Christian Lundgaard set the fastest lap in the final round of qualifying for the BITNILE.com Grand Prix of Portland at 58.393 seconds, but Lundgaard had a six-spot grid penalty for taking on his fifth engine of the season, relegating the Dane to seventh on the grid.
Lundgaard's Arrow McLaren teammate Patricio O'Ward will move up to first on the grid after the penalty. This will be O'Ward's best starting position ever at Portland. His previous best was fifth in 2022. This is the second consecutive race O'Ward is starting on the front row. He was 0.1404 seconds off winning pole position outright and earning that bonus point for the fastest qualifier. The Mexican has finished in the top five in five consecutive races, the longest streak of his IndyCar career. He has finished in the top five in the 15th race of the season the last four years. Absent of what Álex Palou must do, if O'Ward finishes ninth or worse, his championship hopes will end in Portland.
Felix Rosenqvist was 0.0240 seconds off O'Ward and Rosenqvist will start on the front row, also his best start ever at Portland. It is the sixth time this season Rosenqvist has started in the top five. In two of those races, he finished in the top five. He started and finished fourth at Long Beach, and he started fifth on his way to finishing fourth in the Indianapolis 500. Portland is one of two circuits where Rosenqvist has multiple podium finishes. He was second in 2019 and second in 2023. The other track is Road America where he picked up his second podium finish earlier this season. It has been 89 starts since Rosenqvist's only career victory.
Will Power was 0.1081 seconds off O'Ward and Power will start third. Power has not won a race since last year's visit to Portland, 17 starts ago, a race in which he started second. After having three top five finishes in the first five races, Power has only two top five finishes in the last nine races. He has only led four laps this season. His fewest led in a season was 14 in his rookie season in 2006. Power has not won a race from third starting position since the 2018 Indianapolis 500.
David Malukas takes the outside of row two as Malukas was 0.0133 seconds slower than Power in qualifying. This will be the ninth time Malukas has started in the top ten this season. The only time he has started in the top ten and finished better than his starting position was the Indianapolis 500 where he went from seventh to second. In three Portland starts, Malukas has an average finish of 14th. This will be Malukas' 59th career start.
Álex Palou caused a local yellow in the final round of qualifying, which cost Palou his fastest lap. He still starts fifth for Portland. This is Palou's worst starting position since he started ninth at Gateway. Palou will clinch his fourth IndyCar championship with a runner-up finish with at least one bonus point scored. He won from fifth starting position at Portland in 2023.
Alexander Rossi missed out on the final round of qualifying by 0.0163 seconds, but after Lundgaard's penalty, Rossi moves up to sixth on the grid. It will be Rossi's best starting position since he started sixth at Thermal Club. He had started outside the top ten in nine consecutive races. Rossi's top ten finish drought is up to seven consecutive victories. He has five top ten finishes in six Portland starts.
Christian Lundgaard slides back to seventh after the grid penalty. This is the sixth time since 2012 the pole-sitter is serving a grid penalty. It happened in 2012 with Ryan Briscoe at Long Beach and Ryan Hunter-Reay at Edmonton. In 2013, it happened with Dario Franchitti in the first Detroit race and Hélio Castroneves at Iowa. The most recent example was in 2023 with Scott McLaughlin at Gateway. It has been 38 starts since Lundgaard's only IndyCar victory. He has six podium finishes since he won at Toronto in 2023.
Marcus Armstrong is eighth in the championship and he will start eighth for today's race. This is the ninth time Armstrong has started in the top ten this season. He has converted five of his first eight top ten starting spots into top ten finishes and on three occasion has he finished better than his grid position. Armstrong was fifth in last year's Portland race after starting seventh.
Scott Dixon starts ninth for the second time this season. Dixon started ninth at Mid-Ohio, which he went onto win. While Dixon has six top five finishes this season, including in the last race at Laguna Seca, he has not finished in the top five in consecutive starts since a three-race stretch over the Iowa doubleheader and Toronto last year.
Marcus Ericsson rounds out the top ten, the seventh time Ericsson has started in the top ten in 2025. This is the third time in the last five races Ericsson has been the best Andretti Global starter, however, Ericsson has yet to be the best Andretti Global finisher in a race this season. In four Portland starts, Ericsson's average finish is 7.75.
For the third consecutive race, Scott McLaughlin was one spot off advancing out of the first round of qualifying. McLaughlin was 0.0848 seconds off making the second round. After grid penalties, McLaughlin moves up to 11th on the grid. This is his sixth consecutive race starting outside the top ten. McLaughlin enters this weekend with 49 top ten finishes in his first 81 IndyCar starts.
Devlin DeFrancesco takes a surprising 12th on the grid, though he was the first car to miss out on advancing from group two by 0.0625 seconds. This is the first time DeFrancesco has started in the top fifteen since he started fifth for the Grand Prix of Indianapolis in May. DeFrancesco has finished outside the top fifteen in eight consecutive races. He has finished 16th and 17th in his two previous visits to Portland.
Colton Herta has his worst starting position ever at Portland as Herta will start 13th. He was 0.1235 seconds from advancing from group two in the first round of qualifying. He had made it out of the first round of qualifying in each of his first five appearances in Portland. Though he has four top ten finishes in five Portland starts, Herta has never finished better than fourth in the Rose City.
Louis Foster elevates to 14th on the grid after grid penalties. This is the sixth time in the last seven races Foster has started inside the top fifteen. After finishing in the top fifteen in four consecutive races, Foster has finished outside the top fifteen in the last two races. He won at Portland in Indy Pro 2000 in 2022 and Indy Lights in 2023.
Josef Newgarden qualified ninth, but a six-spot grid penalty bumps him down to 15th after the team changed to its fifth engine of the season prior to qualifying. Newgarden has not had a top five finish on a permanent road course since he was third last year at Portland. His most recent permanent road course victory was at Road America in 2022.
Christian Rasmussen will start on the outside of row eight. It is the 13th time in 15 races Rasmussen will start outside the top fifteen. Rasmussen has three top ten finishes in his last four starts. Prior to this stretch, he had three top ten finishes over his first 24 starts. His ninth at Laguna Seca two weeks ago was only his second top ten finish on a permanent road course. The other was ninth at Mid-Ohio in 2024.
Nolan Siegel starts 17th. Siegel has finished 18th in the last two races. Earlier this season, he finished 13th in consecutive races at Indianapolis and 19th in consecutive races at Detroit and Gateway. His only top ten finishes this season were on permanent road courses. He was eighth at Road America and ninth at Barber Motorsports Park.
Kyffin Simpson did make the second round of qualifying, but Simpson drops to 18th on the grid after having a six-spot grid penalty for his contact with Felix Rosenqvist on the opening lap at Laguna Seca. This is the eighth time this season Simpson will start outside the top fifteen. He started 18th in the second Iowa race and finished 13th.
Kyle Kirkwood is going to start 19th, the fourth time in the last five races Kirkwood will be starting 18th or worse. He started 18th or worse in only three of the first ten races this season. Only once has Kirkwood finished in the top five in one of the final four races of the season. That was last year at Nashville where he finished fourth. Kirkwood has not finished in the top five in his last five starts.
Sting Ray Robb moves up to 20th on the grid, his best starting position since he was 19th at Mid-Ohio. Robb had started 24th or worse in the last four races. This is the first time he has been the top Juncos Hollinger Racing qualifier since the Grand Prix of Indianapolis in May. Robb has finished outside the top fifteen in six consecutive races. He has finished 23rd and 18th in his two previous visits to Portland.
Santino Ferrucci has a six-spot grid penalty for taking on a fifth engine, which knocks Ferrucci from 15th on the grid down to 21st. This is the 14th time in 15 races he has started outside the top ten this season, and it is the fourth time Ferrucci is starting outside the top twenty. Last year, Ferrucci scored his best Portland finish of eighth after starting on pole position.
Graham Rahal has his worst starting position on a road or street course race this season in 22nd. Rahal had started in the top ten in three consecutive races prior to this weekend. This will also be his worst starting position ever at Portland. In the last four Portland races, Rahal has three top ten finishes. He has only two top ten finishes this season.
Rinus VeeKay went off course on his final qualifying lap in round one, and that leaves VeeKey 23rd on the grid. VeeKay has finished in the top ten in four of the six permanent road course races. The only races he finished outside the top ten were the two California races, a 17th at Thermal Club and 23rd at Laguna Seca.
For the second consecutive race, Callum Ilott is starting 24th. It is Ilott's eighth time starting outside the top twenty this season. He enters this weekend with consecutive top ten finishes for only the second time in his career. In the last two races, Ilott has set Prema's best finish in IndyCar. At Laguna Seca, he went from 24th to sixth.
Robert Shwartzman brought out a red flag with just over a minute left in the first qualifying group, and that meant Shwartzman could not advance from the first round. This will place the Israeli driver in the 25th grid position. Shwartzman's average finish on permanent road courses this season is 22.333, and his only top 20 finish was 18th in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis.
Conor Daly has his worst starting position of the season in 26th, though this is the third consecutive race Daly is starting outside the top twenty. Daly makes his 129th start this weekend at Portland. If he wins, Daly would match Michel Jourdain, Jr. for the record of most starts before a first career victory.
Jacob Abel rounds out the grid in 27th. It is the fifth time Abel has started in last this season. Only once has he started in the top twenty this season, and that was 20th at Detroit. Abel has failed to finish three of the last four races. He won last year's Indy Lights race in Portland.
Fox's coverage of the BITNILE.com Grand Prix of Portland begins at 3:00 p.m. with green flag at 3:22 p.m. The race is scheduled for 110 laps.
