Robert Shwartzman Takes Pole in Indianapolis
Last Updated on February 27, 2026 by WWTR
Photo by Penske Entertainment: Joe Skibinski
MADISON, Ill. (May 20, 2025) – A rookie who has never raced on an oval will start from the prime position at the 109th running of the Indianapolis 500 on May 18, as Robert Shwartzman takes pole in Indianapolis, just over a month after testing on only his second oval, at World Wide Technology Raceway.
Shwartzman and PREMA Racing took to the 1.25-mile oval on April 16, where the team was focusing on how to put the car in optimal condition for oval racing. The Italian-based team has plenty of experience in the Formula series, but this year marks its debut in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES.
Shwartzman and PREMA participated in two tests leading up to the INDY 500, at Nashville Superspeedway and WWT Raceway, which helped them to test and prepare the car for the legendary race. At WWT Raceway, overtaking is critical, and with two working lines at the 2024 Bommarito Automotive Group 500, competition was at an all-time high with multiple track records were set with 21 lead changes, 11 race leaders and 676 passes.
“I spoke to a couple of drivers, and it’s like, it’s quite a lot of battling here and overtaking. So definitely a track where you can, you can battle through the field,” said Shwartzman at the WWT Raceway test. “So yeah, obviously I have not experienced with that at the moment in oval, but for sure, I’m very excited later on this season to jump in here and you know, to battle, it’s important enough to get the car in the right way, because when you have a good car, it’s always more fun to battle than to struggle with a car setup.”
Transitioning from the short oval at WWT Raceway to the 2.5-mile superspeedway at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, is a big change, but Shwartzman showed that after practice, success is possible. The rookie fluctuated during INDY 500 practices with his first run that set him as 33rd quick, but eventually he made his way up to 13th fastest on Fast Friday presented by Turtle Wax.
“We don’t have much time obviously, and we need to try to figure out what’s about best way for the race car, how is it going to be looking like? Plus, I don’t have much experience,” said Shwartzman in the post-qualifications press conference. “I have none experience racing on oval, so I don’t know exactly how are the overtakes, how do you defend? It’s something absolutely new. So I don’t want to put any high expectation on myself on that point.”
The Indianapolis 500 will serve as Shwartzman’s first competition on an oval, and following just a few weeks after, Shwartzman will take on his second oval race on June 15 when the NTT INDYCAR SERIES comes to WWT Raceway. Tickets are on sale at wwtraceway.com and for any questions please contact the ticket office at (618) 215-8888 Ext. 1.
MEDIA CONTACT: Payton Buschhorn | Public Relations & Media Manager | 314.517.5125 | pbuschhorn@wwtraceway.com
