Alex Palou put himself in prime position to defend his Indianapolis 500 title by winning in pole position in qualifying on Sunday for the May 24 race.
The Spaniard earned his second career pole with a four-lap average speed of 373.766km/h at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The four-time and reigning IndyCar Series champion, Palou also won the pole for the race in 2023 and finished fourth. Helio Castroneves, a four-time Indy 500 winner, was the last defending champion to be on the pole for the following year’s race in 2010.
“I have no words,” said Palou, 29, of being on the pole for the 110th running of the Indianapolis 500. “That was incredible. It just feels incredible. Great start to the month of May.
“Did not expect it. You could see the celebration was really high [after winning the pole] because this morning when we woke up, we did not expect this speed.”
Palou’s No 10 Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing is on the front row with Chevrolets driven by Alexander Rossi of Ed Carpenter Racing and David Malukas of Team Penske. Rossi, the 2016 champion, averaged a career-best 373.351km/h, while Malukas was third in 373.169km/h.
Palou’s wife, Esther, drew the 31st of 33 driver positions for him in the qualifying order in a blind draw on Friday night. Then qualifying was washed out by rain on Saturday, making Sunday the entire process for one round of qualifying runs and knockout rounds from 33 to 12 to six to determine the starting grid.
Palou was 11th in the first round with a four-lap average of 372.007km/h, then was second-fastest in the next round (372.828km/h) behind Felix Rosenqvist of Meyer Shank Racing. Palou’s crew was able to make adjustments for warmer temperatures on a sunny Sunday at the hottest time of the day.
“I have to say being on the 31st — thanks to my wife, by the way, for drawing that number — I think being there allowed us to work on those conditions,” Palou said. “It’s not easy to do everything the way this team is executing.”
Rosenqvist’s Honda was fourth-fastest (372.361km/h) to make Row 2 with the Chevrolets of Santino Ferrucci (371.510km/h) of AJ Foyt Racing and Pato O’Ward (370.860km/h) of Arrow McLaren.
Katherine Legge qualified 27th in the No 11 Chevrolet to start on Row 9. Legge plans to race in the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600, which would make her the first female driver to complete the “Double” if successful on May 24.
The Double calls for a driver to compete in two premier races, covering 1,770km with barely a moment to spare between the Indy and Nascar Cup Series races. Five drivers previously have attempted the double since John Andretti hatched the idea and completed it in 1994 for AJ Foyt Racing.
Legge, 45, is competing in the Indy 500 for AJ Foyt Racing and plans to fly directly to the No 78 car for Live Fast Motorsports in the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte, NC, which starts a few hours later. She has entered and qualified for four previous Indy 500 starts, and is the only woman in the field in 2026.
2026 Indianapolis 500 starting lineup
With starting position, car number, engine, team and qualifying speed (four-lap average) on Sunday:
Row 1
1. Alex Palou — 372.361km/h
2. Alexander Rossii — 371.510km/h
3. David Malukas — 370.860km/h
Row 2
4. Felix Rosenqvist — 372.361km/h
5. Santino Ferrucci — 371.510km/h
6. Pato O’Ward — 370.860km/h
Row 3
7. Kyffin Simpson — 371.570km/h
8. Conor Daly — 371.295km/h
9. Scott McLaughlin — 371.078km/h
Row 4
10. Caio Collet — 371.017km/h
11. Scott Dixon — 370.708km/h
12. Rinus VeeKay — 369.481km/h
Row 5
13. Takuma Sato — 371.750km/h
14. Ed Carpenter — 371.483km/h
15. Helio Castroneves — 371.454km/h
Row 6
16. Christian Rasmussen — 371.284km/h
17. Marcus Armstrong — 371.278km/h
18. Marcus Ericsson — 371.223km/h
Row 7
19. Christian Lundgaard — 371.214km/h
20. Will Power — 370.599km/h
21. Nolan Siegel — 370.493km/h
Row 8
22. Louis Foster — 370.491km/h
23. Ryan Hunter-Reay — 370.475km/h
24. Josef Newgarden — 370.415km/h
Row 9
25. Romain Grosjean — 369.813km/h
26. Kyle Kirkwood — 368.648km/h
27. Katherine Legge — 369.274km/h
Row 10
28. Mick Schumacher — 369.264km/h
29. Jack Harvey — 368.873km/h
30. Graham Rahal — 368.567km/h
Row 11
31. Dennis Hauger — 368.511km/h
32. Jacob Abel — 363.982km/h
33. Sting Ray Robb — 364.630km/h
Reuters
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