Linus Lundqvist scored a surprise first career pole position in a wet but drying qualifying session on Saturday ahead of the XPEL Grand Prix at Road America. Lundqvist ended up being on top when Josef Newgarden had an accident in the kink to end the final round of qualifying before a number of drivers could complete their final laps. Lundqvist claimed pole position with a lap at 105.1519 seconds, only 0.1394 seconds better than Cotlon Herta in second. This will be Lundqvist's tenth career start. The most recent driver to have their first career victory come in a tenth career start was Billy Boat at Texas, 26 years and three days ago. Lundqvist has finished outside the top twenty in the last three races and in four of six races this season.
Colton Herta starts on the front row for a second consecutive race. This is Herta's fifth front row start in seven Road America appearances. He has five consecutive top five finishes at Road America, and his worst finish in six starts is eighth. His average Road America finish is fifth, but Herta has yet to win at the circuit. It has been 35 races since Herta's most recent victory. The 33 laps Herta led last week at Detroit were his most laps led in a race since he led 33 at Road America last season.
Marcus Armstrong makes it two Chip Ganassi Racing cars starting in the first three positions, and it is another Ganassi driver looking for a first career victory. Armstrong was 0.5073 seconds off Lundqvist in the final round of qualifying. This is Armstrong's best career start. He had never started better than sixth prior to this weekend. He has finished in the top five in two of the last three races. This will be Armstrong's 29th career start. Only once has a driver had a first career victory come in a 29th career start. That was Eliseo Salazar on October 11, 1997 at Las Vegas.
Kyle Kirkwood makes it two Andretti Global cars starting in the first four positions. Kirkwood was over 1.29 seconds from Lundqvist's best time. This is Kirkwood's best starting position of the season and his best starting position since he started third at Mid-Ohio last July. This is only the fourth time he has qualified in the top five in his career. He won from pole position at Long Beach in 2023, but his other two finisher were 15th and 17th.
Will Power caused the first red flag in the final round of qualifying, but since multiple drivers did not register a lap in the final round, the spots are set based on round two times, meaning Power will start fifth. This is the tenth consecutive race Power has started inside the top eight. He has an average finish of 9.222 over his last nine starts.
Josef Newgarden's accident to end the Fast Six session meant his fastest two laps were erased and it knocked Newgarden down to sixth on the grid. Newgarden clipped the curbs on entry to the kink while on slick tires and that sent the Tennesseean spinning. This is the fourth consecutive race Newgarden has started in the top five, and he has started in the top five of six of seven races this year. Newgarden has finished on the podium in six of nine Road America starts.
Álex Palou was almost three-tenths off making it out of the second round of qualifying, and Palou will start seventh. Palou is coming off a 16th-place finish at Detroit, Palou's worst finish since the 2022 Grand Prix of Indianapolis when he was 18th. Only twice in Palou's career has he finished in the top five in the race following a result outside the top fifteen. He was third in the first Road America race in 2020 after being 19th in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. He won the 2021 Portland race after finishing 20th at Gateway.
Scott McLaughlin matches his best Road America starting position in eighth. McLaughlin has not finished in the top five finish in the last three races. This is his longest stretch without a top five finish since last season when he went four races that covered the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, Indianapolis 500, Detroit and Road America.
Alexander Rossi fell to ninth on the grid after he topped the first group in the first round of qualifying. This is the sixth time in seven races this season Rossi has not started in the top five. Rossi has not won in his last 27 starts. Rossi has nine top five finishes but only one podium finish during that time. He has four consecutive top ten finishes at Road America.
Scott Dixon rounds out the top ten. Dixon's victory at Detroit from fifth starting position ended a streak of five consecutive victories from outside a top five starting position for the New Zealander. He has won consecutive races on six occasions in his career, including in two of the previous four seasons. Dixon has won three of the first seven races twice in his career, 2003 and 2020. He won the championship in each of those seasons.
Patricio O'Ward ended up 11th in qualifying. It is the second consecutive race O'Ward is starting from row six. It is the first time he is starting outside the top ten in consecutive races since the 2021 Grand Prix of Indianapolis and Indianapolis 500. He did win from 16th at Belle Isle in the second race of the 2021 doubleheader.
Kyffin Simpson made it out of the first round of qualifying for the first time in his career, and Simpson will start a career-best 12th. Simpson advanced from the first qualifying group on his final lap, knocking Christian Lundgaard out in the process. Simpson has finished outside the top twenty in the last two races after finishing in the top twenty in the first four races of the season.
Christian Lundgaard was knocked out on Simpson's final lap in round one, and Lundgaard will start 13th. This is Lundgaard's worst starting position on a road or street course this season. He started 13th at Road America two years and and finished tenth. Lundgaard has led a lap in three consecutive races. This is the first time in Lundgaard's IndyCar career he has led consecutive races.
Romain Grosjean started 14th for a second consecutive race. Grosjean had finished in the top five of his first two Road America starts before he finished 25th last year. The only other circuits where Grosjean has multiple top five finishes are the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course and Long Beach.
Marcus Ericsson ended up 15th in qualifying, the fourth time in the last five races Ericsson has started outside the top ten. His runner-up finish at Detroit last week was his first podium finish since he was second in the 2023 Indianapolis 500, 16 races between podium visits for the Swede. He has five consecutive top ten finish at Road America.
Christian Rasmussen makes his first IndyCar start at Road America from 16th. Rasmussen is coming off his second retirement of the season after he suffered an engine failure at Detroit. Both times the Dane has not finished a race, he has been classified in 27th. Rasmussen won at Road America in all three Road to Indy series.
Rinus VeeKay starts a position behind his Ed Carpenter Racing teammate Rasmussen in 17th. This is the fourth time in seven races VeeKay is starting outside the top fifteen in 2024. The Dutchman has never started better than 15th at this track. VeeKay has never finished better than 12th at Road America with an average finish of 14th over four starts.
Théo Pourchaire's first Road America appearances comes from 18th on the grid. Pourchaire scored his first career top ten finish last week at Detroit when he finished tenth. The most recent first-time winner to win after finishing tenth in the previous race was Alexander Rossi, who was tenth in the 2016 Grand Prix of Indianapolis before Rossi won the 100th Indianapolis 500.
Santino Ferrucci takes 19th on the grid, his worst starting position since 24th at Long Beach. Ferrucci is aiming for his third consecutive top ten finish. Twice in his career has Ferrucci had three consecutive top ten finishes. The first was over the 2020 Grand Prix of Indianapolis and the Road America doubleheader weekend. The other was over four starts in 2021 that covered the Indianapolis 500, the Belle Isle doubleheader and Mid-Ohio.
Jack Harvey will be on the outside of row ten. Harvey has gone 22 starts since his most recent top ten finish. This is the first season Dale Coyne Racing has not had a top ten result through the first six races since 2015 when the team didn't even had a top fifteen result through the first seven races. Harvey's average finish in six Road America starts is 18.5
Nolan Siegel will drive the #78 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet this weekend in place of Agustín Canapino. On Friday, it was announced on Canapino would be taking this weekend off citing mental health after the social media controversy involving Canapino and Arrow McLaren's Théo Pourchaire. This will be Siegel's second career start, and he will roll off from 21st position. He was 20th on debut at Long Beach driving for Dale Coyne Racing.
Felix Rosenqvist will start 22nd, the second consecutive race Rosenqvist is starting 22nd. This is Rosenqvist's worst starting position at Road America. In the first five races of 2024, the Swede's average starting spot was 5.4. Thanks to the last two races, his average starting spot has dropped to 10.142. He has finished in the top ten in five of six races this season. Last week was only the second time in Rosenqvist's career where he finished in the top ten after starting outside the top twenty. The other was the 2022 Belle Isle race, going from 25th to tenth.
Luca Ghiotto is back in Dale Coyne Racing's #51 Honda for Road America and for Laguna Seca in two weeks. Ghiotto's third career start will be from 23rd starting position. The Italian started 21st and 22nd in his first two IndyCar appearances. He ended up 21st at Barber Motorsports Park and 25th in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis.
Graham Rahal will start 24th, his worst career starting position at Road America. This is the fourth consecutive Road America race where Rahal is starting outside the top ten. Prior to this run, he had never started worse than sixth at the 4.048-mile circuit. Rahal has one top five finish in his last 24 starts. He has only six top ten finishing during that timespan.
Pietro Fittipaldi starts 25th, the fourth time he has started outside the top twenty this season. Fittipaldi has an average finish of 20.5 through the first six races this season. The #30 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda had an average finish of 15th through the first six races of 2022 with Christian Lundgaard and an average finish of 19.1667 through the first six races of 2023 with Jack Harvey.
Sting Ray Robb qualified 26th. This is the 24th consecutive race Robb is starting outside the top twenty. This is the sixth time he is starting outside the top 25 in his career. Robb was 22nd in last year's Road America race from 25th starting position.
Hélio Castroneves rounds out the grid in 27th starting position after bringing out a red flag in the second qualifying group. This is the sixth time in Castroneves' career he has started 27th or worse. One of those was starting 27th at last year's Laguna Seca season finale. He did win from 28th at Chicagoland in 2008. The worst starting position for a Road America winner is 13th. Castroneves' average finish in eight Road America starts is 12.875.
NBC's coverage of the XPEL Grand Prix at Road America begins at 3:30 p.m. ET with green flag scheduled for 3:45 p.m. ET. The race is scheduled for 55 laps.
