Rookie Robert Shwartzman's singing his engineers' praises after coming from nowhere to claim pole position for the Indy 500

With precisely zero oval track races to his name - the 25-year-old Israeli was no better than 28th fastest out of 34 drivers on the opening three days of practice.

After his car came alive to stun the field and qualify fastest for next Monday's race - Shwartzman says his team didn't give up on finding more speed.



2008 champion Scott Dixon qualified fourth.

Fellow Kiwi Scott McLaughlin will start 10th after being unable to contest top 12 qualifying due to a big crash in final practice.

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