Dale Coyne Racing’s 19-year-old rookie is the one driver who will go dwelling at present, regardless of an enormous scare for 2022 Indy 500 winner Marcus Ericsson (Andretti International), who miscounted his laps and backed off after the white flag on his first run.
He needed to run once more and jumped to P2 with simply minutes remaining.
Graham Rahal (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing) additionally went by the mill for the second consecutive season, his lack of pace in his Honda-powered No. 15 RLLR machine sparking reminiscences of his painful 2023 Indy 500 Bump Day exit.
Siegel was the primary to take the monitor for the assured last-chance runs, as he was the slowest automotive in Saturday’s qualifying session. Following his massive crash in follow on Friday, when he flipped onto his aspect, Siegel has been utilizing a backup automotive – which is Jack Harvey’s common highway course chassis.
Siegel’s first run was 229.566mph, which was faster than his earlier follow tempo however unlikely to be adequate to progress with out issues for others.
Drama then unfolded instantly as Ericsson, the second driver to run, misjudged which lap he was on, and backed off after the white flag – considering it was the chequered flag. He accomplished his run, however solely managed 220.702mph as a consequence of his error.
Ericsson was on this place after shunting closely at Flip 4 on Thursday afternoon, after which he needed to swap to a backup automotive.
Katherine Legge, Dale Coyne Racing with RWR Honda
Photograph by: Phillip Abbott / Motorsport Images
Katherine Legge (Dale Coyne Racing) then hit the highest spot regardless of two enormous moments, an early wiggle at Flip 1 after which a giant understeer at Flip 2 on her closing tour, on her wild four-lap run for 230.092mph.
“Terrifying,” she reported of her flirting-with-disaster run. “I really feel sick and shaky, and I really feel like I wanna cry.
“Actually, actually hoping we don’t should go once more. That final lap value us quite a bit.”
Rahal was subsequent to go, and though his first lap was a 230.396mph his pace tailed off as his laps unfolded. His common was 229.974mph, sufficient for P2, however he complained his engine wasn’t pulling the gear ratio to his liking.
Ericsson was capable of run some cool-down laps in the midst of the session, forward of his essential closing run, as a result of he waived his time. His Andretti staff waited as late because it dared, to get the very best of the monitor situations with floor temperatures as much as 130F.
He took the inexperienced flag with simply six minutes to go, together with his place within the Indy 500 at stake, and rattled off laps of 230.672, 230.057, 229.773 and 229.644 for a mean of 230.027mph.
That prompted Siegel to make one closing try. He produced a gap lap of 229.288mph earlier than clipping the wall on the exit of Flip 1 on lap two, which induced him to lose management and spin into the Flip 2 boundaries. He was unharmed.