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Fernando Alonso secures a place in the nine-car pole shootout at the Indy 500

Spaniard continues to impress at Indianapolis; Alonso only rookie in to make the 'Fast Nine Shootout'

Fernando Alonso secured himself a spot in Sunday's nine car shootout for pole after another impressive performance at the Indy 500.

Qualifying was delayed by five hours due to heavy rain and meant each driver was only afforded one attempt, adding to the pressure on the Spaniard.

But it appeared to have no impact on Alonso, who promised after his run that there was more speed to come on Sunday.

He finished the day seventh quickest with an average speed of 230.034 mph across his four-lap run, just 0.4 mph slower than Ed Carpenter who led the way.

Carpenter's lap was perhaps the surprise of the day given Honda power was expected to dominate, but both he and team-mate JR Hildebrand secured spots in the shootout with their Chevrolet engines. Will Power was the only other non-Honda runner to make the shootout.

Completing the 'Fast 9 Shootout' line-up were Takuma Sato, Scott Dixon, Alexander Rossi, Tony Kanaan and Marco Andretti.

Ex-F1 driver Sebastien Bourdais had looked on course for a spot in Sunday's pole shootout before a horror crash at Turn Two.

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The Frenchman was taken from the track to IU Health Methodist Hospital by ambulance for evaluation with IndyCar saying he was "awake and alert".

After examination statement from IndyCar said that Bourdais had suffered "multiple fractures to his pelvis and a fracture to his right hip.

"According to IndyCar Medical Director Dr. Geoffrey Billows, Bourdais will undergo surgery on his pelvis this evening at IU Health Methodist Hospitral."

As for the British contingent, Ed Jones was 10th quickest, Max Chilton 12th, Jack Harvey 25th and Pippa Mann 31st. They will all compete again on Sunday prior to the 'Fast 9 Shootout' for positions 10-33 on the grid.

Indy 500 Saturday qualifying

Position Driver Team Engine Speed (mph)
1. Ed Carpenter Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet 230.368
2. Takumo Sato Andretti Autosport Honda 230.382
3. Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 230.333
4. J.R. Hildebrand Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet 230.205
5. Alexander Rossi Andretti Herta Autosport Honda 230.148
6. Will Power Team Penske Chevrolet 230.072
7. Fernando Alonso McLaren Honda Andretti Honda 230.034
8. Tony Kanaan Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 230.007
9. Marco Andretti Andretti Autosport Honda 229.924
10. Ed Jones Dale Coyne Racing Honda 229.717
11. Charlie Kimball Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 229.713
12. Max Chilton Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 229.636
13. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport Honda 229.533
14. Helio Castroneves Team Penske Chevrolet 229.390
15. Mikhail Aleshin Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda 229.217
16. Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda 228.835
17. Josef Newgarden Team Penske Chevrolet 228.696
18. Juan Pablo Montoya Team Penske Chevrolet 228.645
19. James Hinchcliffe Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda 228.557
20. Simon Pagenaud Team Penske Chevrolet 228.393
21. Sage Karam Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Chevrolet 227.943
22. Jay Howard Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda 227.853
23. Carlos Munoz A. J. Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet 227.438
24. Oriol Servia Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda 227.438
25. Jack Harvey Michael Shank Racing with Andretti Autosport Honda 226.894
26. Gabby Chaves Harding Racing Chevrolet 226.875
27. Conor Daly A. J. Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet 225.912
28. Sebastian Saavedra Juncos Racing Chevrolet 225.815
29. Spencer Pigot Juncos Racing Chevrolet 223.631
30. Buddy Lazier Lazier Racing Partners Honda 221.427
31. Pippa Mann Dale Coyne Racing Honda 219.282
Sebastien Bourdais Dale Coyne Racing Honda Crash
Zach Veach A. J. Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet DNS

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