Rosenqvist Turns “Fast Friday” Into “Fast Fro-Day” at Indy
Paul Hurley/Penske Entertainment
By Dennis Krause
Felix Rosenqvist didn’t really consider himself a contender for the pole position for the 110th Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge. But a simulated qualifying run of 232.828 mph late in the day, Friday, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway now has the Swede thinking differently.
“The last lap on my last run I had I think it was the No. 2 car (Josef Newgarden) came out. So the last lap that I ran was definitely a tow, but until that I think I had, like, a 12-second or 14-second tow, something. I've seen not too much cheating with the tow.
“I was kind of surprised, to be honest, but the car handled really well. Not too much drop-off. Felt like the fourth lap -- if you can stay flat on the fourth lap with a tow, you probably would be okay without a tow.
“Yeah, excited for tomorrow. I didn't really go into today thinking we're going to at least go into the quallie thinking we're going to have a chance on pole, but yeah, now I'm kind of hungry for it.”
Rosenqvist also had the fastest single lap of the day, 233.372, aided by a tow and approximately 100 extra horsepower that will be utilized in qualifications on Saturday and Sunday as well. The driver of the No. 60 SiriusXM Honda of Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian noted the speed came as somewhat of a surprise.
“We started pretty slow, to be honest,” Rosenqvist said. “It's kind of rare you are able to crawl out of a hole like that. I think our first run was, like, a 230-something. Yeah, and then we just found basically 3 miles per hour, so That was kind of cool.
“Yeah, car felt really good. Sometimes that happens.
“Once you find a little speed, it kind of comes because the gear makes sense, and it just kind of starts flowing, but yeah, balance does really good.
“I haven't really study the no-tow, so I thought we were pretty far up, but yeah, never Been fastest on a Fast “Fro-Day” before. It's a first.”
Validating his speed on “Fro-Day”, a play on the abbreviation of his name, Rosenqvist was sixth on the no-tow speed chart with a lap of 232.324 mph.
Joe Skibinski/Penske Entertainment
Rosenqvist has gone through quite the range of emotions the last two weeks, and the month is only half over. Along with his wife, Emilie, they welcomed the birth of their first child, a daughter, on May 4th. He also took responsibility for a first-lap wreck that involved a number of cars in last weekend’s Sonsio Grand Prix on the Speedway’s 2.489-mile, 14-turn road course.
“Yeah, I've kind of gone through every emotion possible in the last two weeks,” Rosenqvist admitted. “I’ve definitely widened my span of possible emotions. I'm Scandinavian as well, so I don't really have many emotions to start with.
“No, it's cool. It's kind of hard to explain. It becomes, like, the number one coolest thing you've ever done, and everything kind of pales in comparison.
“I feel like as a driver it kind of makes you a bit calmer, a bit more confident maybe. Yeah, a little less worried about things. You kind of go out and drive, which you never really know how it's going to affect you in your professional life until you're out there doing it.
“So, yeah, seems like the speed hasn't gone away at least.”
With the weather forecast for Saturday at Indy kind of iffy, Rosenqvist knows that he may only get one attempt to make the Top Fifteen in order to advance with a chance for the pole on Sunday. With that in mind, Rosenqvist, who will roll-off 11th in the qualifying order, knows he’ll have to execute on that first run as he might not get a second chance.
“Nailing your marks. Maybe not making it too complicated on the first run,” Rosenqvist explained. “Now with the hybrid you can go pretty advanced if you want that. I've seen some -- I've been looking at the screens, and it seems like some drivers maybe have messed it up a little bit.
“I think you try to keep it simple, nail your line. That's probably going to be worth more than the hybrid anyways. Hopefully it's good enough. Otherwise, you're going to be a worried man.”
Chris Owens/Penske Entertainment
According to Rosenqvist, being fastest on “Fast Fro-Day” gives him and the Meyer Shank team a good baseline for Saturday.
“Pretty good, hopefully. I think it's going to be hotter tomorrow. I haven't really looked at the weather too much, but you kind of try to be out there in different conditions through the week, and hopefully you have an idea what you need to change, if it would be, like, 82 degrees when we run.
“I feel like that's what we've been really good here in the past. You know, since I came out to Meyer Shank Racing, nailing that. The weather offset has been one of our strengths, so I feel like we have a good program for being ready for that, but yeah, weather is always tricky.
“The other day when we practiced there, the car just felt -- some corners feel awful when it's a certain wind direction or a temperature window. So we'll see. I think we're ready for it, though.”
A pre-qualifying practice takes place from 8:30-9:30 a.m. Saturday.
Positions 16-33 for “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” will be locked in Saturday, with the 15 fastest cars advancing to the final rounds of qualifying Sunday to determine the coveted NTT P1 Award winner and the first five rows of the starting grid.
Dennis Krause has spent decades covering all forms of motorsports, including over 40 Indianapolis 500s, with stints at WIBA Radio, PIT PASS - Radio’s Premier Motorsports Magazine and Motorsports Minute. Follow him on X @DennisKrause500 or motorsportsminute.bluesky.social or motorsportsminute on Threads or MotorsportsMinute+ on Facebook.