way through the last-row shootout that took place at the time to even make it into the 33-strong grid for the race in his Penske Chevrolet.
Jimmie Johnson – just like Grosjean a rookie at the Indy 500 but not in the IndyCar Series – experienced a huge scare right in the first turn of the first of his four laps. The seven-time NASCAR champion just managed to avoid a sustained contact with the wall (as had happened to him on Friday) or even a crash. But during the wild drift out of Turn 1, too much time was lost to make it into the Top 6. In twelfth, Johnson will start from the outside of the fourth row.
WHAT A SAVE, @JIMMIEJOHNSON!
Jimmie saves it on the first corner of his qualifying run. He’ll start on the first four rows in his first Indy500 pic.twitter.com/q3PVJdz3qi
– IndyCar on NBC (@IndyCaronNBC) May 22, 2022
As far as the engine manufacturers were concerned, the top 12 line-up was fairly even with 7:5 for Honda against Chevrolet, with Chevrolet leading the standings after the first day thanks to Rinus VeeKay. At the end of the second day, however, Honda came out on top thanks to Ganassi’s superiority.
Remarkably, as during the entire week of practice, there was not a single crash during the weekend’s two-day qualifying. Now that all three segments of the new Indy 500 qualifying have been completed over two days, the 33-strong grid for next Sunday’s 200-lap race is complete.
According to this year’s new three-segment qualifying format, the twelve participants in the top-12 shootout will earn bonus points towards the overall IndyCar standings. Will Power has retained the top position in the standings despite his eleventh place on the grid (two bonus points).
On Monday there will be another two-hour free practice in race set-up. On Friday, the “Carb-Day”, there is traditionally the final practice. This last practice session before the race, also in race set-up, is also scheduled for two hours.
