INDYCAR: Graham Rahal Earns Pole at Indianapolis Road Course - Full Qualifying Results
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Full results from qualifying at Indianapolis, where DRIVER earned pole position for the race.
2023 Gallagher Grand Prix at Indianapolis - Qualifying Results | |||
Pos | Driver | Team | Engine |
1 | Graham Rahal | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | Honda |
2 | Christian Lundgaard | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | Honda |
3 | Alexander Rossi | Arrow McLaren | Chevrolet |
4 | Pato O'Ward | Arrow McLaren | Chevrolet |
5 | Devlin DeFrancesco | Andretti Autosport | Honda |
6 | Romain Grosjean | Andretti Autosport | Honda |
7 | Marcus Armstrong | Chip Ganassi Racing | Honda |
8 | Jack Harvey | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | Honda |
9 | Alex Palou | Chip Ganassi Racing | Honda |
10 | Felix Rosenqvist | Arrow McLaren | Chevrolet |
11 | Scott McLaughlin | Team Penske | Chevrolet |
12 | Helio Castroneves | Meyer Shank Racing | Honda |
13 | Colton Herta | Andretti Autosport | Honda |
14 | Linus Lundqvist | Meyer Shank Racing | Honda |
15 | Kyle Kirkwood | Andretti Autosport | Honda |
16 | Scott Dixon | Chip Ganassi Racing | Honda |
17 | Will Power | Team Penske | Chevrolet |
18 | Marcus Ericsson | Chip Ganassi Racing | Honda |
19 | Josef Newgarden | Team Penske | Chevrolet |
20 | Rinus VeeKay | Ed Carpenter Racing | Chevrolet |
21 | Santino Ferrucci | AJ Foyt Racing | Chevrolet |
22 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | Ed Carpenter Racing | Chevrolet |
23 | David Malukas | Dale Coyne Racing | Honda |
24 | Agustin Canapino | Juncos Hollinger Racing | Chevrolet |
25 | Sting Ray Robb | Dale Coyne Racing | Honda |
26 | Callum Ilott | Juncos Hollinger Racing | Chevrolet |
27 | Benjamin Pedersen | AJ Foyt Racing | Chevrolet |
Graham Rahal felt the lowest of lows at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in May. The veteran driver was bumped from the Indianapolis 500 in qualifying, by his RLL Racing teammate. The entire organization struggled to find speed, but that was certainly not the case today on the road course. Rahal earned his first pole position in six years as the RLL team locked out the front row in qualifying on the 2.439-mile circuit. Race winner Christian Lundgaard narrowly missed the top spot but will start alongside his teammate tomorrow.
Row 2 belongs to Arrow McLaren, as defending race winner Alexander Rossi and teammate Pato O'Ward qualified up front. Keeping with the theme, Andretti Autosport drivers owned Row 3 in qualifying. It wasn't either of their top-two drivers though, as both Devlin DeFrancesco and Romain Grosjean made the Firestone Fast Six. Rookie Marcus Armstrong had another great performance and starts 7th while Jack Harvey put the cherry on top for RLL on Friday. Championship leader Alex Palou and Felix Rosenqvist rounded out the top-ten in qualifying.
Team Penske was nowhere to be found in qualifying, as none of their drivers cracked the top-ten. It was a bizarre qualifying session on multiple fronts. A majority of the top talent in the series will be starting in the back half of the field on Saturday. Scott Dixon, Will Power, Marcus Ericsson, and Josef Newgarden have all won the Indy 500 and combined, they have accounted for ten championships. All of them will start outside of the top 15 tomorrow.
Dixon and Palou got Ganassi back on track in final practice, as they led the session. They were followed by Scott McLaughlin, Callum Ilott, and Kyle Kirkwood. Three drivers (Jack Harvey, Helio Castroneves, David Malukas) will all serve a six-spot grid penalty for engine changes. Castroneves announced today that he will move into an ownership role with the Meyer Shank Racing team next season. Tom Blomqvist will replace him full-time in the No. 06 car but the four-time Indy 500 winner will still have a ride for that race.
There is a belief that this could be the final race for IndyCar on the road course, outside of the Month of May. This is the doubleheader weekend with NASCAR, but the stock car series is likely to return to the 2.5-mile oval next season, and IndyCar could replace this race with a return to Milwaukee. Following tomorrow’s race, only three races remain on the 2023 calendar.
Previous IMS Road Course winners
2023: Alex Palou
2022: Alexander Rossi
2022: Colton Herta
2021: Will Power
2021: Rinus VeeKay
2020: Will Power
2020: Josef Newgarden
2020: Scott Dixon
2019: Simon Pagenaud
2018: Will Power
2017: Will Power
2016: Simon Pagenaud
2015: Will Power
2014: Simon Pagenaud