Indy 500 Qualifying 1: Starting position of Mick Schumacher is set

– At the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the weather-delayed first qualifying (Q1) for the 110th edition of the Indy 500 took place early Sunday afternoon. Unlike Saturday, when no runs were possible due to continuous rain, the weather on Sunday was perfect. Sunshine, hardly any wind, and an air temperature around 27 degrees Celsius prevailed as the 33 participants tackled the shortened three-hour Q1 segment.

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For the 33-strong field at the season highlight of the IndyCar series, it was about each driver completing a four-lap attempt on the track, meaning four flying laps in a row, to appear in the Q1 results with a valid time. Multiple four-lap attempts, as would have been possible on Saturday if the qualifying weekend had proceeded as planned, were not allowed in the postponed Q1 on Sunday.

The air and asphalt temperatures were higher during the qualifying on Sunday than on any of the practice days. Based on the now available Q1 results, the starting positions 13 to 33 for the 500-mile race next Sunday (May 24) are already set. On the other hand, the top 12 are determined, who will advance in a few hours to the second of this year’s three qualifying segments.

Mick Schumacher starts his first Indy 500 from row 10

Among those who already know their starting position for the 110th Indianapolis 500 is Mick Schumacher (Rahal-Honda). He finished P28 in the Q1 segment on Sunday and will therefore start his first Indy 500 in exactly one week from starting position 28, which is in row 10.

Based on the draw that was made on Friday evening, Schumacher went into qualifying as the 15th of the 33 drivers to complete his four-lap attempt. The rookie in the service of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL) completed these four laps with an average speed of 229.450 miles per hour (369.185 km/h).

“The whole weekend was not easy,” Schumacher said after his qualifying run in a TV interview with Fox. “We now have to understand what happened in qualifying. The car felt good, which maybe isn’t the best thing. Maybe here you want a car that’s a bit nervous. We will look at it now and hopefully have a good car for the race.”

Looking ahead to the 200-lap race, Schumacher said already on Friday: “I’m just looking forward to what will happen here on race day. It’s one of those big races. I’ve raced in Monaco and Le Mans. So this is now the last big race on the list of those to experience. I’m sure it will be great.”

Read more Indy 500 Qualifying: Starting position of Mick Schumacher is set

While Mick Schumacher will start the 500 miles of Indianapolis from 28th place on May 24, one of the other two rookies qualified ahead of him, the other behind him. Dennis Hauger (Coyne-Honda) will start from 31st place. Caio Collet’s (Foyt-Chevrolet) starting position is not yet set because the Brazilian made it directly into the Top-12 shootout. In the four-car RLL team, Takuma Sato (13th) and Louis Foster (22nd) were faster than Schumacher, but Graham Rahal (30th) was slower.

Among those who, apart from those already mentioned, have also logged their concrete starting position for this year’s Indy 500 are Indy 500 winners Helio Castroneves (Shank-Honda; 15th), Marcus Ericsson (Andretti-Honda; 18th), Will Power (Andretti-Honda; 20th), Ryan Hunter-Reay (McLaren-Chevrolet; 23rd), and Josef Newgarden (Penske-Chevrolet; 24th).

Coming up next: Top-12 shootout and Fast-6 shootout

On the other hand, as already indicated, based on the now available results, the top 12 are set, who will compete later today in the Q2 segment (Top-12 shootout) and try to advance to the final Q3 segment (Fast-6 shootout).

Among the top 12 from Q1 are all three Ganassi drivers (Scott Dixon, Alex Palou, Kyffin Simpson), both Foyt drivers (Caio Collet and Santino Ferrucci), two Penske drivers (David Malukas and Scott McLaughlin), as well as one driver each from McLaren (Patricio O’Ward), Dreyer & Reinbold (Conor Daly), Ed Carpenter (Alexander Rossi), Juncos Hollinger (Rinus VeeKay), and Meyer Shank (Felix Rosenqvist). Rosenqvist was the fastest in Q1 and will therefore go out last in the Top-12 shootout.

The planned start for the Top-12 shootout is at 22:30 CEST (Central European Summer Time). Shortly after midnight CEST, the Fast-6 shootout will begin, in which the fastest six drivers from the Top-12 shootout will compete to determine the first two starting rows for the Indy 500.

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