LUNDGAARD TAKES POLE BUT O’WARD STARTS P1 IN INDYCAR
Christian Lundgaard has taken pole position in Indycar, but after engine penalties for the Danish, Pato O’Ward will start P1 tomorrow on the round number 15. A Qualifying session full of surprises has seen Mclaren stand out on top.
The cars from group 1 hit the track first. Alex Palou was the fastest in the session, which was marked by a red flag with 1 minute to go caused by Shwartzman. The Prema driver had his time deleted due to bringing out the interruption of the session, and he was currently P7 in his group.
When the time got back rolling the drivers had a shot at another fast lap, Palou stayed in the pits as his time was enough. Kyffin Simpson magically ended up in P2, with Rossi and Malukas eliminating Mclaughlin and Ferrucci.
Group 2 saw the runner up Pato O’Ward finish first. The Mexican, who is the only driver able to avoid Palou’s title, is trying his best to keep the Spaniard at bay this weekend. Ericsson was the only Andretti qualified, in P2. Herta and Kirkwood failed to put in a good lap and got eliminated in the Q1 already. Good performance also from Newgarden and Lundgaard who take advantage from the fresh engine to go through Fast12.
Felix Rosenqvist was surprisingly the fastest driver in Fast12, ahead of the Mclarens of Christian Lundgaard and Pato O’Ward, with the championship leader Palou sitting 4th. Power and Malukas kicked out Alexander Rossi for 16 miliseconds. The top 8 was separated by less than four tenths incredibly.
Fast6 was the last session of qualifying as usual, Pato O’Ward, Lundgaard, Palou, Rosenqvist, Malukas and Power were in the fight for pole. The push laps were all coming down towards the end of the session. A mistake from the championship leader Alex Palou with one minute to the end, has costed him the front row on Sunday, and will start P5 only.
The Mclarens locked a front row with Lundgaard in P1, but he will not start in the top 5 due to engine penalties. Therefore, Patricio O’Ward officially takes P1 for tomorrow.
There are several drivers who have been given a 6-place grid penalty due to unapproved engine changes. They are: Christian Lundgaard (P1 -> P7); Josef Newgarden (P9 -> P14); Santino Ferrucci (P15 -> P21); Kyffin Simpson (P12 -> P18)
The drivers will get on track tomorrow for the main event of the weekend at 15:15 ET Time.
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