IndyCar GP Indy: Lundgaard beats Rosenqvist, Palou for first pole
Christian Lundgaard delivered the lap of his life to snatch pole position on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, the venue where he made his debut, while Felix Rosenqvist makes it an all-Scandinavian front row.
Fast Six
Rahal Letterman Lanigan sent Lundgaard and Jack Harvey out on used reds, as did Arrow McLaren for Felix Rosenqvist, and Harvey went top with a 1m09.4220s.
Kirkwood’s first flyer took him into third, but it was Lundgaard who moved to the top with a 1m09.3321s. Palou slotted in behind, 0.0459s adrift but ahead of Harvey. Rosenqvist had a strong shot but wiggled hard out of Turn 9 and came up 0.0027s short of Lundgaard’s benchmark. Still, he was two-tenths ahead of teammate Pato O’Ward, who nonetheless beat Kirkwood.
| P | Name | FTime | Diff | FL | Laps | FSpeed | Engine | Tire | Team |
| 1 | Christian Lundgaard | 1:09.3321 | 1:09.3321 | 3 | 4 | 126.643 | Honda | A | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
| 2 | Felix Rosenqvist | 1:09.3348 | 0.0027 | 3 | 3 | 126.638 | Chevy | A | Arrow McLaren |
| 3 | Alex Palou | 1:09.3780 | 0.0459 | 3 | 3 | 126.559 | Honda | A | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 4 | Jack Harvey | 1:09.4220 | 0.0899 | 1 | 4 | 126.479 | Honda | A | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
| 5 | Pato O'Ward | 1:09.5422 | 0.2101 | 3 | 3 | 126.260 | Chevy | A | Arrow McLaren |
| 6 | Kyle Kirkwood | 1:09.6292 | 0.2971 | 2 | 2 | 126.102 | Honda | A | Andretti Autosport |
Q2
Christian Lundgaard swiftly got down to business on primaries with a 1m10.3486s to shade Pato O’Ward’s Arrow McLaren and his own teammate Jack Harvey. Then Felix Rosenqvist’s McLaren went quickest before everyone stopped for reds.
Out came Lundgaard with a 1m09.2282, only to see his time shaded by 0.02s by Alex Palou. O’Ward and Rosenqvist were next up but their teammate Alexander Rossi was bumped out. Jack Harvey made it a second RLL car in the Fast Six, but Graham Rahal didn’t make it. Kyle Kirkwood snatched sixth for Andretti Autosport.
Three of the four Ganassi cars were eliminated, as was Will Power who made a big mistake under braking at Turn 7 on his flyer. Despite starting from 12th tomorrow, he’ll roll off as highest-placed Penske driver.
| P | Name | FTime | Diff | FL | Laps | FSpeed | Engine | Tire | Team |
| 1 | Alex Palou | 1:09.2082 | 1:09.2082 | 5 | 6 | 126.869 | Honda | A | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 2 | Christian Lundgaard | 1:09.2282 | 0.0200 | 5 | 6 | 126.833 | Honda | A | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
| 3 | Pato O'Ward | 1:09.3405 | 0.1323 | 4 | 5 | 126.627 | Chevy | A | Arrow McLaren |
| 4 | Felix Rosenqvist | 1:09.3604 | 0.1522 | 5 | 5 | 126.591 | Chevy | A | Arrow McLaren |
| 5 | Jack Harvey | 1:09.3767 | 0.1685 | 6 | 6 | 126.561 | Honda | A | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
| 6 | Kyle Kirkwood | 1:09.4131 | 0.2049 | 6 | 6 | 126.495 | Honda | A | Andretti Autosport |
| 7 | Marcus Ericsson | 1:09.4419 | 0.2337 | 6 | 6 | 126.442 | Honda | A | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 8 | Graham Rahal | 1:09.4711 | 0.2629 | 6 | 6 | 126.389 | Honda | A | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
| 9 | Scott Dixon | 1:09.4757 | 0.2675 | 6 | 6 | 126.381 | Honda | A | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 10 | Alexander Rossi | 1:09.5471 | 0.3389 | 5 | 6 | 126.251 | Chevy | A | Arrow McLaren |
| 11 | Marcus Armstrong | 1:09.6148 | 0.4066 | 6 | 6 | 126.128 | Honda | A | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 12 | Will Power | 1:10.1872 | 0.9790 | 6 | 6 | 125.100 | Chevy | A | Team Penske |
Q1 Group 2
Despite glowering skies over the Speedway, Group 2 also went out en masse on primaries and despite the harder rubber, Pato O’Ward managed to deliver a brilliant 1m09.9279s, over three tenths clear of his nearest opponent. That was Jack Harvey, with Alex Palou close behind. But the group seemed tardy in re-emerging on reds, and the traffic started to stack up.