IndyCar Indy GP: Lundgaard beats Rosenqvist, Palou for first pole
Christian Lundgaard delivered the lap of his life to snatch pole position for the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, the venue where he made his debut, while Felix Rosenqvist made it an all-Scandinavian front row.
Photo by: Brett Farmer / Motorsport Images
The Rahal Letterman Lanigan driver took his first series pole with a 1m09.3321s on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
He topped Group 1 in the first part of qualifying with a 1m09.4639s before he was pipped to the top spot in Q2 by Arrow McLaren driver Alex Palou by 0.02s.
But progressing to the Fast Six, the Dane sealed his first series pole ahead of Rosenqvist (Arrow McLaren) and Palou.
Jack Harvey (RLL), Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward and Kyle Kirkwood, who scored his maiden win for Andretti Autosport in Long Beach last month, complete the top six.
Group 1’s Q1 session saw Lundgaard lead Chip Ganassi Racing’s Marcus Armstrong, with Rosenqvist third, as the field set banker laps on their primary Firestones.
With less than five minutes to go, everyone ducked into the pits to grab a set of the softer alternates.
Simon Pagenaud was the first to lay a strong lap on these reds for Meyer Shank Racing, a 1m10.2625, but this was swiftly eclipsed by Team Penske driver Josef Newgarden’s 1m09.8402s.
Then the times came in thick and fast, Armstrong hitting P1 before Lundgaard slammed in a 1m09.4639s ahead of the New Zealander and Will Power (Team Penske).
Felix Rosenqvist, Arrow McLaren Chevrolet
Photo by: Brett Farmer / Motorsport Images
Graham Rahal backed up Lundgaard’s form for RLL with second just ahead of Rosenqvist, Armstrong, Power and Marcus Ericsson.
One surprise elimination was Newgarden, whose cause wasn’t helped by a spin for Benjamin Pedersen up ahead of him, while Ed Carpenter Racing, a team that has won on this course, were also eliminated.
Despite glowering skies over the Speedway, Group 2 also went out en masse on primaries and despite the harder rubber, O’Ward managed to deliver a brilliant 1m09.9279s, over three tenths clear of his nearest opponent.
That was Harvey, with Palou close behind. But the group seemed slow in re-emerging on reds, and the traffic started to stack up.
O’Ward delivered in fine style with a 1m09.2937s, ahead of team-mate Alexander Rossi, chased by Palou, Harvey, Kyle Kirkwood and Scott Dixon.
Surprisingly, Kirkwood was the only Andretti car through, while Scott McLaughlin also failed to advance.
Lundgaard swiftly got down to business on primaries in Q2 with a 1m10.3486s to shade O’Ward and Harvey. Then Rosenqvist went quickest before everyone stopped for reds.
Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
Photo by: Brett Farmer / Motorsport Images
Out came Lundgaard with a 1m09.2282, only to see his time shaded by 0.02s by Palou. O’Ward and Rosenqvist were next up but their team-mate Alexander Rossi was bumped out.
Harvey made it a second RLL car in the Fast Six, but Rahal didn’t make it, while 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.
Rahal Letterman Lanigan sent Lundgaard and Harvey out on used reds, as did Arrow McLaren for 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 team-mate O’Ward, who nonetheless beat Kirkwood.
IndyCar Indy GP qualifying results:
Fast Six
| Cla | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Interval | Mph |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Christian Lundgaard |
 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
1'09.3321 | 126.643 | ||
| 2 |  Felix Rosenqvist |
Arrow McLaren | 1'09.3348 | 0.0027 | 0.0027 | 126.638 |
| 3 |  Alex Palou |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
1'09.3780 | 0.0459 | 0.0432 | 126.559 |
| 4 |  Jack Harvey |
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
1'09.4220 | 0.0899 | 0.0440 | 126.479 |
| 5 |  Patricio O'Ward |
Arrow McLaren | 1'09.5422 | 0.2101 | 0.1202 | 126.260 |
| 6 | Kyle Kirkwood |
Andretti Autosport |
1'09.6292 | 0.2971 | 0.0870 | 126.102 |
| View full results | ||||||
Q2
| Cla | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Interval | Mph |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alex Palou |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
1'09.2082 | 126.869 | ||
| 2 | Christian Lundgaard |
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
1'09.2282 | 0.0200 | 0.0200 | 126.833 |
| 3 | Patricio O'Ward |
Arrow McLaren | 1'09.3405 | 0.1323 | 0.1123 | 126.627 |
| 4 | Felix Rosenqvist |
Arrow McLaren | 1'09.3604 | 0.1522 | 0.0199 | 126.591 |
| 5 | Jack Harvey |
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
1'09.3767 | 0.1685 | 0.0163 | 126.561 |
| 6 | Kyle Kirkwood |
Andretti Autosport |
1'09.4131 | 0.2049 | 0.0364 | 126.495 |
| 7 | Marcus Ericsson |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
1'09.4419 | 0.2337 | 0.0288 | 126.442 |
| 8 | Graham Rahal |
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
1'09.4711 | 0.2629 | 0.0292 | 126.389 |
| 9 |  Scott Dixon |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
1'09.4757 | 0.2675 | 0.0046 | 126.381 |
| 10 | Alexander Rossi |
Arrow McLaren | 1'09.5471 | 0.3389 | 0.0714 | 126.251 |
| 11 | Marcus Armstrong |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
1'09.6148 | 0.4066 | 0.0677 | 126.128 |
| 12 |  Will Power |
Team Penske |
1'10.1872 | 0.9790 | 0.5724 | 125.100 |
| View full results | ||||||
Q1 Group 2
| Cla | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Interval | Mph |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Patricio O'Ward |
Arrow McLaren | 1'09.2937 | 126.713 | ||
| 2 | Alexander Rossi |
Arrow McLaren | 1'09.4747 | 0.1810 | 0.1810 | 126.383 |
| 3 | Alex Palou |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
1'09.5351 | 0.2414 | 0.0604 | 126.273 |
| 4 | Jack Harvey |
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
1'09.6238 | 0.3301 | 0.0887 | 126.112 |
| 5 | Kyle Kirkwood |
Andretti Autosport |
1'09.6277 | 0.3340 | 0.0039 | 126.105 |
| 6 | Scott Dixon |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
1'09.6708 | 0.3771 | 0.0431 | 126.027 |
| 7 | Colton Herta |
Andretti Autosport |
1'09.8375 | 0.5438 | 0.1667 | 125.726 |
| 8 | Scott McLaughlin |
Team Penske |
1'09.9899 | 0.6962 | 0.1524 | 125.452 |
| 9 |  Romain Grosjean |
Andretti Autosport |
1'10.0747 | 0.7810 | 0.0848 | 125.301 |
| 10 | David Malukas |
Dale Coyne Racing |
1'10.2562 | 0.9625 | 0.1815 | 124.977 |
| 11 | Ray Robb | Dale Coyne Racing |
1'10.2747 | 0.9810 | 0.0185 | 124.944 |
| 12 | Callum Ilott |
Juncos Hollinger Racing |
1'10.2920 | 0.9983 | 0.0173 | 124.913 |
| 13 |  Helio Castroneves |
Meyer Shank Racing |
1'10.3509 | 1.0572 | 0.0589 | 124.809 |
| 14 | Santino Ferrucci |
A.J. Foyt Enterprises |
1'10.5879 | 1.2942 | 0.2370 | 124.390 |
| View full results | ||||||
Q1 Group 1
| Cla | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Interval | Mph |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Christian Lundgaard |
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
1'09.4639 | 126.402 | ||
| 2 | Graham Rahal |
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
1'09.5627 | 0.0988 | 0.0988 | 126.223 |
| 3 | Felix Rosenqvist |
Arrow McLaren | 1'09.5838 | 0.1199 | 0.0211 | 126.185 |
| 4 | Marcus Armstrong |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
1'09.6186 | 0.1547 | 0.0348 | 126.121 |
| 5 | Will Power |
Team Penske |
1'09.7835 | 0.3196 | 0.1649 | 125.823 |
| 6 | Marcus Ericsson |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
1'09.8343 | 0.3704 | 0.0508 | 125.732 |
| 7 | Josef Newgarden |
Team Penske |
1'09.8402 | 0.3763 | 0.0059 | 125.721 |
| 8 |  Devlin DeFrancesco |
Andretti Autosport |
1'09.8676 | 0.4037 | 0.0274 | 125.672 |
| 9 |  Rinus van Kalmthout |
Ed Carpenter Racing |
1'09.9625 | 0.4986 | 0.0949 | 125.502 |
| 10 | Simon Pagenaud |
Meyer Shank Racing |
1'10.2625 | 0.7986 | 0.3000 | 124.966 |
| 11 | Conor Daly |
Ed Carpenter Racing |
1'10.2669 | 0.8030 | 0.0044 | 124.958 |
| 12 | Benjamin Pedersen |
A.J. Foyt Enterprises |
1'10.5181 | 1.0542 | 0.2512 | 124.513 |
| 13 |  Agustin Canapino |
Juncos Hollinger Racing |
1'10.5424 | 1.0785 | 0.0243 | 124.470 |
| View full results | ||||||
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