Dixon grabs pole for Indy 500

Scott Dixon made a big gamble pay off.

After allowing engineer Chris Simmons to tinker with his car’s qualifying trim and later questioning whether the changes might be too daring, Dixon delivered with the fastest speeds he’s ever seen at Indianapolis.

The Kiwi driver had the fastest lap and the fastest four-lap qualifying average in 21 years to secure his third Indianapolis 500 pole.

He finished with a qualifying speed of 373.63kmh, the best since Arie Luyendyk’s track record in Indycar racing of 381.39kmh in 1996.

Dixon’s first lap at an average speed of 374.32kmh also was the fastest since Luyendyk’s record lap of 382.22kmh in 1996.

‘‘Seriously, I don’t know where that came from,’’ Dixon said at the end of qualifying yesterday.

‘‘It’s fast, really fast. I actually thought there was something wrong with my dash to start with, [I thought] ‘232[mph]? Wow!’ I knew that big lap, the first one, was going to be tough to beat. So a big thank you to Chris.

‘‘We’ve got to be happy with this. It’s not the race win, but we’re in the right starting position.’’

The Chip Ganassi Racing driver will be joined on the front row by Ed Carpenter, a two-time pole winner. Defending race champion Alexander Rossi of Andretti Autosport will start on the outside of row one.

Formula One driver Fernando Alonso will start fifth in his first oval race after averaging 372.08kmh. Alonso was on leave from F1 in a bid to win motorsport’s triple crown - the Monaco Grand Prix, Indy 500 and Le Mans 24-hours race.

Alonso has won the Monaco Grand Prix, an event he will miss in this year’s F1 calendar so he can compete in the Indy 500.