Álex Palou took his second consecutive pole position of the season as Palou ran a lap at 69.3417 seconds in the final round of qualifying for the Grand Prix of Indianapolis from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. This is Palou's eighth career pole position and he has won from pole position in five of his first seven starts. He has never finished worse than fourth when starting on pole position. He could become the first driver to win consecutive races from pole position since Simon Pagenaud did it at Barber and at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis in 2016. Palou could tie Will Power and Pagenaud for most Grand Prix of Indianapolis victories on three.
Graham Rahal was 0.4099 seconds slower than Palou's pole position time, but Rahal's lap was good enough for second, his best starting position of the season, and his best starting spot since he was on pole position for Portland in 2023. For the second consecutive season, Rahal has opened a season with no top ten finishes in the first four races. The last time he did not have a top ten in the first five events was in 2014. Rahal has finished in the top ten in four consecutive IMS road course races and in 14 of the last 15 races here. It has been 128 starts since Rahal's most recent victory.
Louis Foster will start a career-best of third as the Briton was 0.5384 seconds off Palou's time. For Foster, this was the third time he has made it out of the first round of qualifying this season, but this was his first appearance in the Fast Six. In four Indy Lights starts on the IMS road course, Foster had two podium finishes, including a victory last year. This will be Foster's fifth career start. The most recent driver to have their first career victory come in their fifth career start was Al Unser at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb on July 4, 1965
Scott McLaughlin takes on fourth on the grid as he was 0.5493 seconds off the fastest lap in the final round. This is McLaughlin's best career starting position on the IMS road course. His previous best came in his first start at the track when he started fifth in the 2021 Grand Prix of Indianapolis. In seven starts at this track, McLaughlin's only top five finish was fourth from 15th on the grid in July 2022.
Devlin DeFrancesco makes his first appearance at the IMS road course since August 2023 and, like August 2023, DeFrancesco is starting fifth. The Canadian was 0.6015 seconds off the top. Fifth matches his career-best starting spot, and this is his third time starting in the top ten in his career. In four starts on the IMS road course, DeFrancesco has an average finish of 18.75 with his best finish being 17th. This will be DeFrancesco's 39th start and he is still looking for his first top ten finish.
Josef Newgarden starts on the outside of row three. Newgarden was 0.6412 seconds from pole position. When it comes to the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, Newgarden has only one top five finish and three top ten finishes in 11 starts with an average finish of 14.0909 in the May race. This is his best starting position of the season, but Newgarden has never won a race from sixth on the grid before, the lowest starting postion he has yet to win from.
Will Power was 0.0199 seconds short of advancing to the Fast Six, leaving Power seventh on the grid. After finishing fifth in the last two races, Power is looking for his third consecutive top five finish. He has not had three consecutive top five finishes since a three-race stretch of podiums in 2022 at the Iowa doubleheader and on the IMS road course.
Patricio O'Ward missed out on the final round of qualifying by 0.0309 seconds and O'Ward will start eighth. O'Ward was sixth at Barber Motorsports Park but he has not had consecutive top ten finishes since a seven-race from that stretch from the Indianapolis 500 through the Iowa doubleheader last season. In the last five IMS road course races, O'Ward has finished on the podium twice and outside the top ten three times.
Alexander Rossi fell 0.091 seconds from advancing to the final round of qualifying, and this leaves Rossi ninth on the grid. Rossi has four consecutive top ten finishes on the IMS road course. He started inside the top ten for all four of those races. Rossi is aiming to have four top ten finishes in the first five races for the second consecutive season and for the fourth time in his career.
For the second consecutive race, Kyffin Simpson is starting tenth, matching his career-best starting spot, which was set last week at Barber Motorsports Park. Simpson is coming off his worst finish of the season despite having his best starting position of his career. Simpson dropped from tenth to 21st after a slow first pit stop.
Santino Ferrucci has his best starting position of the season in 11th. In the last three IMS road course races, Ferrucci has finished outside the top twenty. After finishing in the top ten in his first two starts on this course, he has finished outside the top ten in the last five. He was 18th last week at Barber. He has not had consecutive finishes outside the top fifteen since the final two races of 2023.
Felix Rosenqvist had an off well on his final qualifying lap in the second round, and this relegated Rosenqvist to 12th on the grid. Rosenqvist has finished in the top ten in the last three May IMS road course races. The Swede has not finished better than his starting position in the last five IMS road course races. He has finished better than his starting spot in two of 11 races here, seventh to fifth in the first Harvest Grand Prix races in 2020 and 19th to 13th in the August 2021 race.
Colton Herta missed out on advancing from the first round of qualifying for the first time this season, and for the first time in 2025, Herta is starting worse than fourth. He takes 13th spot after being 0.1810 seconds off advancing. Herta has finished worse than his starting position in three of four races this season, and in the other, Herta finished where he started, which was fourth at Thermal.
Christian Lundgaard came 0.0332 seconds shy of advancing from group two, and Lundgaard will start 14th, his worst starting position on the IMS road course. For the first time in his IndyCar career, Lundgaard has finished in the top ten of four consecutive races. He is 28 races removed from his only career victory, which came at Toronto in 2023.
Marcus Armstrong takes 15th on the grid, his worst starting position of the season, and this is his worst starting spot for an IMS road course race. His previous worst was 11th in his first race at this track. Armstorng was fifth in last year's Grand Prix of Indianapolis, his first career top five finish, after starting eighth.
Scott Dixon makes its an all-New Zealander row eight as Dixon was 0.0541 seconds from advancing from the second group. Dixon has outside the top ten in four consecutive race after this qualifying result, a first for him since 2022 when he had a four-race run of starting outside the top ten over the Iowa doubleheader, IMS road course and Nashville street race. Dixon won that Nashville race. This race makes the 407th start in Scott Dixon's IndyCar career, tying Mario Andretti for most starts in IndyCar history.
Sting Ray Robb starts 17th, a career-best starting position for Robb, His previous best came two races ago when he started 19th at Long Beach. He ended that race matching his career-best finish of ninth. In three IMS road course starts, Robb has an average finish of 23.667, and his best result was 22nd, which has come in the last two IMS road course races.
Nolan Siegel starts on the outside of row nine, and 18th is Siegel's worst starting position of the season. Siegel is coming off his best finish of the season when he was ninth at Barber Motorsports Park. He was second and fifth in the Indy Lights races held on the IMS road course last season. Siegel has finshed worse than his starting position in all four races this season.
Christian Rasmussen put car #21 into 19th on the grid. This is Rasmussen's fourth consecutive race starting on either row nine or ten. Dating back to last season, this is his eight consecutive race starting outside the top fifteen. Though he has started outside the top fifteen in the first four races this season, Rasmussen has finished inside the top fifteen in three events.
Marcus Ericsson will start 20th, his second consecutive race starting 20th or worse after opening the season with three consecutive starts inside the top seven. Ericsson enters the Grand Prix of Indianapolis having not finished in the top ten in his last three starts. He has not gone four consecutive starts without a top ten result since an eight-race stretch over the 2019 and 2020 seasons.
After starting in the top ten for the first three races of the season, Kyle Kirkwood is starting outside the top fifteen for the second consecutive race, as Kirkwood will take 21st on the grid. This is his worst starting spot since he started 22nd at Gateway in 2023. In five IMS road course starts, Kirkwood's best finish is ninth and his average finish of 16.6.
Conor Daly rounds out an all-American row 11. This is the third time Daly has started on row 11 this season. He went from 22nd to 17th at St. Petersburg, but he went from 21st to 25th at Long Beach. Daly has failed to finish on the lead lap in the last two races. Daly has finished outside the top fifteen in five of ten starts at the IMS road course.
Callum Ilott will occupy 23rd on the grid, the fourth time this season Ilott is starting outside the top twenty. Ilott is coming off finishing outside the top twenty for a third consecutive race after ending up 23rd at Barber. The only other time Ilott has had three consecutive finishes outside the toptwenty were the first three races of his career at the end of the 2022 season.
One week after starting in the top six, Rinus VeeKay starts in the bottom six, specifically 24th position. Since winning the 2021 Grand Prix of Indianapolis, VeeKay has finished outside the top ten in the last three May IMS road course races. VeeKay was fourth at Barber and he could become the first Dale Coyne Racing driver with consecutive top five finishes since Santino Ferrucci at Pocono and Gateway in 2019.
Jacob Abel starts 25th for the third time in five races this season, and for the second time in six days. Over four races, Abel's finish has gotten worse since the season opener. It hit rock-bottom with a last-place finish at Barber Motorsports Park. He is still looking for his first lead lap finish.
David Malukas will start 26th, his worst starting position since he started 27th in the August 2023 IMS road course race. Malukas did recover to finish 16th in that race. The Illinois-native has not had a top ten finish in his last six natural-terrain road course starts. His last was eighth at Portland in 2023.
Robert Shwartzman rounds out the grid in 27th position for his inaugural Grand Prix of Indianapolis appearance. Shwartzman missed part of the second practice session ahead of qualifying. This is the fourth consecutive race he is starting 24th or worse.
Fox's coverage of the 12th Grand Prix of Indianapolis begins at 4:30 p.m. ET with green flag scheduled for 4:52 p.m. The race is scheduled for 85 laps.
