Nathan BrownIndianapolis Star
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Sunday’s IndyCar polesitter at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca has led 118 laps the last two years starting from outside the front two rows – including a victory by more than 30 seconds – and has three podiums in three starts at the track just outside Monterey, Calif.
Not that it should be any surprise, but Alex Palou may very well be tough to beat starting out front Sunday afternoon, after the two-time champion Chip Ganassi Racing driver edged Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood by 0.0739 seconds for his second pole of the year and fifth of his career.
And having come into the eighth event of IndyCar’s 17-race schedule just five points back of championship leader Will Power, Palou may be primed to retake control of the points lead if he can stay up towards the front.
“This has always been one of my favorite places, and it’s becoming maybe my favorite place,” Palou said of the track he’s finished 2nd, 1st and 3rd in his three career starts. “I was really happy with the car. It was on rails today, and we’ve got the best starting position for tomorrow. Hopefully we can have a clean start and first couple laps and not have a lot of cautions that could screw up our strategy.”
For Kirkwood, Saturday’s qualifying performance marks the second-best starting position he’s clinched in his IndyCar career, only behind his one and only pole from a year ago at Long Beach. It also makes for three consecutive Fast 6 appearances for the third-year driver in his second campaign with Andretti Global and a year in which the 25-year-old is again taking another leap in performance.
Though only maybe once in 2024 has Kirkwood said he felt he may have had race-winning pace on race day, he’s yet to have a truly forgettable day, boasting the full-time field’s best “worst finish” of the year in 11th on the IMS road course. But without a podium – though he does have back-to-back top-5s at the moment at Detroit and Road America – he sits 6th in the championship and in a place where that first podium of the year on Sunday could make a big difference and perhaps vault him into the top-4 behind Palou, Power and Scott Dixon.
“I’m extremely happy. You can’t replace clean air around here, and I’m just happy to be on the front row (for Sunday),” he said of his qualifying performance. “We’ve been really good across race weekends this year, though we’ve not had the pace to challenge for wins yet, maybe outside Detroit.
“We’ve just been consistent, and coming into this year, I really just wanted to have more consistent races. Now it’s time to go after podiums and wins. I think we definitely have competitive pace in race trim, but we’ll learn a lot more in warmup.”
At a track where the front row has produced the winner 20 of 26 starts and where drivers outside the top-6 have only won three times (though each of the last two), Palou and Kirkwood will be chased by fellow Fast 6 qualifiers Felix Rosenqvist (3rd), Colton Herta (4th), Alexander Rossi (5th) and Christian Lundgaard (6th).
Rossi shines in one of best qualifying runs to date with Arrow McLaren
Though has name may not jump off the results page, Saturday’s performance could prove a game-changer for Rossi, who during his year-plus tenure with Arrow McLaren has consistently flashed solid race craft but seldom starred on Saturdays in qualifying. Saturday’s Fast 6 appearance was the first of 2024 – and just the third with Arrow McLaren – for the driver who has just one win in his last 79 IndyCar starts. In the Fast 12, Rossi was the final car to cross the line and with that closing lap, jumped from 9th to 5th to bump Scott McLaughlin out of a Fast 6 appearance.
The strong qualifying performance also comes as he and his current team are in the throes of negotiations for a contract extension that has been two months in the making and is expected by both sides to come to fruition in the next couple weeks, barring any unforeseen surprises. Should the deal come together, it would both lock up the strongest unclaimed seat on the grid and solidify Arrow McLaren's three-car lineup for the next couple years.
Ground to make up for Team Penske
McLaughlin was the best-qualifying Team Penske driver in 7th on a relatively quiet day for the team fresh off sweeping the podium at Road America. A ways back, his teammates Josef Newgarden (14th) and Power (15th) will start mid-pack.
Strong potential Sunday for Juncos Hollinger Racing
Though he was steaming stepping out of the car, upset by cars slowing down toward the end of the Fast 12 after turning their first timed lap, Romain Grosjean will start 8th Sunday for his second-best start with Juncos Hollinger Racing and his third Fast 12 appearance for his new team. Believing he had a car worthy of pole, had he not been slowed up, Grosjean will enter Sunday’s race in a spot to potentially threaten the front-runners at a venue with JHR has run particularly well each of the last few years.
In 2022, Callum Ilott started on the front row, and a year ago, both JHR cars were threatening late in the race for top-5 finishes – with Ilott completing the performance in 5th. Just a couple rows back, Grosjean’s teammate Agustin Canapino will start 13th.
Strong MSR debut for Malukas, ways to go for Siegel at McLaren
In his first start of the year and first appearance in his new Meyer Shank Racing program, David Malukas wowed with a Fast 12 appearance, despite a still-healing dislocated left wrist that kept him out of the first seven rounds of the year and ultimately lost him his ride at Arrow McLaren. After finishing 25th and 20th-fastest in the weekend’s first two practice sessions, Malukas will start 12th on Sunday.
On the other end of the spectrum, IndyCar rookie Nolan Siegel will have some ground to make up as he makes his debut for Arrow McLaren in the No. 6 Chevy ride originally earmarked for Malukas. The 19-year-old was announced to have landed a multi-year deal with Arrow McLaren beyond 2025 just four days ago, fresh off filling in for Canapino at JHR, dropping out of the Indy NXT championship race and winning in the LMP2 class at Le Mans. He’ll start 23rd Sunday.
Insider: Why Arrow McLaren replaced Theo Pourchaire, signed Nolan Siegel
“We were thrown into a really difficult situation and have had very little time to prepare, and it’s tough,” Siegel said after his Round 1 qualifying performance that left him more than eight tenths back from advancing. “None of us know each other, but we’re getting better every session. We’re getting to know each other, and I’m getting to know the car better. There’s just a lot of new things, and it’s tough – really tough.
“IndyCar is super competitive, but as long as we can continue to improve at this rate every session this weekend, I think we’re going to hit the ground rolling really well at Mid-Ohio and the rest of the season. I’m happy with where we’re at and happy with the trajectory things are going. We’re going to be competitive in the race and the rest of the season.”
