Alex Tagliani secured a sensational pole position for the historical 100th Indianapolis 500 race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, bringing his paralyzed team boss Sam Schmidt to tears for the unpredictable achievement of his driver
as his small Indianapolis-based team conquered the pole position ahead of IndyCars "Top Teams" of Team Penske, Ganassi Racing and Andretti Autorsport which suffered a significant lack of speed during qualifying session.
Tagliani's four-lap average in the shootout was 227.472 mph, edging Ganassi's Scott Dixon with an average of 227.340 mph. Champcars veteran Oriol Servia was surprisingly 3rd for the Newman-Haas team, proving that road-course drivers could remain competitive in oval racing.
As the session got underway it was Servia who looked set to claim pole, but improvements from both Dixon and Tagliani saw him slip back to third. Moreover, Ganassi Racing drivers Scot Dixon and Dario Franchitti qualifying attempts were effected by fuel shortage leaving them 3rd and 9th respectively.
Townsend Bell and Will Power occupied fourth and fifth, just ahead of 2005 winner Dan Wheldon. Buddy Rice completed a run quick enough for seventh, while Ed Carpenter snatched eighth ahead of Franchitti. The 2010 Indy 500 polesitter and multiple race winner Helio Castroneves qualified awfully back at 16th position.
The 100th Indy 500 grid completed after the end of another dramatic and rainy "Bump Day". Notable drivers that qualified in their last chance to race were Ryan Briscoe, Paul Tracy who had lost the 2010 race, Alex Lloyd, Graham Rahal and Charlie Kimball. Danica Patrick and Marco Andretti managed to breakthrough the race just before the session was interrupted by rain bumping their Andretti Autorsport team-mates Ryan Hunter-Reay and Mike Conway out of the race. Raphael Matos, James Jakes, Sebastian Saavendra, Ho Pin-Tung and Scot Speed were left out of the race as well.
The complete 2011 Centennial Indianapolis 500 starting grid is as follows:
