Fernando Alonso is setting his sights firmly on pole position in the Indianapolis 500 after successfully qualifying for th🐽e pole shootout ahead of his much anticipated debut.

Having spent the𒀰 week steadily building up his speed around the famed 'Brickyard', Alonso saved his best for qualifying by turning in a 230.034mph average - peaking at 230.337mph -, enough to give him a fine seventh on the timesheets and a guaranteed position on the first three rows.

One of four Andretti-backed drivers to make it into the definitive phase of qualifyiꦅng, two-time F1 world champion Alonso was delighted to make it into the 'Fast 9' even if he says he was not getting the 'maximum from the car'.

"The laps I could improve a bit, I was not extracting the maximum from the car," he said. "I keep learning. Tomorrow, I will use that lesson and be quicker. The team did a fantastic job to put me in a car that was able to run 230 but there is still more to come. I diꦛdn't maximize the potential of it in Laps three and four."

"It was unthinkable [to make it into the Fast 9] probably... Not because you don't trust yourself or whatever, but there are many little ingredients here that you ne🐻ed to put together to find the right recipe.

"There is the wind, the trim, the high boost you only have a few laps to test with on Fast Friday and today the🥀 conditions changed every single lap.ඣ"

With a top nine start guaranteed, Alonso nonetheless says he will be heading into the session with a v꧋iew to ꦆgoing all the way to pole position.