Opening his four-lap run with the only 230mph lap of the qualifying session, Carpenter never dropped below 229mph, and set an average of 229.618mph.

That was 0.857mph faster than his nearest opposition, the best of the Team Penske-Chevrolets, driven by Simon Pagenaud. Will Power will start from the outside of Row 1. The Aussie is the only driver to have reached the Fast Nine every year since it started in 2010.

Josef Newgarden will roll off fourth, alongside the quickest of the Hondas, that of Sebastien Bourdais of Dale Coyne Racing, who set an average of 228.676mph. On the outside of the second row on the 3x3 grid will be the second fastest Carpenter car, that of Spencer Pigot.

Danica Patrick will start her final ever race in seventh, the last of the entrants to have an average over 228mph. Helio Castroneves’ run tailed off badly – 228.992 down to 227.0, which is why he’s down in eighth, while Dixon was never really in the hunt.

In the session for positions 10-33 on the grid, there were many surprises. Least surprising was the fact that the AJ Foyt Racing-Chevrolets will start 10^th and 11^th, after a brilliantly smooth run from the 2013 Indy 500 winner Tony Kanaan, and a brilliantly wild run from Matheus Leist.

The only other driver in the session to set an average in the 227s was Marco Andretti, easily fastest of the Andretti Autosport-Hondas, precisely 0.5mph faster than Ryan Hunter-Reay. But it was one of their teammates, 2016 Indy winner Alexander Rossi, who had the wildest ride, clicking off a 227.454mph on his first lap but his loose #27 NAPA car trying to smack the wall so often that he tumbled to 224mph on Lap 3 and 221 on Lap 4. He will start from the middle of the back row, between Jack Harvey and Conor Daly.

Zachary Claman De Melo, the #19 Dale Coyne Racing driver subbing for the injured Pietro Fittipaldi, will start an excellent 13^th after a very neat and tidy run, while another newcomer – the Carlin-Chevrolet team – can be proud of getting Charlie Kimball onto the outside of row five.

Other startling and sparkling performances came from rookie Kyle Kaiser in the Juncos Racing-Chevy, 17^th, and James Davison 19^th in the AJ Foyt Racing-Byrd/Hollinger/Belardi car he trashed two days ago!

Defending Indy 500 winner Takuma Sato was 16^th, but his fulltime Rahal Letterman Lanigan teammate Graham Rahal will start only 30^th, beaten by their part-time teammate, Oriol Servia, who struggled to Bump his way into the field of 33 yesterday.

The other driver who must have expected more from his day is Chip Ganassi Racing’s Ed Jones. A major bobble on his third lap saw him drop in a 223mph effort, dropping his average to 225.362mph. He will start 29^th.

Indy 500 Fast nine qualifying results

Cla	#	Driver	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	20	Ed Carpenter	4	2'36.7818			229.618
2	22	Simon Pagenaud	4	2'37.3696	0.5878	0.5878	228.761
3	12	Will Power	4	2'37.4757	0.6939	0.1061	228.607
4	1	Josef Newgarden	4	2'37.6151	0.8333	0.1394	228.405
5	18	Sébastien Bourdais	4	2'37.7965	1.0147	0.1814	228.142
6	21	Spencer Pigot	4	2'37.8208	1.0390	0.0243	228.107
7	13	Danica Patrick	4	2'37.8326	1.0508	0.0118	228.090
8	3	Helio Castroneves	4	2'37.9924	1.2106	0.1598	227.859
9	9	Scott Dixon	4	2'38.4076	1.6258	0.4152	227.262

Indy 500, Group 1, P10-33

Cla	#	Driver	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
10	14	Tony Kanaan	4	2'38.1278			227.664
11	4	Matheus Leist	4	2'38.1922	0.0644	0.0644	227.571
12	98	Marco Andretti	4	2'38.3894	0.2616	0.1972	227.288
13	19	Zachary Claman De Melo	4	2'38.5908	0.4630	0.2014	226.999
14	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay	4	2'38.7389	0.6111	0.1481	226.788
15	23	Charlie Kimball	4	2'38.8304	0.7026	0.0915	226.657
16	30	Takuma Sato	4	2'38.9003	0.7725	0.0699	226.557
17	32	Kyle Kaiser	4	2'39.0119	0.8841	0.1116	226.398
18	6	Robert Wickens	4	2'39.0835	0.9557	0.0716	226.296
19	33	James Davison	4	2'39.1128	0.9850	0.0293	226.255
20	59	Max Chilton	4	2'39.1430	1.0152	0.0302	226.212
21	29	Carlos Munoz	4	2'39.2585	1.1307	0.1155	226.048
22	88	Gabby Chaves	4	2'39.2874	1.1596	0.0289	226.007
23	25	Stefan Wilson	4	2'39.3889	1.2611	0.1015	225.863
24	24	Sage Karam	4	2'39.4171	1.2893	0.0282	225.823
25	26	Zach Veach	4	2'39.4696	1.3418	0.0525	225.748
26	64	Oriol Servia	4	2'39.5044	1.3766	0.0348	225.699
27	66	J.R. Hildebrand	4	2'39.7032	1.5754	0.1988	225.418
28	7	Jay Howard	4	2'39.7245	1.5967	0.0213	225.388
29	10	Ed Jones	4	2'39.7433	1.6155	0.0188	225.362
30	15	Graham Rahal	4	2'39.7679	1.6401	0.0246	225.327
31	60	Jack Harvey	4	2'39.8193	1.6915	0.0514	225.254
32	27	Alexander Rossi	4	2'40.0462	1.9184	0.2269	224.935
33	17	Conor Daly	4	2'40.4073	2.2795	0.3611	224.429