While IndyCar qualifying featured some interesting twists and storylines, in the end it was Alex Palou on the pole for tomorrow’s XPEL Grand Prix at Road America. If that sounds familiar, this was Palou’s fifth straight pole, and the sixth out of ten poles. In case you’re wondering, Palou still has a way to go in order to surpass Bobby Unser’s record of eight consecutive poles set between 1971 and 1972. Still it’s an impressive feat. But if you are suffering from Palou fatigue, you weren’t happy to know that Palou added another point and extended his lead over Kyle Kirkwood to exactly fifty points.
David Malukas gave it his best shot. He will start alongside Palou on the front row, but he was seven-tenths of a second behind Palou in the Firestone Fast Six.
Meyer Shank teammates Marcus Armstrong and Felix Rosenqvist will start third and fourth respectively. Marcus Ericsson and Scott McLaughlin filled out the remainder of the Firestone Fast Six.
Although they both missed the Fast Six, a tip of the hat goes to the AJ Foyt team. Santino Ferrucci will start seventh in Sunday’s race (before his grid-penalty), while Caio Collet starts ninth. That was a good effort to get both of their cars in the Top-Ten.
It was a strange day for Arrow McLaren. Christian Lundgaard never made it out of the first round and will start thirteenth. Pato O’Ward will start tenth, after failing to get out of the Fast Twelve. The surprise was Nolan Siegel, who out-qualified both of his teammates and will start eighth. It is probably too little too late, as the rumor going around here is that McLaren has already made up their mind and will replace Siegel for 2027.
Graham Rahal’s miserable weekend continued as he qualified twentieth. The good thing is that Rahal is a much better racer than he is a qualifier. I would imagine he will finish higher than where he starts.
Row Six is interesting. I jinxed Will Power by picking him to win. He will start eleventh, and Scott Dixon will start alongside him in twelfth. Josef Newgarden qualified pretty much where he had been practicing all weekend and will start fifteenth.
Other drivers with disappointing runs are Alexander Rossi, who qualified twenty-first, and will actually start last following his grid penalty. Rinus VeeKay will start twenty-second, while the other two Rahal cars of Mick Schumacher and Louis Foster will start twenty-third and twenty-fourth respectively.
That will do it for us tonight. We have reservations in Plymouth, just a few miles south of the track at PJ Campbell’s at the Depot – a quasi-German restaurant that serves prime rib on Saturday night. Guess what I’m getting.
Check back tomorrow morning, as we plan to get here relatively early. I’ll close with a shot that Susan got of Alex Palou celebrating his fifth consecutive pole.
George Phillips
