Álex Palou won pole position for the Grand Prix of Indianapolis at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course with a lap of 69.0004 seconds in the final round of qualifying. It is Palou's first pole position of the season and his first pole position since Detroit last year, a race he won. The Catalan driver has won from two of his first three career pole positions. Palou has five consecutive top five finishes dating back to last season. Last year, Palou had a run of nine consecutive top five results from the second race of the 2023 season at Texas through the tenth race of the season at Toronto. Palou is looking to become the second driver to win consecutive Grand Prix of Indianapolis joining Will Power.
Christian Lundgaard fell 0.0917 seconds short of starting on pole position for the second consecutive year at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, but Lundgaard will start second, his third consecutive IMS road course race starting on the front row. The Dane has never started worse than eighth at this track, and his average starting position of 3.833 is the best among drivers with at least three starts at this track. Lundgaard also has the best average finish on the IMS road course among drivers with at least three starts at 6.2.
Will Power was 0.1632 seconds off Palou's best time and Power will start third. This is Power's third consecutive top five start. Last season, Power started in the top five twice over 17 races, and those were pole positions in both Iowa races. Power did not lead a lap in either IMS road course race last year. This is the first time Power has not led in consecutive races at this track.
Josef Newgarden makes it an all-Team Penske row two. Newgarden was 0.2524 seconds slower than Palou. Last year, Newgarden failed to make it out of the first round of qualifying in both IMS road course races. He has been classified outside the top fifteen in five of the last seven IndyCar races. He has only one top five finish in the last five IMS road course races.
Patricio O'Ward starts fifth in car #5. This is the sixth consecutive IMS road course race O'Ward has started in the top five. He has started in the top five in three of four races this season. O'Ward has finished in the top five in the fourth race of the season the last four years. That includes two victories, at Texas in 2021 and at Barber in 2022.
Scott Dixon will start sixth, his best starting position of the season. This is Dixon's best starting position on the IMS road course since the 2019 Grand Prix of Indianapolis when he started second, nine IMS road course races ago. Dixon's last five victories have come from starting positions of eighth or worse. He has won four times from sixth starting spot, most recently the second race of the 2019 Belle Isle doubleheader. The only time Dixon has won the fourth race of the season was his first career victory at Nazareth in the 2001 CART season.
Alexander Rossi qualified seventh after coming up 0.0185 seconds short of advancing to the final round of qualifying. This is Rossi's best start of the season. Rossi has three consecutive top five finishes on the IMS road course. His most recent podium finish was in last year's Grand Prix of Indianapolis. Rossi's most recent victory was the July 2022 IMS road course race.
Marcus Armstrong takes eighth on the grid, his third consecutive top ten start of the season. The New Zealander was 0.0559 seconds off making the Fast Six. Armstrong has finished worse than his starting position in all three races this season. In 12 starts last season, Armstrong finished worse than his starting position in only four races.
Graham Rahal overcame clutch issues and an engine failure in practice to qualify ninth, 0.0875 seconds from the final round of qualifying. Rahal is 110 races removed from his most recent victory. Rahal has not finished in the top ten in his last six starts, not since he was second in last August's IMS road course race.
Felix Rosenqvist rounds out the top ten, his worst starting position of the season. Rosenqvist has two top five finishes through the first three races, the first time he has ever multiple top five finishes within the first three races of a season. Previously, the earliest Rosenqvist has had two top five finishes in a season was through seven races.
Pietro Fittipaldi qualified 11th, his best starting position since his IndyCar debut on April 7, 2018 at Phoenix. Fittipaldi qualified tenth in that Phoenix race. The Brazilian has finished outside the top twenty in the last two races. In 12 career starts, Fittipaldi has finished outside the top twenty in seven of those races.
Rinus VeeKay starts on the outside of row six. Since finishing in the top five in three of his first four IMS road course starts, VeeKay has one top ten finish in his last five starts at this track and his average finish over those five races is 15.4.
Scott McLaughlin was 0.0048 seconds shy of advancing from group one in round one qualifying, and he will start 13th. McLaughlin won last year at Barber Motorsports Park and then finished 16th in the next race at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. McLaughlin has finished outside the top fifteen the last two years in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis.
Kyle Kirkwood fell 0.0182 seconds short of making the second round of qualifying, and that leaves Kirkwood in 14th. Kirkwood is one of two Andretti Global drivers in this race going for four consecutive top ten finishes. Andretti Global has not had a driver finish in the top ten in four consecutive races since Colton Herta had a stretch covering the final three races of 2021 and the 2022 season opener. The team has not had a driver open a season with four consecutive top ten finishes since Alexander Rossi in 2019.
Agustín Canapino finds himself 15th on the grid, the best starting position of Canapinos' IndyCar career. His previous best was 18th at Toronto last year. He had started 20th in all three races this season. The Argentine driver has finished in the top twenty in four consecutive races dating back to last season. Prior to this streak, Canapino had never finished in the top twenty in more than two consecutive races.
Santino Ferrucci was 0.1107 seconds off advancing and Ferrucci will start 16th. A.J. Foyt Racing has not had a top ten finisher in the last nine IMS road course races. The team's most recent top ten result at this track was Matheus Leist finishing fourth in the changing conditions of the 2019 Grand Prix of Indianapolis.
Jack Harvey takes 17th on the grid, his best starting position of the season and the best starting spot for a Dale Coyne Racing driver in 2024. Harvey was 13th at Barber Motorsports Park last month. Harvey has not had consecutive top fifteen finishes since 2022 at Belle Isle and Road America. He was 15th and 13th in those races respectively.
Théo Pourchaire will start on the outside of row nine. Eighteenth is Pourchaire's best starting position of his IndyCar career. It was announced earlier this week that Pourchaire will run the remainder of the season in the #6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, except for the Indianapolis 500 in two weeks.
Linus Lundqvist occupies 19th starting spot. Lundqvist is coming off his first career podium finish, a third at Barber. This will be Lundqvist's seventh career start. The most recent driver to have a first career victory come in a seventh career start was Teo Fabi at Pocono in 1983. The only other driver to have a first career victory come in a seventh career start since the end of World War II was Art Bisch at Milwaukee in 1958.
Christian Rasmussen put car #20 in 20th. Rasmussen has yet to finish inside the top twenty this season. With an average finish of 24th, this is the worst start for an Ed Carpenter Racing driver through the first three races of a season.
Marcus Ericsson is starting 21st, Ericsson's worst starting position since he started 25th for the July 2022 IMS road course race. That was 24 races ago. Ericsson has not finished on the podium for a natural-terrain road course since he was second at Road America in 2022. There have been 12 natural-terrain road courses since that race.
Luca Ghiotto will make his second IndyCar start from 22nd. At Barber Motorsports Park, Ghiotto became the seventh Italian driver to race for Dale Coyne Racing joining Guido Daccò, Fulvio Ballabio, Alessandro Zampedri, Mauro Baldi, Francesco Dracone and Luca Filippi.
Romain Grosjean will be in 23rd position at the start. This is Grosjean's first time starting outside the top twenty since the July 2022 IMS road course race, 24 races ago. Grosjean has two top ten finishes in his last 16 starts. He has not finished in the top five over that timespan.
Colton Herta ran out of fuel on his final qualifying run in group two, meaning Herta will start 24th. The American enters this race as the championship leader for the first time in his IndyCar career. There has been a different championship leader after each of the first three races this season.
Kyffin Simpson qualified 25th. Simpson has started 23rd or worse in every race this season, however he has finished better than his starting position in all three races this season. Simpson was third and fifth in the two Indy Lights races held on the IMS road course last year.
Tom Blomqvist will make his IMS road course debut in 26th starting position. This is Blomqvist's worst starting position of the season. He had started in the top twenty of all three races entering this weekend, including inside the top fifteen in the last two races. Blomqvist was sixth in last year's IMSA race on the IMS road course driving an Acura for Meyer Shank Racing.
Sting Ray Robb rounds out the grid in 27th. This is the 21st consecutive race Robb has started outside the top twenty. This is his worst starting position since he started 27th for the first Iowa race last year. This is Robb's worst starting spot on a road/street course. The Idahoan was 27th and 22nd in the two IMS road course races last year.
NBC's coverage of the Grand Prix of Indianapolis begins at 3:00 p.m. ET with green flag scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET. The race is scheduled for 85 laps.
