Pigot remains on top, Alonso and Hinchcliffe outside looking in

Spencer Pigot remained the quickest driver of the day, but there was drama aplenty in the back of the grid to secure a position for the 103rd Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge.

The lineup of the Fast Nine remained unchanged from earlier this afternoon, leaving Spencer Pigot, Will Power, Simon Pagenaud, Josef Newgarden, Colton Herta, Ed Jones, Ed Carpenter, Alexander Rossi and Sebastien Bourdais to duke it out for the pole.

The order changed from this afternoon as Herta and Rossi improved to fifth and eighth with faster second runs.

Marco Andretti and Helio Castroneves both made a second run to get into the Fast Nine but didn’t advance and remained 10th and 12th correspondingly.

Conor Daly significantly improved his starting position with a superb second run of 228.617 mph that locked him in 11th place.

Pippa Mann and her startup team of Clauson Marshall Racing also had an un-interrupted qualifying session and left her the last car locked into the show.

All of the intensity came from the rear of the grid as big names Fernando Alonso and James Hinchcliffe did not crack the top thirty, but part-timers Jordan King, JR Hildebrand and Ben Hanley found themselves safe and out of harm’s way.

As Alonso made five attempts to crack the top 30, the Britton pair of Jordan King and Ben Hanley advanced their way into the top 30 with relative ease

Alonso pulled off his quickest run of the day at 227.244mph in his final go which got him into the field.

His refuge was short lived as JR Hildebrand threw down a run of 227.908 mph that moved him to 21st and Graham Rahal improved on his earlier time to 17th and left Alonso on the outside looking in.

James Hinchcliffe struggled to find speed in his backup car after crashing primary car in his opening qualifying run. The 2016 Indy 500 polesitter made three attempts but none were good enough to lock his way into the field.

Joining them in the Last Row Shootout are Carlin Racing teammates Max Chilton and rookie Patricio O’Ward along with Juncos Racing’s Kyle Kaiser and Dreyer and Reinbold Racing’s Sage Karam.

Tomorrow’s weather forecast calls for a 60% chance of rain. The Fast Nine drivers will stand on today’s times if qualifying is washed out while the Last Row Shootout will commence once the weather clears.