Palou takes record-breaking Indy 500 pole; Rahal dramatically bumped

Alex Palou set a new Indy 500 qualifying speed record to take pole for next Sunday's race, with Felix Rosenqvist unable to follow-up on his weekend dominance.

The drivers ran in reverse order from the top six times from the first session of the day, with Patricio O'Ward kicking proceedings off for Arrow McLaren.

The Mexican's four-lap average of 233.158mph was only marginally faster than five-time Indy 500 pole winner Scott Dixon, who suffered a major drop off from his first lap speed.

Palou was third on track, setting a new qualifying speed record of 234.217 across his four laps to set a daunting target for the final three competitors. Rinus Veekay threatened to instantly break the Spaniard's record, only to fall short by 0.006mph.

Santino Ferrucci was impressive in the Top 12 session earlier in the day but was unable to match the pace set by the two drivers immediately before, though slotted in ahead of O'Ward and Dixon.

That left Rosenqvist to take on the 2.5-mile speedway having set the pace all weekend. The Swede agonisingly missed out on pole, setting a four-lap average of 234.114 to leave Palou sitting top of the standings.

Last chance qualifying drama

The bottom four from Saturday's session battled it out for the last three spots in the 33-car field.

Christian Lundgaard was the first on track and his effort was soon franked by Sting Ray Robb who slotted in behind.

Graham Rahal was plagued by weight jacker issues at the rear of his Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda, yet was still able to clock a faster four-lap average than teammate Jack Harvey, who failed to improve in his second run.

The Briton, to his credit, refused to give up and went for a last-ditch attempt without allowing his engine to cool and somehow found the speed to demote Rahal, meaning the American will not take part in next Sunday's race.