In his ninth IndyCar weekend, Louis Foster scored his first career pole position with a lap at 104.5141 seconds around Road America, and Foster will lead the field to the green flag for the XPEL Grand Prix of Road America. This is Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing's first pole position since Graham Rahal started first for Portland in 2023. This is the second consecutive year we have a first-time pole-sitter at Road America. Last year, Linus Lundqvist scored his first career pole position driving for Chip Ganassi Racing. Foster's best start prior to this weekend was third for the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. Accidents at Detroit and Gateway means Foster has failed to finish the last two races. He had finished the previous five events. Foster is still looking for his first career top ten finish. He was 11th at the IMS road course. Eight drivers have had their first career victory come at Road America, most recently Felix Rosenqvist in 2020.
Álex Palou will start second after qualifying 0.1159 seconds off Foster's pole position time. This is the third time Palou has started on the front row this season. He has won each of the previous two times. His worst starting position this season is ninth. This is actually the first time Palou has started on the front row at Road America. He had started third-place three times in his first six starts here. Palou will be making his 90th start this weekend. He has 49 career top five finishes. He would become the sixth-fastest driver to 50 top five finishes should Palou end up in the top five this weekend.
Kyle Kirkwood makes it a sweep of the top three for Honda in qualifying as Kirkwood was 0.3382 seconds slower than Foster. Third is Kirkwood's best starting position at Road America. This will be Kirkwood's 60th career start. He won from third starting spot at Detroit earlier this month. Kirkwood could become the first driver to win three consecutive races with each coming on an oval, road course and street course since Cristiano da Matta won at Portland, Chicago Motor Speedway and Toronto in 2002.
Scott McLaughlin is the top Chevrolet starter in fourth. McLaughlin was 0.4996 seconds off pole position. McLaughlin will be looking to avoid four consecutive results outside the top ten for the first time since his rookie year when he had a seven-race run without a top ten finish. The last time he started fourth, he finished fourth at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis in May. The fourth starting position has not produced a winner at Road America since Christian Fittipaldi in 1999.
Christian Lundgaard has his best starting position ever at Road America in fifth. The Arrow McLaren driver fell 0.5687 seconds from the top spot. Will Power won last year at Road America from fifth starting position. Since returning to the circuit in 2016, the fifth starting position has produced three winners, more than any other starting position. The last time the same starting position produced consecutive winners in consecutive years at Road America was in 1996 and 1997 when Michael Andretti and Alex Zanardi each respectively won from third.
Graham Rahal rounds out the top six. This is Rahal's best starting position at Road America since the second race of the 2020 doubleheader. In the previous four years, he had not started better than 14th here. Rahal has eight top ten finishes in his 11 Road America starts, but he hasn't finished better than eighth in his last five races at the circuit. Rahal has made 132 starts since his most recent victory at Belle Isle in 2017. He led 49 of 85 laps in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis last month before fading to finish sixth.
David Malukas was 0.0401 seconds from making the final round of qualifying, and he takes seventh on the grid. A.J. Foyt Racing enters with a top five finish in three consecutive races. The team has never finished better than eighth at Road America. Mike Groff was eighth at Road America in 1991. Malukas' best finish on a permanent road course this season was 16th at Barber Motorsports Park with an average finish of 19th over the three road course events this year.
Will Power joins Malukas on row four after falling 0.0715 seconds shy of advancing from round two. Power was in last-place last week at Gateway. He became the 21st driver in IndyCar history with at least ten last-place finishes in a career. The most recent driver to finish last in a race and then when the following event was Will Power, who was last at Gateway in 2019 and followed it with a victory at Portland.
Callum Ilott scored his best starting position of the season and scored Prema its first appearance in the second round of qualifying on a road course as Ilott ended up ninth. His previous best starting position this season was 16th. Ilott has finished 11th and 18th in his first two trips to Road America. Ilott has yet to be classified inside the top fifteen this season.
Josef Newgarden rounds out the top ten. This is only the third time in 11 Road America starts Newgarden is starting outside the top six. Newgarden has finished on the podium in three consecutive Road America races, and he has six podium finishes in ten starts at this circuit. Each of his two victories though came from a front row starting position. Nine times has Newgarden won from outside a top five starting position, but he has never won from tenth starting position.
Patricio O'Ward is starting 11th for the second consecutive year at Road America. O'Ward was second last week at Gateway, his 16th career runner-up finish. The only time he has won the race following a runner-up result was the second race of the 2022 Iowa doubleheader. O'Ward has finished better than or equal to his starting position in five consecutive races. He went from 11th to eighth last year in this race.
Felix Rosenqvist takes the outside of row six. This is Rosenqvist's best start at Road America since 2022 when he stared seventh. In the prior two years, the Swede did not roll off from better than 16th on the grid. Only once has Rosenqvist finished in the top ten in the ninth race of the season. That was in 2020 when he was seventh in the second Gateway race.
Nolan Siegel was a little over a tenth of a second from making it to the second round qualifying, and this leaves the Arrow McLaren driver in 13th. This is Siegel's best starting position since he started sixth at Barber Motorsports Park. He had started 18th or worse in the last four races. Siegel ended up finishing 13th in both races from Indianapolis Motor Speedway in May, and he has finished 19th in the first two races of June.
Marcus Ericsson fell 0.0555 seconds shy of making it out of the second group in round one of qualifying, and this places Ericsson 14th on the grid. He had started 12th and 13th in the previous two races. Ericsson has six consecutive top ten finishes at Road America, and his worst finish here was 13th in his rookie season. The Swede has finished 13th in the last two races.
Marcus Armstrong matches his worst starting position on a road or street course this season in 15th. Armstrong was was a little more than a quarter of a second from advancing. This is only the scend time this season he did not make it out of the first round of qualifying. Armstrong is aiming for his third consecutive top ten finishes. The only other time he has had three consecutive top ten finishes was last year over Toronto, Gateway and Portland.
Colton Herta has his worst starting position ever at Road America, Herta was 0.0806 seconds off advancing out of the first round of qualifying. This places Herta in 16th. He had made it out of the first round of qualifying every year he has competed at Road America. Herta has finished in the top five of the ninth race of the season in five consecutive seasons. This includes a pair of fifth-place results at Road America in 2022 and 2023.
Robert Shwartzman takes 17th on the grid, his best starting position on a road or street course this season. His previous best was when he qualified 18th at St. Petersburg to open the season. His avearge starting position on road and street courses prior to this weekend was 23.667. Shwartzman is coming off his first career top ten finish at Gateway. His previous best result was 18th.
Santino Ferrucci finds himself starting 18th, a position better than where he started last year in this race. Ferrucci has finished in the top five in three consecutive aces and he has started 15th or worse in all three of those races. In eight of his ten career top ten finishes, Ferrucci has started outside the top ten and five of those have been starting positions outside the top fifteen.
On the inside of row ten will be Devlin DeFrancesco. DeFrancesco has failed to finish the last two races. He has never failed to finish three consecutive starts. He has only finished better than his starting position in two races this year. He went from 26th to 20th at Thermal Club, and he went from 16th to 11th in the Indianapolis 500.
Christian Rasmussen is starting 20th in car #21. Last week, Rasmussen was on the podium for the first time in his IndyCar career as he was third at Gateway after starting 25th. His first career podium finish came in one fewer start than Bobby Unser, and in eight fewer starts than Arie Luyendyk and Josef Newgarden.
Conor Daly will match his worst starting position for a Road America race in 21st. The most positions Daly has ever gained from a starting position at this track is six, going from 21st to 15th in 2017. Last year, Juncos Hollinger Racing scored its best finish at Road America when Romain Grosjean finished seventh.
Rinus VeeKay joins his old Ed Carpenter Racing teammate Daly on row 11. Through eight races, VeeKay has four top ten finishes. The most recent Dale Coyne Racing driver to have at least five top ten finishes through the first nine races was Justin Wilson in 2013, who had six top ten finishes in the first nine races. VeeKay has never finished in the top ten in five Road America starts. His best result was 12th in 2023.
Kyffin Simpson takes 23rd on the grid. After starting the first seven races inside the top twenty, this is Simpson's second consecutive start outside the top twenty. He started 26th last week at Gateway. After finishing on the lead lap in the first three races, Simpson has one lead lap finish in the last five events. That was when he finished fifth at Detroit.
Alexander Rossi has his worst starting position of the season and his worst starting position ever at Road America in 24th. His previous worst grid position here was 16th in 2016. Rossi had started in the top 12 in eight consecutive Road America races. Rossi's best finish through eight races is eighth. Only one other time has Rossi gone nine races without a top five finish to start a season. That was in 2021.
Scott Dixon was penalized for interference in the first qualifying group in round one when he impeded Devlin DeFrancesco. Dixon lost his fastest two laps as punishment and he will take 25th on the grid. This is his seventh time starting outside the top ten this year, and he previously started on row 13 at Barber Motorsports Park when he started 26th. Dixon has not started in the top five at Road America since 2017, when he won the race.
Sting Ray Robb will start on Dixon's outside in 26th. Last year, Robb started 26th and finished 17th at Road America. He went from 26th to 15th at Detroit earlier this month. Since finishing ninth at Long Beach, Robb's average finish is 20.2. He has finished in the top twenty of the last two races. The last time Robb had three consecutive top twenty results was a four-race run last season that started at Road America and went through the first Iowa race.
Jacob Abel takes last on the grid for the second consecutive race. Abel was in the top five in all three of his Indy Lights starts at Road America. He was second in 2023 and third last year with fastest lap.Jacob Abel. Abel was in the top five in all three of his Indy Lights starts at Road America. He was second in 2023 and third last year with fastest lap.
Fox's coverage of the XPEL Grand Prix of Road America begins at 1:30 p.m. ET with green flag scheduled for 1:47 p.m. ET. The race is scheduled for 55 laps.
