Indy 500 starting grid: Where are Romain Grosjean and Marcus Ericsson starting in 2023?

Henry Valantine
Marcus Ericsson watches Romain Grosjean qualify. Indy 500 starting grid 2023.

Marcus Ericsson watches Romain Grosjean in qualifying during the session. Indianapolis May 2023.

The Indy 500 starting grid has now been set for the 107th running of the race, with plenty of ex-F1 talent on show in Indianapolis.

The two days of qualifying across Saturday and Sunday were a gruelling test for the drivers as they sought to put their cars in the highest possible position for the Indy 500, with no shortage of bravery on show throughout.

The field’s four-lap qualifying averages on Saturday set positions 13 to 30, with the fastest 12 going through to fight for pole on Sunday, along with the bottom four getting bumped from the field and having to fight for the final three places in the field.

Romain Grosjean’s grid slot was decided on Saturday, with a P19 placing set to be his starting berth come next weekend, while the other members of the ex-F1 contingent made it through to Sunday’s running in the fast 12, but did not get through to the Fast Six.

Alexander Rossi will start P7, two-time Indy 500 winner Takuma Sato will begin P8 and Marcus Ericsson, last year’s winner, will begin P10 this time around.

The last chance qualifiers were closely matched, and the final attempt by Britain’s Jack Harvey put him 0.007mph ahead of Rahal Letterman Lanigan team-mate Graham Rahal and into the Indy 500.

The Fast 6 saw the fight for pole take place in earnest and the fastest average speeds of the weekend came to the fore, with Alex Palou, McLaren’s F1 reserve driver, laying down a stunning 234.217mph average on his sole run before Rinus VeeKay went so close to matching it, only 0.006mph behind.

Arrow McLaren’s Felix Rosenqvist, fastest in qualifying on Saturday and in the Fast 12 earlier on Sunday, was the last to try and dethrone Palou, but he missed out by a tenth of a mile per hour, giving the Spaniard pole position for the big race around Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

But in practice after qualifying, injury for Stefan Wilson ruled him out of the race altogether, and a deal was agreed for Rahal to drive the #24 in his place in the main event on Sunday.

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Indy 500 starting grid 2023

  1. Alex Palou: 234.217mph [four-lap average]
  2. Rinus VeeKay: 234.211
  3. Felix Rosenqvist: 234.114
  4. Santino Ferrucci: 233.661
  5. Pato O’Ward: 233.158
  6. Scott Dixon: 233.151
  7. Alexander Rossi: 233.110
  8. Takuma Sato: 233.098
  9. Tony Kanaan: 233.076
  10. Marcus Ericsson: 233.889
  11. Benjamin Pedersen: 232.671
  12. Will Power: 232.635
  13. Ed Carpenter: 232.689
  14. Scott McLaughlin: 232.677
  15. Kyle Kirkwood: 232.662
  16. Conor Daly: 232.433
  17. Josef Newgarden: 232.402
  18. Ryan Hunter-Reay: 232.133
  19. Romain Grosjean: 231.997
  20. Helio Castroneves: 231.954
  21. Colton Herta: 231.951
  22. Simon Pagenaud: 231.878
  23. David Malukas: 231.769
  24. Marco Andretti: 231.682
  25. Stefan Wilson: 231.648*
  26. Devlin DeFrancesco: 231.353
  27. Callum Ilott: 231.320
  28. Agustin Canapino: 231.182
  29. R.C. Enerson: 231.129
  30. Katherine Legge: 231.070
  31. Christian Lundgaard: 229.649
  32. Sting Ray Robb: 229.549
  33. Jack Harvey: 229.166

Did not qualify: Graham Rahal 229.159

*Graham Rahal will take Stefan Wilson’s place in the #24 car after injury.