Álex Palou won his second consecutive pole position with a lap of 65.3511 seconds in the final round of qualifying at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, and Palou will hold the honor of being the first pole-sitter in IndyCar's hybrid-era. It is the sixth pole position in Palou's career. He has won from four of his first five career pole positions. The Catalan has finished on the podium in every Mid-Ohio start with Chip Ganassi Racing. Mid-Ohio is one of four tracks where Palou has at least three podium finishes in his career. The others are the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, Road America and Laguna Seca. Palou is attempting to become the first driver to three victories for the second consecutive season. The last driver to be the first to three victories in consecutive seasons was Josef Newgarden, who did it from 2017 through 2019.
Patricio O'Ward missed out on pole position by 0.0024 seconds, but this is O'Ward's best starting position of the season and his first front row start since Nashville last year. O'Ward has never finished in the top five at Mid-Ohio. In five starts, his best finish is eighth and his average over those five Mid-Ohio races is 12th. The only other circuit where O'Ward has made at least three starts and does not have a top five finish is the Nashville street circuit.
David Malukas takes third on the grid in his second race of the 2024 season. Malukas was 0.2998 seconds from pole position. This matches his career-best starting position. He started third in the second Iowa race last year. Mid-Ohio is one of three tracks where Malukas has multiple top ten finishes. He was ninth and sixth in his first two Mid-Ohio visits. The other tracks where he has multiple top ten finishes are Iowa and Gateway.
Colton Herta will start fourth. Herta has finished better than or equal to his starting position only twice in six Mid-Ohio starts. He went from 13th to ninth in the first race in 2020, and he won from pole position in the second race of the 2020 doubleheader. He has finished at least ten position worse than his starting spot in the last three Mid-Ohio races.
Marcus Ericsson makes it two Andretti Global cars starting in the top five. This matches Ericsson's best starting position of the season. He started fifth at Long Beach. Ericsson has three consecutive top ten finishes entering this weekend. The Swede has had at least one stretch of five consecutive top ten finishes in each of the last four seasons.
A grid penalty for Marcus Armstrong moves Scott McLaughlin up to sixth starting position. McLaughlin was 0.0234 seconds off advancing to the final round. McLaughlin's 21st-place finish at Laguna Seca two weeks ago snapped an eight-race streak of top ten finishes on permanent road courses. Since 2022, only twice has McLaughlin not finished in the top ten on a permanent road course. Both of those races were the Grand Prix of Indianapolis in 2022 and 2023.
Alexander Rossi has the #7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet starting in seventh. In his first seven times starting seventh in his career, Rossi has one podium finishes, three top five finishes, four top ten finishes and an average finish of tenth. The American has five top five finishes in nine Mid-Ohio races. His average finish at the circuit is 7.222.
Christian Rasmussen has his best career starting position in eighth. Rasmussen's previous best was 13th at Detroit. The Dane scored his best finish on a road/street course at Laguna Seca when he was 13th. It was only the second top fifteen finish in his brief IndyCar career. His other top fifteen result was 12th in the Indianapolis 500.
Christian Lundgaard takes ninth on the grid. Lundgaard has made it out of the first round of qualifying in seven of eight road/street course races this season, and he was 13th at Road America last month. If Lundgaard does not finish in the top ten, he will match the longest top ten finish drought of his IndyCar career.
Linus Lundqvist rounds out the top ten. Lundqvist won once at Mid-Ohio in five Indy Lights starts. The only driver to win at Mid-Ohio in IndyCar and Indy Lights was Paul Tracy. The only driver to win at Mid-Ohio in the Atlantics Championship and IndyCar was Patrick Carpentier.
Marcus Armstrong made the Fast Six, but a six-spot grid penalty for taking on his fifth engine this season knocks Armstrong down to 11th starting position. In the first four races, Armstrong had an average finish of 12.75. In the last four races, his average finish has been 20.25. Six-spot grid penalty.
Romain Grosjean made it out of the first round of qualifying for the second consecutive race and fourth time this season, but he will start 12th. Grosjean enters having finished seventh and fourth in the last two races. Grosjean has never had three consecutive top ten finishes in his IndyCar career.
Scott Dixon was 0.0449 seconds shy of making it out of group two in the first round, and Dixon must settle for 13th, one position better than expected after a grid penalty to Felix Rosenqvist. Dixon was runner-up last year at Mid-Ohio. He has not had consecutive podium finishes at Mid-Ohio since he won in consecutive years in 2011 and 2012.
Kyle Kirkwood fell 0.0444 seconds off making it out of group one, and this leaves Kirkwood with his worst starting position since he was 18th at St. Petersburg in March. Kirkwood won 11 times in 13 Mid-Ohio starts across five junior series, including going seven-for-seven in the Road to Indy races. He has finished 26th and 17th in his first two IndyCar visits to the circuit.
Will Power will start 15th, the third time in the last five Mid-Ohio races he has started outside the top ten. In his first 11 Mid-Ohio appearances, Power's average starting position was 3.181. In the five Mid-Ohio appearance since, his average starting position is 12.8. This is the ninth race of the season. Power has finished third in the ninth race of the season in four consecutive seasons.
Nolan Siegel makes his second start with Arrow McLaren, and the fourth of his IndyCar career from 16th. This is Siegel's best career starting position. He had not started in the top twenty in his first three starts. In 16 Road to Indy races at Mid-Ohio, Siegel had four podium finishes, but his average finish was 10.125.
Josef Newgarden resets his worst starting position of the season for the second consecutive race, as Newgarden is in 17th starting position. Newgarden started 14th two weeks ago at Laguna Seca. Only twice has Newgarden finished in the top five in the ninth race of the season. Both of those results were victories in 2019 at Texas and in 2020 at Gateway.
Graham Rahal starts his 18th Mid-Ohio race, his home race, in 18th position. This is the seventh time this season Rahal is starting outside the top ten. It has been 11 races since Rahal's most recent top five result. His longest top five drought was 19 races from Long Beach 2008 through the 2009 Indianapolis 500.
Felix Rosenqvist was 0.0218 seconds from making it out of the first round of qualifying in group one, but a six-spot grid penalty for changing to a fifth engine this season knocks Rosenqvist down to 19th starting position. After opening the season with five consecutive races starting in the top ten, he has started 19th or worse in three of the last four races.
Rinus VeeKay rounds out the top twenty in the #20 Chevrolet. VeeKay has finished 26th, 24th and 26th in the first three permanent road course races this season. VeeKay's most recent top five finish on a road or street course was fourth at Mid-Ohio in 2022, 25 road/street course races ago.
Santino Ferrucci occupies the 21st starting position. Through eight races, Ferrucci has five top ten finishes in 2024. His most top ten finishes in a season was seven as a rookie in 2019. Four of those top ten finishes in 2019 were on ovals.
Agustín Canapino starts on the 11th row for the second consecutive year at Mid-Ohio. This time it is a position worse in 22nd. At Laguna Seca two weeks ago, Canapino picked up his best career IndyCar finish on a permanent road course in 18th. It is one of two top twenty finishes Canapino has on permanent road courses.
Kyffin Simpson ended up 23rd on the grid. This is the third time Simpson has started 23rd this season. His best two finishes this year have been when he has started 23rd, 12th at St. Petersburg and 14th at Barber. Simpson opened the season with an average finish of 15th through the first four races. In the last four races, Simpson's average finish is 23.75.
Toby Sowery makes his IndyCar debut from 24th starting position. Sowery becomes the 91st driver to race for Dale Coyne Racing. Dale Coyne Racing's first start in IndyCar was on September 2, 1984 at Mid-Ohio. The team had failed to qualify for seven of the first ten events in that 1984 season, five with Dale Coyne as the driver, prior to Coyne making the Mid-Ohio race and finishing 14th after starting 26th, albeit 17 laps down.
Sting Ray Robb starts 25th, but it is the 26th consecutive race he has started outside the top twenty. Robb started and finished 22nd last year at Mid-Ohio, one lap down. Robb has finished better than or equal to his starting position in seven of the first eight races this season. The only exception was finishing 26th after starting 25th at Barber Motorsports Park.
Jack Harvey is on the outside of the 13th row. Harvey has made 23 starts since his most recent top ten finish, a tenth at Nashville in 2022. Harvey's average finish over that time is 20.608. He started 26th at Laguna Seca two weeks ago and his race ended 13 laps early due to an engine failure.
Pietro Fittipaldi is the third of three Honda drivers to have a six-spot grid penalty for taking a fifth engine. This knocks Fittipaldi to last on the grid. Fittipaldi was the best Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver at Laguna Seca in 14th. It was only the second time this season Fittipaldi has been the best RLLR finisher. The other was at St. Petersburg, where he was 13th.
NBC's coverage of the Honda 200 from Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course begins at 1:30 p.m. ET with green flag scheduled for 1:53 p.m. ET. The race is scheduled for 80 laps.
