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Indy 500 qualifying: Carpenter leads day one, Alonso into Fast Nine

Two-time Indianapolis 500 polesitter Ed Carpenter was fastest in the first part of qualifying for next Sunday's race as Fernando Alonso booked his spot in the Fast Nine shootout

In a session first delayed by bad weather conditions and then disrupted by a huge shunt for Sebastien Bourdais, Carpenter emerged fastest overall for his eponymous team to advance to Sunday's pole position shootout.

Carpenter, who took to the track after Bourdais' crash, was one of only two drivers to clock four laps all over 230mph and recorded a 230.468mph average, putting his Chevrolet-powered Dallara at the head of the field in a session otherwise dominated by Honda runners.

"Call me pessimistic but I've felt better going into qualifying," said Carpenter.

"I thought Will [Power] and I had the fastest Chevys all week, but there were some big numbers going on up there.

"I thought I could run a 230 [mph lap], but I didn't know I could run four of them.

"The balance was really good through the four laps, but it was hard at the end.

"Having a late draw helped today, and I love being in the shootout and to have Chevy in there."

Takuma Sato was fastest of the six Andretti Autosport entries with a 230.382mph average and was second, ahead of 2008 Indy 500 winner Scott Dixon of Chip Ganassi Racing.

JR Hildebrand made it two ECR cars in the top four, with defending Indy 500 winner Alexander Rossi in fifth.

Will Power was the only Penske driver to make it into the Fast Nine, while two-time Formula 1 world champion Alonso was arguably the star performer as he booked his place in Sunday's shootout with two laps over 230mph and a four-lap average of 230.034mph in the McLaren Honda Andretti entry.

Tony Kanaan was eighth with a 230.007mph average, with Marco Andretti the last runner to qualify for the Fast Nine.

Of those outside the top 10, Bourdais' team-mate Ed Jones provided some consolation for Dale Coyne Racing in 10th.

Notable absentees from the Fast Nine, in addition to four of the five Penkse drivers, were Ryan Hunter-Reay and 2016 polesitter James Hinchcliffe.

Zach Veach did not run the third AJ Foyt Racing-Chevrolet, while Bourdais was the only other driver not to record a time - the Frenchman having been fastest of all on his first two laps before his crash.

Should the #18 car take part in next Sunday's showpiece race, whoever drives it will have to start from the back.

SATURDAY QUALIFYING RESULTS:

Pos Driver Team Car Speed
1 Ed Carpenter Ed Carpenter Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 230.468
2 Takuma Sato Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 230.382
3 Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Honda 230.333
4 J.R. Hildebrand Ed Carpenter Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 230.205
5 Alexander Rossi Andretti Herta Dallara/Honda 230.148
6 Will Power Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 230.072
7 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Honda-Andretti Dallara/Honda 230.034
8 Tony Kanaan Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Honda 230.007
9 Marco Andretti Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 229.924
10 Ed Jones Dale Coyne Racing Dallara/Honda 229.717
11 Charlie Kimball Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Honda 229.713
12 Max Chilton Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Honda 229.636
13 Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 229.533
14 Helio Castroneves Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 229.390
15 Mikhail Aleshin Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Dallara/Honda 229.217
16 Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Dallara/Honda 228.835
17 Josef Newgarden Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 228.696
18 Juan Pablo Montoya Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 228.645
19 James Hinchcliffe Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Dallara/Honda 228.557
20 Simon Pagenaud Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 228.393
21 Sage Karam Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 227.943
22 Jay Howard Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Dallara/Honda 227.853
23 Carlos Munoz A.J. Foyt Enterprises Dallara/Chevrolet 227.438
24 Oriol Servia Rahal Letterman Lanigan Dallara/Honda 227.150
25 Jack Harvey Michael Shank Racing Dallara/Honda 226.894
26 Gabby Chaves Harding Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 226.875
27 Conor Daly A.J. Foyt Enterprises Dallara/Chevrolet 225.912
28 Sebastian Saavedra Juncos Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 225.815
29 Spencer Pigot Juncos Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 223.631
30 Buddy Lazier Lazier Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 221.427
31 Pippa Mann Dale Coyne Racing Dallara/Honda 219.282
32 Sebastien Bourdais Dale Coyne Racing Dallara/Honda 0.000


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