Rookie Shwartzman, PREMA Racing score shock Indy 500 pole

PREMA Racing and rookie Robert Shwartzman are on pole at the Indianapolis 500.

That’s not a typo, fever dream, or fan fiction.

The biggest Indy 500 qualifying stunner of the century was delivered Sunday evening by a driver who grew up doing nothing but road racing, has the fewest oval miles of any driver entered in the 109th edition of the race, and had the hometown fans cheering him like he was a son of Indiana.

A 25-year-old son of Israel buried his foot in the throttle connected to his twin-turbo V6 hybrid Chevrolet engine and let the No. 83 PREMA machine fly, rocketing to a four-lap average of 232.790mph to clear Honda’s best, 48-year-old Takuma Sato from Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, who was second with a 232.478mph.

No one saw it coming – not even the rookie himself. James Black/Penske Entertainment

It's the first rookie pole since 1983, taken by Italy’s Teo Fabi, whose nationality is shared by the PREMA team founded by Angelo and Rene Rosin.

"Well, unbelievable guys, we made it," Shwartzman said. "My first ever Indy 500 pole as a rookie with the rookie team PREMA Racing. I mean overall, I just want to say a big thanks to PREMA and to Chevy for their support and for their work. We've done a really good job with progressing the car and honestly now I still can't believe it. Mentally I'm quite exhausted, I just need to digest this whole thing – that I'm going to be starting on pole for the Indy 500. Just amazing. Big thanks to all the fans for the support and to everybody who was supporting me and believing in me for all these years."

Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward was third with a 232.098mph average in the No. 5 Chevy to bookend the front row for the Bowtie.

In fourth, Scott Dixon achieved a 232.054mph in the No. 9 Honda as the Ganassi team – exceptionally fast on Saturday – seemed to lose a step overnight and were missing the same crisp pace in Fast 12 practice and again when it counted in the Fast Six.

A similar tale unfolded for Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist in fifth, whose 231.987mph ranked second among the greater Ganassi family thanks to their technical alliance with the team, and in sixth, championship leader Alex Palou, who was fastest on multiple days leading into Pole Day, but wasn’t able to conjure the pole-winning speed he needed and settled with a 231.378mph average.

PREMA deserves every ounce of praise for the shocking outcome in its Indy 500 qualifying debut. The other 11 teams who’ve been competing in the series for many years to many decades should be embarrassed by what took place.

All of the millions in Indy 500 research and development money spent, all of the countless hours invested in making speed at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and a new team that nobody noticed until Saturday just handed them their behinds. What a wonderful way to open race week with a story that only the Speedway could write.

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