Indy 500 starting grid: Where are Romain Grosjean and Marcus Ericsson starting in 2023?
The Indy 500 starting grid has now been set for the 107th running of the race, with plenty of ex-F1 talent on show in Indianapolis.
The two days of qualifying across Saturday and Sunday were a gruelling test for the drivers as they sought to put their cars in the highest possible position for the Indy 500, with no shortage of bravery on show throughout.
The field’s four-lap qualifying averages on Saturday set positions 13 to 30, with the fastest 12 going through to fight for pole on Sunday, along with the bottom four getting bumped from the field and having to fight for the final three places in the field.
Romain Grosjean’s grid slot was decided on Saturday, with a P19 placing set to be his starting berth come next weekend, while the other members of the ex-F1 contingent made it through to Sunday’s running in the fast 12, but did not get through to the Fast Six.
Alexander Rossi will start P7, two-time Indy 500 winner Takuma Sato will begin P8 and Marcus Ericsson, last year’s winner, will begin P10 this time around.
The last chance qualifiers were closely matched, and the final attempt by Britain’s Jack Harvey put him 0.007mph ahead of Rahal Letterman Lanigan team-mate Graham Rahal and into the Indy 500.
The Fast 6 saw the fight for pole take place in earnest and the fastest average speeds of the weekend came to the fore, with Alex Palou, McLaren’s F1 reserve driver, laying down a stunning 234.217mph average on his sole run before Rinus VeeKay went so close to matching it, only 0.006mph behind.
Arrow McLaren’s Felix Rosenqvist, fastest in qualifying on Saturday and in the Fast 12 earlier on Sunday, was the last to try and dethrone Palou, but he missed out by a tenth of a mile per hour, giving the Spaniard pole position for the big race around Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
But in practice after qualifying, injury for Stefan Wilson ruled him out of the race altogether, and a deal was agreed for Rahal to drive the #24 in his place in the main event on Sunday.
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Indy 500 starting grid 2023
Alex Palou: 234.217mph [four-lap average]
Rinus VeeKay: 234.211
Felix Rosenqvist: 234.114
Santino Ferrucci: 233.661
Pato O’Ward: 233.158
Scott Dixon: 233.151
Alexander Rossi: 233.110
Takuma Sato: 233.098
Tony Kanaan: 233.076
Marcus Ericsson: 233.889
Benjamin Pedersen: 232.671
Will Power: 232.635
Ed Carpenter: 232.689
Scott McLaughlin: 232.677
Kyle Kirkwood: 232.662
Conor Daly: 232.433
Josef Newgarden: 232.402
Ryan Hunter-Reay: 232.133
Romain Grosjean: 231.997
Helio Castroneves: 231.954
Colton Herta: 231.951
Simon Pagenaud: 231.878
David Malukas: 231.769
Marco Andretti: 231.682
Stefan Wilson: 231.648*
Devlin DeFrancesco: 231.353
Callum Ilott: 231.320
Agustin Canapino: 231.182
R.C. Enerson: 231.129
Katherine Legge: 231.070
Christian Lundgaard: 229.649
Sting Ray Robb: 229.549
Jack Harvey: 229.166
Did not qualify: Graham Rahal 229.159
*Graham Rahal will take Stefan Wilson’s place in the #24 car after injury.
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