Indy 500 full starting lineup: Robert Shwartzman bags pole, Takuma Sato joins him as Alex Palou misses out

The qualifying session for the Indy 500 saw Robert Shwartzman take the pole position. The Prema team driver strung together four flawless laps to secure pole at the famed Brickyard circuit.

The Israeli-born driver, who is in his rookie season in the American open-wheel racing series, had offered a glimpse of the #83 car during the first round of qualifying when he secured third place to seal a spot in the Fast Six. However, with the stakes higher, Shwartzman, with an average speed of 232.790 MPH, bagged his maiden pole position at the Indy 500 event.

The former Chip Ganassi driver was followed by Takuma Sato in second place (232.478) and Arrow McLaren's Pato O’Ward (232.098), who locked in the front row for the race. The Chip Ganassi duo of Scott Dixon and Alex Palou were split by Felix Rosenqvist, who qualified in fifth place for the main race.

Meanwhile, several other big hitters and title contenders failed to secure a spot on the front rows of the Indy 500 race. Notably, all three Penske drivers—Josef Newgarden, Will Power, and Scott McLaughlin—all failed to set a lap time during the second round of practice due to a disqualification caused by a rear attenuator issue for both Newgarden and Power and a heavy crash ruling out McLaughlin from qualification.

With qualification now complete and the stage set for the Greatest Spectacle in Racing, here is how the starting lineup for the Indy 500 looks.

Indy 500 - full starting lineup

#1 Robert Shwartzman - Prema Racing

#2 Takuma Sato - Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

#3 Pato O’Ward - Arrow McLaren

#4 Scott Dixon - Chip Ganassi Racing

#5 Felix Rosenqvist - Meyer Shank Racing

#6 Alex Palou - Chip Ganassi Racing

#7 David Malukas - AJ Foyt Racing

#8 Christian Lundgaard - Arrow McLaren

#9 Marcus Ericsson - Andretti Global

#10 Scott McLaughlin - Team Penske

#11 Josef Newgarden - Team Penske

#12 Will Power - Team Penske

#13 Conor Daly - Juncos Hollinger Racing

#14 Alexander Rossi - Ed Carpenter Racing

#15 Kyffin Simpson - Chip Ganassi Racing

#16 Ed Carpentar - Ed Carpenter Racing

#17 Santino Ferrucci - AJ Foyt Racing

#18 Devlin Defrancesco - Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

#19 Sting Ray Rob - Juncos Hollinger Racing

#20 Christian Rasmussen - Ed Carpenter Racing

#21 Kyle Larson - Arrow McLaren

#22 Louis Foster - Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

#23 Callum Ilott - Prema Racing

#24 Helio Castroneves - Meyer Shank Racing

#25 Kyle Kirkwood - Andretti Global

#26 Nolan Siegel - Arrow McLaren

#27 Rayan Hunter-Reay - Dreyer & Reinbold Racing/Cusick Motorsports

#28 Jack Harvey - Dreyer & Reinbold Racing/Cusick Motorsports

#29 Colton Herta - Andretti Global

#30 Graham Rahal - Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

#31 Marco Andretti - Andretti Global

#32 Marcus Armstrong - Meyer Shenk Racing

#33 Rinus Veekay - Dale Coyne Racing

#34 Jacob Abel - Dale Coyne Racing

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Robert Shwartzman reacts to clinching Indy 500 pole position

Robert Shwartzman reacted after storming to pole position at the Indy 500. The Prema Racing driver became the first rookie since Teo Fabi in 1983 to clinch pole on his debut at the Brickyard event.

The former Chip Ganassi driver, who had entered the Indy 500 qualifying weekend off the back of an underwhelming start to his debut season in the American open-wheel series, was able to put together four impressive laps around the famed oval course to clinch pole position for the main race.

During his post-race interaction with the media in a video shared to X by IndyCar on FOX, Shwartzman expressed his disbelief following his immense feat:

“Honestly, I cannot believe it. I was closing my eyes like, ‘This is a dream.’ It can't be true—honestly, I don’t even know what to say. The car felt amazing. I can't thank Prema, I can't thank Chevy [Chevrolet] enough—they did such a good job. Honestly, it’s unbelievable." (0:05 onwards)

"Coming here for my first oval race, I never expected myself to be in this position. It’s unbelievable. Big thanks to everybody—big thanks to the fans who were cheering for me,” he added.

The Israeli-born racer became the first driver to secure pole position for the Prema team following their venture into IndyCar at the start of the 2025 season. Shwartzman will now shift his immediate focus to trying to clinch victory at the Indy 500. The rookie will be hoping to borrow a leaf from the script of Alexander Rossi, who won on his debut at the Indianapolis event in 2016.