Felix Rosenqvist pulled off a late push to take pole in an intense IndyCar Series qualifying for the Grand Prix of Portland.
Flying around Portland International Raceway’s 12-turn, 1.964-mile natural road course, the Swede squeezed out a 58.428s flying lap to take the top spot over reigning and four-time series champion Alex Palou by a narrow 0.0184s.
For Rosenqvist, the defending Indianapolis 500 winner and driver of the #60 Meyer Shank Racing Honda, it marks his second pole of the season, with his other coming at Long Beach.
“Phenomenal team effort,” Rosenqvist said. “Huge thanks to Meyer Shank Racing, Honda. We have a Grateful Dead car here again as a little gesture to all the fans that wished to have it back, so that’s really cool to get a pole with a beautiful car like that.
“And yeah, we just kept tuning on it. I think we started off a little bit behind yesterday and just kind of, we didn’t really do anything magical. Just tried to focus on execution and putting all the corners together. I mean, it’s been a really tough and tight day.”
Fast Six
While some of the challengers jumped out on track, Ericsson stayed in the pits and was left waiting with a fresh set of softer alternates. Simpson, who was only left with used alternates for the round, also sat on pit lane waiting.
Palou set the initial time at 59.365s before returning to pit lane for a fresh set of alternates, with Ericsson following him back onto the circuit. Palou went even faster moments later, nailing a quick lap of 58.501s. Ericsson jumped to second with a 58.672s lap, with VeeKay up to third at 58.858s.
In the final seconds of the round, Rosenqvist vaulted to the top with a 58.482s flyer, denying Palou a seventh pole as time expired. Palou settled for second.
Andretti Global was left settling for third and fourth, led by Will Power and followed by Ericsson. VeeKay fell to fifth, with Simpson in sixth.
Round of 12
Moments after VeeKay set the fastest time in the round with a 58.684s with just under two minutes remaining, Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon clipped the inside barrier after turning slightly early into Turn 1 and suffered significant right-front damage and limped around to the pits.
Even with the incident, though, the session remained under green as Rosenqvist posted a 58.644s lap to lead the round. VeeKay’s lap was enough to remain second at 0.398s behind. Simpson took third, ahead of Ericsson, Palou, and Power.
Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood was the first driver on the outside of the transfer spot, falling 0.0352s shy of advancing. The #15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL) Honda of Graham Rahal was eighth, ahead of Team Penske’s David Malukas in ninth and Dale Coyne Racing’s duo of rookie Dennis Hauger and ex-Formula 1 man Romain Grosjean in 10th and 11th, respectively. Dixon was left in 12th.
Groups
Romain Grosjean, Dale Coyne Racing
Photo by: Perry Nelson / Lumen via Getty Images
In the first group, Power topped the opening group with a late 58.360s lap to dethrone Palou from the top spot in the group by a narrow 0.0212s. Malukas was a close third at 0.0847s behind. Ericsson, Grosjean, and Simpson rounded out the rest of the top six.
The first driver to miss the transfer was Louis Foster, who fell 0.0216s shy in the #47 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL) Honda.
Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden was eighth, ahead of Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward, with ECR’s Alexander Rossi slotted 10th. Meyer Shank Racing’s Marcus Armstrong, who led second practice, was 11th, directly ahead of RLL rookie Mick Schumacher.
The second group was led by Rosenqvist’s quick lap of 58.424s. Dixon was second by 0.0820s, with Kirkwood third at 0.1913s. Rahal ended up fourth, followed by VeeKay and Hauger, who took the final transfer spot by 0.0872s over Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin. Arrow McLaren’s Nolan Siegel settled in eighth, with AJ Foyt Racing rookie Caio Collet in ninth. ECR’s Christian Rasmussen was 10th, with AJ Foyt Racing’s Santino Ferrucci in 11th, Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Sting Ray Robb in 12th, and Arrow McLaren’s Christian Lundgaard in 13th.
Q3
All Stats
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