Christian Lundgaard scored pole position at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course with a lap at 64.8396 seconds during a weather-delayed qualifying session, and Lundgaard will lead an all-Arrow McLaren front row for the Honda 2000. This is the fourth pole position of the Dane's career. The only time he has won from pole position was at Toronto in 2023. Lundgaard won that race with 54 of 85 laps led. Lundgaard is attempting to score four consecutive top ten finishes for the first time since his first four races with Arrow McLaren last season. A second consecutive victory would be the first for Arrow McLaren since the famed organization returned to IndyCar competition in 2020. The last time the team won consecutive races was on April 22, 1979 when Johnny Rutherford swept a doubleheader at Atlanta.
Patricio O'Ward was 0.0253 seconds off his McLaren teammate, and this is the first time Arrow McLaren has swept the front row for an IndyCar race since last year at Thermal Club where O'Ward started first and Lundgaard started second. These two did qualify first and second at Portland last year, but Lundgaard was relegated to seventh due to a grid penalty for an engine change. With finishes of 11th and 12th in the last two races, O'Ward is attempting to avoid three consecutive finishes outside the top ten since Toronto, Gateway and Portland in 2024. He has finished in the top five in the last two Mid-Ohio races, including winning from second in 2024.
Will Power was 0.0382 seconds off pole position, and Power will start third. It is only his third top five start of the season. Fresh off a third at Road America, Power has not had consecutive podium finishes since he won at Portland and was second at Milwaukee in 2024. Power has eight podium finishes in 18 Mid-Ohio starts. That is tied for second-most at the circuit with Ohio's Bobby Rahal. Only Scott Dixon has more podium finishes at this track with nine.
David Malukas made it four cars covered by 0.0687 seconds in the final round of qualifying, as Malukas was within a tenth of pole position, but he will still start on the outside of row two. Across the first three permanent road course races, Malukas has an average finish 2.667 with runner-up finishes in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and Road America. Malukas' first career top ten finish came at Mid-Ohio in 2022. He was ninth and he finished sixth the following year. That remains Malukas' best finish at this circuit.
For the first time in his IndyCar career, Christian Rasmussen is starting in the top five. Rasmussen ended up 0.3773 seconds off pole position, but it is the Dane's first career top five start in his 42nd career start. His previous best starting position was eighth. His first top ten start was eighth at Mid-Ohio in 2024. Rasmussen has finished outside the top twenty in four of the last five races, three of which have been retirements due to mechanical issues.
Rinus VeeKay made it to the Fast Six for the first time since Detroit last year while driving for Dale Coyne Racing, and VeeKay will start sixth at Mid-Ohio. This is the first time a Juncos Hollinger Racing driver has made the Fast Six since Romain Grosjean qualified fifth for Toronto in 2024. This is VeeKay's best starting position ever at Mid-Ohio. He had started 11th or worse in six consecutive races from this circuit. VeeKay has finished better than his starting position in five consecutive races and in eight of the first ten races this season.
Marcus Ericsson starts seventh, as Ericsson was 0.0109 seconds from advancing to the final round of qualifying. This is the fourth consecutive Mid-Ohio race where Ericsson is starting in the top ten. This is Ericsson's sixth time starting in the top ten this season. In four of his first five top ten starts, he finished worse than his starting position. The exception is Ericsson going from tenth to eighth at Detroit. He has four top ten finishes in the last six Mid-Ohio races.
Álex Palou's pole-streak ended at five consecutive races as Palou could not make it out of round two at Mid-Ohio. Palou missed out by 0.0244 seconds from advancing. He had started eight consecutive races from a top-three starting position. This is his worst starting position on a road or street course since he started eighth at St. Petersburg in 2025. Palou did win that St. Petersburg race. Palou has five consecutive podium finishes at Mid-Ohio. His next podium finish will be the 50th of his career.
Josef Newgarden was only 0.0333 seconds from advancing to the Fast Six, but Newgarden will start ninth instead. This matches Newgarden's best starting spot on a road/street cours this season. He started ninth at Barber Motorsports Park. After his penalty for avoidable contact with Nolan Siegel at Road America, Newgarden was relegated to 22nd in the final results. It was his second finish outside the top twenty this season. Through the first ten races of 2025, he had five finishes outside the top twenty, including 27th at Mid-Ohio.
Kyle Kirkwood rounds out the top ten as Kirkwood was 0.0857 seconds from getting out of round two. In 18 starts in the month of July, Kirkwood has only one top five finish. He was second in the 2024 Toronto race. While he had five top five finishes to open the 2026 season, Kirkwood has one top five finish in the last five races. Kirkwood's best Mid-Ohio finish is eighth, which is where he has finished the last two years.
Caio Collet was just over a tenth of a second, 0.1025 seconds from advancing, and he will start 11th. This is the second consecutive race Collet is starting inside the top twelve. He had started outside the top twelve in eight of the first nine races of the season. Collet's first victory in Indy Lights came at Mid-Ohio in 2024. He was second at the track in last year's Indy Lights race.
Graham Rahal is on the outside of row six for his home race from Mid-Ohio. Though he made it out of the first round of qualifying, this is the fifth consecutive race Rahal is starting outside the top ten.With consecutive finishes of 23rd, Rahal is looking to avoid three consecutive finishes outside the top twenty for the first time since Edmonton, Mid-Ohio and Loudon in 2011. Rahal enters this race having not won in his last 151 starts.
Felix Rosenqvist fell 0.0130 seconds shy of making it out of group one during the first round of qualifying. This will place the Swede 13th on the grid. He had started one one of the first two rows in five of the last six races. Rosenqvist's only top five finish at Mid-Ohio was his runner-up finish as a rookie in 2019 to Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Scott Dixon. Rosenqvist's most recent top five on a permanent road course was fifth at Thermal Club last year.
Mick Schumacher slides up to 15th starting position after being 0.0544 seconds from advancing out of group two. This is Schumacher's best starting position on a road or street circuit, and it is his first time starting in the top fifteen since he was fourth at Phoenix, his first oval start. Schumacher is still looking for his first top fifteen finish in IndyCar. He was 16th and 17th in the last two races.
Scott McLaughlin will start 16th, his second consecutive year starting outside the top fifteen at Mid-Ohio. He started 21st last year. Prior to McLaughlin's 23rd-place finish in last year's race due to a tire delaminating, he had three consecutive top five finishes at the circuit, including a victory in 2022. McLaughlin has not finished in the top ten after starting outside the top fifteen on a road/street course since he went 20th to seventh at Portland in 2024.
Alexander Rossi takes the inside of row nine. This is only the second time Rossi failed to make it out of the first round of qualifying at Mid-Ohio. His previous worst starting position at this circuit was 13th in 2023. Mid-Ohio marks Rossi's 175th start. He will be the 40th driver to reach this milestone. In the last race, Rossi went from 25th to sixth at Road America.
Louis Foster rolls off from 18th starting position, and Foster is also 18th in the championship. This is the fourth time in five races Foster is starting outside the top fifteen. He went from 23rd to 14th at Road America two weeks ago. Last season, Foster finished 14th in each of the first three races of July. He started sixth in this race last year before dropping to 14th.
Kyffin Simpson is starting 19th for the second consecutive race. This year, Simpson enters Mid-Ohio fresh off fourth at Road America. Last year, Simpson had a finish of sixth at Road America before finishing tenth at Mid-Ohio. In each of the two races Simpson has started 19th, he has finished in the top ten. He went from 19th to tenth at Phoenix.
Sting Ray Robb was 0.0080 seconds from advancing from the second qualifying group in round one, but a six-spot grid penalty for taking on his fifth engine of the season relegate Robb to 20th starting position. This is his best start since 13th at Long Beach. In three Mid-Ohio starts, Robb has an average finish of 18.667. In the last two races, he has finished 19th on both occasions.
Romain Grosjean will roll off from 21st starting position. This is the fourth time Grosjean is starting outside the top twenty. He did go from 24th to ninth in the Indianapolis 500. Though he was seventh in his first Mid-Ohio start in 2021, Grosjean has an average finish of 16th at the circuit with two results outside the top twenty.
Santino Ferrucci matches his worst starting position of the season in 22nd. Ferrucci started 22nd at Long Beach and Detroit. With a ninth-place finish at Road America, Ferrucci is looking for his second consecutive top ten finish. Ferrucci has had consecutive top ten finishes in five of his previous eight seasons competing in IndyCar, but in two of those seasons, he started four races of fewer.
Scott Dixon was issued an interference penalty after impeding Romain Grosjean on multiple qualifying laps during the first qualifying group. This cost Dixon his fastest two laps and dropped Dixon to 23rd on the grid. Dixon did win from 22nd starting position at Mid-Ohio in 2015. With one more Mid-Ohio victory, Dixon would become the second driver in IndyCar history to win at least eight races at one track. A.J. Foyt won 12 times at Trenton Speedway in 41 starts.
Marcus Armstrong will start Mid-Ohio where he finished Road America, in 24th, except Armstrong is not starting 24th due to an engine failure. This is his worst starting position of the season and his worst starting position since he was 30th for last year's Indianapolis 500. Armstrong had started in the top ten in the previous three races. This is only the fifth time he has started outside the top twenty in his IndyCar career.
Dennis Hauger takes last on the grid. Hauger suffered an accident in the second practice session on Saturday morning. Hauger is one of five drivers entered who has won at Mid-Ohio in Indy Lights. The only two drivers to win at the circuit in both Indy Lights and IndyCar are Paul Tracy and Patricio O'Ward.
Fox's coverage of the Honda 200 from Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course will begin at 12:30 p.m. ET with green flag scheduled for 12:52 p.m. ET. The race is scheduled for 90 laps.
