Dixon blazes to Indy pole in record run
INDIANAPOLIS — The lineup for the 106th Indianapolis 500 is set with Scott Dixon setting the second fastest fourlap average in race history in the final round of qualifying at 234.046 mph. Dixon will lead the field to the green Sunday with Alex Palou and Rinus Veekay lining up beside him to start the 2022 edition of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.
“I knew the pole was guaranteed for our team but I wanted it,” Dixon said. “It doesn't guarantee anything but it's a huge privilege to sit on the pole.
“I knew we had a high (233-mph qualifying run) in the car. It's just such a fine line of (the car) being comfortable and nice to drive and completely taking off.”
It is the fastest front row in Indy 500 history.
With only 33 entries, there was no traditional Bump Day preceding pole qualifying. Rather than a Fast 9 Shootout, which has been the norm for the last several years, Indycar and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway opted to lock the top-12 drivers from Saturday's qualifying into a second round of qualifying with a Fast 6 to determine the first two rows.
Takuma Sato, who had a tumultuous Saturday qualifying, was the first car to qualify on Sunday. He set a 4-lap average speed of 231.670 mph as the benchmark.
Dixon was the third car to qualify and set a blistering average of 233.510 mph. His Chip Ganassi Racing teammates, Marcus Ericsson, Tony Kanaan, and Alex Palou followed, but were unable to qualify faster than Dixon. The fifth Ganassi racer Jimmie Johnson, qualifying for his first Indianapolis 500, had a major moment in Turn 1 on his first lap and was unable to match the pace of his Ganassi teammates. Johnson was bumped from the Fast 6 and will start 12th Sunday.
No one was able to best Dixon's speed from the Fast 12 session. Rinus Veekay came close, but fell one tenth of a mile an hour off of Dixon's average.
Chip Ganassi Racing took a stranglehold of the top-6, sending four of its cars on to the final round of qualifying. Andretti Autosport and Team Penske's lone representatives in the Sunday session, Romain Grosjean and Will Power, were knocked out and will start 9th and 11th, respectively.