Indy 500: Robert Schwartzman wins pole!

      When night fell in Moscow, qualification for the famous Indy 500 race was taking place on the other side of the Atlantic in Indianapolis, and Robert Schwartzman is participating in it for the first time this year.

      Our old friend, now a driver for the Italian Prema team, which is in its first season in the IndyCar series, performed well in the first stage of qualifying on Saturday, clocked 6th and advanced to the finals.

      Sunday's races are also divided into two sessions, and based on the results of the first one, the six fastest drivers were determined, who continued to fight for pole position and the remaining places in the first two starting rows. According to the American edition of Racer, the results were "absolutely unexpected."

      This is partly due to the fact that three Penske team cars were unable to participate in the races at all, as they did not pass the technical inspection. And also the list of the fastest ones should be classified as surprises, which then continued to fight for pole.

      Schwartzman, an absolute beginner in oval racing, clocked the 3rd time. When he completed his race and got out of the cockpit, the grandstands of the legendary Indianapolis racetrack, otherwise known as the "old brick factory", gave Robert a real ovation!

      To quote a couple of lines from the report on this stage of qualifying: "Schwartzman, driving for Prema Racing, almost showed the best time behind the wheel of Chevrolet No. 83, but then his speed decreased, and averaged 232.008 mph." That is, 373.380 km/h.

      Robert commented on his achievement immediately after the race: "I'm still a little shivering, because I knew it would be quite difficult to drive the car, it would behave nervously. I drove the first lap just at full throttle and thought the car seemed to be working well, but then I felt it start to slip.

      Still, I had to find some way to keep driving fast -to be honest, I was just trying to keep the car as calm as possible. I don't know the result, but it looks like we're in the top six!"

      This result was already an almost incredible achievement, but the most amazing thing happened later: when the second part of qualifying ended, a FOX TV commentator exclaimed live:

      "This is pole! The crowd cheers Robert Schwartzman, he is its new hero! No rookie has won a pole in the Indy 500 for 42 years, but Robert did it! Moreover, he plays for a team that is spending its very first season in IndyCar."

      The news coming out of Indianapolis these hours starts like this: "Debutant Robert Schwartzman shocked everyone by winning the pole position and becoming the winner of qualifying for the 109th Indy 500 race. This is one of the most incredible stories in more than a hundred years that this race has been held."

      Robert drove four laps of the Indianapolis Oval Circuit at an average speed of 232.790 miles per hour, which is 374.639 km/h. The last debutant to win this qualification before Schwarzman was Italian Teo Fabi in 1983.

      Takuma Sato, a Japanese veteran of Formula 1 and IndyCar, showed the second result. Pato O'ward, an Arrow McLaren driver, starts from the third position in the Indy 500.

      The race in Indianapolis will take place a week later, on May 25.