Alex Palou beats Malukas to Barber pole after tight IndyCar qualifying

Alex Palou stormed to pole in the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix at Barber Motorsports Park.

The reigning and four-time IndyCar Series champion, Palou pushed his #10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda to a flying lap of 1m06.2341s around the 2.3-mile, 17-turn natural terrain road course to claim the top spot. It’s the 13th pole of his career, and second pole at the Alabama circuit.

“Oh, that’s not a good number,” Palou said, of his career pole tally.

“Anyway, hopefully we can change that tomorrow, but honestly one of the best cars I’ve driven. This morning I already felt the car was really, really good, really well balanced. I don’t know, I guess not everybody was on brand new alternates, but we just wanted to start up front, capitalize on a really good car that we had today, and see for tomorrow. But really happy to get our first pole of the year.”

Team Penske’s David Malukas ended up second in his #12 Chevrolet at just 0.1137s behind. And Graham Rahal, on a set of used softer alternate tires, wheeled his #15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda to third.

FAST SIX

While the majority of the field opted to make one warm-up lap and come in for new tires, Rahal stayed out and nailed down a lap of 1m06.740s. Rahal opted to go out on a set of used alternates and save a fresh set for the race. Meanwhile, Palou took on a fresh set of sticker alternate tires. It was near disaster for Romain Grosjean, who dropped left wheels off course in Turn 9 but managed to hold onto his #18 Dale Coyne Racing Honda, and logged a quick lap of 1m06.836s on his next run around.

The banker laps started to come in with less than a minute to play for, with Palou scorching to a 1m06.234s lap. And Kyle Kirkwood’s threat for pole was over before it got going as he went had a close call in Turn 12 and scrubbed enough speed to only muster a 1m06.832s flying lap in his #27 Andretti Global Honda.

Malukas elevated to second moments later, with Meyer Shank Racing’s Marcus Armstrong rolling to fourth, dropping Kirkwood and Grosjean down to fifth and sixth, respectively.

Round of 12

Romain Grosjean, Dale Coyne Racing

Photo by: Penske Entertainment

With a minute to go, Kirkwood threw down a massive flying lap of 1m06.038s to go top, bumping Palou’s quickest lap of 1m06.077s to second. Malukas, Armstrong, Rahal and Grosjean managed to transfer through.

AJ Foyt Racing’s Santino Ferrucci narrowly missed the cut by 0.0117s. Marcus Ericsson (Andretti Global) and Josef Newgarden (Team Penske) were eighth and ninth, ahead of Christian Lundgaard (Arrow McLaren), Alexander Rossi (ECR) and Pato O’Ward (Arrow McLaren).

Groups

The first group was hit with a red flag after Will Power had a massive shunt in Turn 5, with his #26 Andretti Global Honda stuffed into the foam and tire barrier following a suspected brake failure.

The session restarted with less than five minutes remaining, with Palou rolling to a staggering 1m06.103s flyer. He was followed by Lundgaard, Rahal, Armstrong, Rossi and Ferrucci.

Will Power’s miserable qualifying woes continued, with the Chip Ganassi Racing driver being the first out of the transfer spot. He was followed by Nolan Siegel (Arrow McLaren), Christian Rasmussen (ECR), Kyffin Simpson (Chip Ganassi Racing) and Caio Collet (AJ Foyt Racing).

The second group was highlighted by several heavy hitters, with Kirkwood vaulting to the top of the timesheets with a 1m06.212s quick lap. He was followed by Malukas, Grosjean, Newgarden, Ericsson, and O’Ward.

Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin, in a backup car after his terrifying crash in the morning’s second practice session, was the first to miss the transfer spot and ended up seventh in his group. He was followed by Rinus VeeKay (Juncos Hollinger Racing), Felix Rosenqvist (Meyer Shank Racing), the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing duo of rookie Mick Schumacher and Louis Foster. Rookie Dennis Hauger (Dale Coyne Racing) and Sting Ray Robb (Juncos Hollinger Racing) were bottom of the group.

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– The Motorsport.com Team

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