American Robby Foley won the pole Friday for the Indianapolis 8 Hour by just two-thousandths of a second, setting the stage for an exciting final race of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway season in 2026.
Foley, from Randolph, New Jersey, was the quickest driver in the final Superpole qualifying session with his top lap of 1 minute, 22.805 seconds in the No. 29 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 EVO. Foley, who also was quickest in the preliminary qualifying rounds, will share that car with fellow American drivers Connor De Phillippi and Justin Rothberg in the Intercontinental GT Challenge endurance sports car race that starts at 12:30 p.m. ET Saturday on the 14-turn, 2.439-mile IMS road course.
Veteran sports car driver Foley edged Ayhancan Guven of Turkey, whose best lap of 1:22.807 in the No. 32 GMG Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R EVO was just two-thousandths of a second shy of Foley’s quickest effort.
“The guys and girls at Turner gave me a great car,” Foley said. “We made a couple of small changes from Q3 to Superpole. The track changed there a little bit with the sun going down. It’s a great place to start.
“It’s always great to drive around this storied track. A good track for our BMW. So, looking forward to tomorrow and seeing what we can do.”
Christopher Mies qualified third at 1:22.868 in the No. 6 Dollahite Racing Ford Mustang GT3 EVO, as just 63-thousandths of a second separated the top three cars on the starting grid. Alessio Picariello qualified fourth and will start on the outside of the front row after his best lap of 1:23.146 in the No. 8 McCann Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R EVO.
Five-time and reigning NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Alex Palou (photo, top) qualified seventh at 1:23.309 in the No. 80 Mercedes-AMG Team Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO. Palou was the quickest of the three Mercedes drivers among the 10 competitors who earned a spot in the final Superpole session.
2022 Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge winner Marcus Ericsson qualified 17th in the No. 99 Random Vandals Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO he will share with his brother, Hampus Ericsson, and Derek DeBoer on Saturday.
Teams of three drivers sharing cars will race from 12:30-8:30 p.m. ET Saturday, with 28 cars expected to compete. A wide variety of evocative manufacturers will provide a thrilling array of sights and engine sounds, including Aston Martin, BMW, Chevrolet, Ferrari, Ford, Lamborghini, McLaren, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche.
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