Felix Rosenqvist won his second pole position of the season as Rosenqvist ran a 58.4828-second lap around Portland International Raceway during Saturday qualifying. This was the fifth time in seven Portland appearances Rosenqvist has made the final round of qualifying, and he started second in last year's race. It is the Swede's eighth career pole position, and this is the third time he has won multiple pole positions in a season. He started first at Long Beach in April and finished second. Long Beach was the first time Rosenqvist had finished in the top five after starting on pole position. His average finish when starting on pole position is 13.428. In six Portland starts, Rosenqvist has two runner-up finishes and five top ten finishes. He is one of five drivers with two runner-up finishes at Portland to never win the race. The others are Paul Tracy, Roberto Moreno, Bruno Junqueira and Justin Wilson.
Álex Palou starts second as Palou was 0.0184 seconds off winning his seventh pole position of the season. This will be 11th time this season Palou has started in the top five. He has never started outside the top five at Portland. Palou enters this weekend fresh off his 24th career victory and his 50th career podium finish in Nashville. He became the 22nd driver to reach 50 podium finishes in IndyCar history. His Nashville victory put Palou tied for 18th all-time in victories with Ralph DePalma and Bobby Rahal. Palou is one victory behind Gordon Johncock for 17th. The only time Palou has won from second starting position was last year at Road America.
Will Power missed out on pole position by 0.0302 seconds, and Power will start third, the same starting position Power won from last year at Portland. This is the fourth time the Australian is starting in the top five this season. His best finish this season was third, which occurred at Arlington and Road America. Power is attempting to win at Portland for the third consecutive race. The only other circuit where Power has won three consecutive races was the São Paulo street circuit, where he won from 2010 to 2012.
Marcus Ericsson rounds out an all-Andretti Global row two. Ericsson was 0.1901 seconds slower than his fellow Swede Rosenqvist. Ericsson had started tenth in four of his first five Portland starts. This is his best starting position since he was on pole position at Arlington. After finishing sixth at Nashville, Ericsson will look for his third instance of consecutive top ten finishes this season. He was fourth and sixth at Arlington and Barber Motorsports Park respectively. He would finish eighth at Detroit and followed it with a second at Gateway.
Rinus VeeKay is the top Chevrolet starter in fifth position. VeeKay was 0.2873 seconds off pole position, but this is his best grid position for a Portland race. His previous best was 12th in 2022. This is the third consecutive race VeeKay is starting in the top ten. He has not started in the top ten for three consecutive races since a four-race stretch over July and August 2022. While VeeKay was sixth in the 2023 Portland race, his average finish in five Portland starts is 14.2 and he has finished 17th or worse in three of those races.
Kyffin Simpson has his best starting position of the season in sixth. Simpson had not started in the top fifteen in the last five races. Simpson's ninth-place finish at Nashville was his fifth top ten finish of the season. He had six top ten finishes over the entire 2025 season after his best result was 12th in his rookie season two years ago. Four of Simpson's five top ten finishes this season have come when he has started 17th or worse.
Kyle Kirkwood starts seventh, as Kirkwood was 0.0352 seconds from making the final round of qualifying. This will be his best Portland start. He had never started better than 11th in his first four trips to the Rose City. In his first four IndyCar seasons, Kirkwood's only top five finish in the month of August was his Nashville victory in 2023. His average finish in the month of August is 13th with four top ten finishes in 11 August starts. Kirkwood won from seventh on the grid earlier this season at Arlington.
Graham Rahal has his best starting position since the Grand Prix of Indianapolis with Rahal taking eighth on the grid for the Grand Prix of Portland. Rahal fell 0.0514 seconds shy of making the final round of qualifying. Rahal has finished in the top ten of the last two Portland races and he has finished in the top ten in five of the last six Portland races. He has completed every lap in the last five Portland races after he completed a combined four laps between the 2018 and 2019 races.
Dennis Hauger starts in the top ten for the first time since the St. Petersburg season opener as Hauger will start ninth in Portland. Hauger had not made the second round of qualifying since the St. Petersburg race as well. In the last six races, Hauger's best finish is 13th at Detroit and that is his only top fifteen finish. In the first six races, Hauger had four top fifteen finishes.
Romain Grosjean completes an all-Dale Coyne Racing row five. St. Petersburg was the only race prior to Portland where both Coyne cars started in the top ten. While Grosjean started sixth at St. Petersburg, his only other top ten start was sixth at Barber Motorsports Park. In four Portland starts, Grosjean's average finish is 23.75, and he finished last in his last two Portland appearances. The 2022 Portland race is the only time Grosjean finished on the lead lap.
Scott Dixon clipped the barrier entering turn one during the second round of qualifying, and Dixon was unable to complete a final flying run. Dixon will start 11th after the incident. This will be Dixon's tenth Portland start, and he has yet to win at the circuit. The only drivers to make at least ten Portland starts and not win there are Paul Tracy (15 starts), Jimmy Vasser (14 starts) and Raul Boesel (11 starts).
Louis Foster fell 0.0216 seconds off advancing out of the first qualifying group. A grid penalty will slide Foster up to 12th starting position despite the Briton not making it out of round one. This is his best starting position since he started 11th at Detroit. He had started 17th or worse in the previous four races. Foster has finished outside the top fifteen in three of the last four races.
Scott McLaughlin did not make it to the second round of qualifying after falling 0.0872 seconds shy of advancing, and McLaughlin will start 13th. This will be McLaughlin's 97th career start, putting him level all-time with former Team Penske driver Juan Pablo Montoya. Compared to Montoya, McLaughlin enters his 97th start with eight fewer victories (7 to 15), two fewer podiums (24 to 26), three fewer top five finishes (35 to 38), but McLaughlin has one more top ten finish (59 to 58).
Josef Newgarden missed out on the second round of qualifying by 0.0271 seconds, placing Newgarden in 14th starting position. This is the seventh time this season Newgarden is starting outside the top ten. He started outside the top ten in seven races all of last season. Newgarden has not had a podium finish on a permanent road course since he was third at Portland in 2024. That came after Newgarden won at Gateway in the previous race. With three podiums already, he has matched his podium finish total from last season.
David Malukas made the second round of qualifying, but a six-spot grid penalty for an unapproved engine change knocks Malukas down to 15th starting position, and it will be three Team Penske cars in a row on the grid. This is the this time Malukas has started outside the top ten this season. While Malukas has led four races this season, the only road/street course he has led was the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. He led a race-high 27-laps in that race.
Nolan Siegel starts on the outside of row eight. This is Siegel's best starting position at Portland. He had started 23rd and 17th in his first two Portland starts. He did finish 16th in last year's Portland race. After failing to finish in the top fifteen in the first four races of the season, Siegel has finished tenth, 11th or 12th in five of the last eight races with only two races outside the top fifteen.
Patricio O'Ward is a spot behind his Arrow McLaren teammate Siegel in 17th starting position, O'Ward worst starting position of the season. O'Ward fell short of the second round of qualifying by 0.0277 seconds. O'Ward has finished 15th and 25th in the last two Portland races after finishing fourth in his previous two visits to the track. His one podium finish, though a victory at Mid-Ohio, is his fewest through the first 12 races of a season. His previously low was three in the first 12 races of the 2020 season.
Alexander Rossi was 0.038 seconds too slow to make it out of the first qualifying group, and Rossi will start 18th, his worst starting position for a Portland race. Rossi has two podium finishes, three top five finishes and five top ten finishes in seven Portland starts. His most recent top five finish on a road/street course was last year at Portland when he was fifth.
Christian Rasmussen qualified 19th. While Rasmussen will start outside the top ten for the ninth time this season, the Dane has never started outside the top twenty. Rasmussen has finished outside the top twenty in five of the last seven races with two top ten finishes mixed in-between, third at Gateway and seventh at Mid-Ohio. The Gateway result came after he started 19th. He has finished worse than his starting position in nine of the first 12 races this season.
Marcus Armstrong had been fastest in the Saturday morning practice, but Armstrong was 0.0541 seconds off advancing from the first qualifying group, and he will start 20th. Armstrong hopes to avoid a fourth consecutive finish outside the top ten. The New Zealander has never gone four consecutive starts without a top ten finish in his IndyCar career. This current slump is the third time in his career he has gone three consecutive races without a top ten finish.
Santino Ferrucci takes the inside of row 11. It is the sixth consecutive race Ferrucci will start outside the top ten. This will be the fifth time Ferrucci has participated in the 13th race of a season. He has finished 12th in three of his four times participating in the 13th race. Last year, Ferrucci was unable to start the 13th race as a morning warm-up accident prevented him from making the grid at Toronto.
Mick Schumacher will take 22nd on the grid. This is the sixth time this season Schumacher will start outside the top twenty. He has started outside the top fifteen in 11 of 13 races, including this Portland race. Schumacher picked up his first career top ten finish at Nashville three weeks ago with an eighth-place finish.
Sting Ray Robb will start 23rd. It is the ninth time this season Robb is starting outside the top twenty. Robb scored a 15th-place finish at Nashville, his second top fifteen finish of the season. His other top fifteen finish was 14th at Detroit. Last year, he did pick up his best Portland finish when he was 14th. Robb has never had consecutive top fifteen finishes in his IndyCar career.
Caio Collet drops to 24th on the grid after being issued a six-spot grid penalty for an unapproved engine change. Collet had started inside the top twenty in five consecutive races and he had started in the top fifteen in the last three races. Collet is still looking for his first top ten finish this season. On permanent road courses, his average finish is 16.75, and he did have his best finish occur at Mid-Ohio where he was 11th.
Christian Lundgaard had a disastrous qualifying session and he will start 25th, dead last for the Grand Prix of Portland. This is Lundgaard's second consecutive race starting outside the top twenty. He started 24th at Nashville. It is the ninth time he has started outside the top ten. It is the Dane's worst starting position since he was 25th for the second race of the 2024 Milwaukee doubleheader. Lundgaard has four consecutive top five finishes on road and street courses, and he has seven consecutive podium finishes on permanent road courses dating back to last season.
Fox's coverage of the OnlyBulls Grand Prix of Portland begins at 4:00 p.m. ET with green flag scheduled for 4:27 p.m. ET. The race is scheduled for 110 laps.
