Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou heads into Saturday’s Sonsio Grand Prix of Indianapolis on the IMS road course with a 61-point lead in the championship after he claimed his second NTT P1 Award in less than a week with a time of 01:09.3417s but the day belonged to Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing with Graham Rahal starting the race from second and Louis Foster claiming a career-best third place with a time of 01:09.8801s.
Scott McLaughlin was the leading Team Penske driver in the No.3 Sonsio Chevrolet with a 01:09.8910s. Devlin DeFransceco had a great session for Rahal as he starts the race from fifth place while Josef Newgarden rounded out the Firestone Fast Six for Team Penske.
Will Power starts the race from seventh just ahead of Pato O’Ward and Alexander Rossi who had a great session in the No.20 Java House ECR Chevrolet with a 01:10.0584s and starts the race from ninth. For the second weekend in a row, Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kyffin Simpson in the No.8 Journie Rewards Honda starts a race from tenth, equally his career best start from Barber Motorsports Park last weekend.
Santino Ferrucci in the No.14 Sexton Properties Chevrolet for AJ Foyt Racing starts the race from 11th just ahead of Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist while Colton Herta suffered a tough session for Andretti as he starts the race from 13th just ahead of Christian Lundgaard.
Marcus Armstrong starts the race from 15th place just ahead of Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon in the No.9 PNC Bank Honda who was frustrated with how his qualifying went. The Iceman set a fastest time of 01:10.1158s and starts the race ahead of Sting Ray Robb who starts the race from 17th place just ahead of Nolan Siegel and Christian Rasmussen.
It was a disappointing session for Andretti Global’s Marcus Ericsson who starts the race from 20th place following a time of 01:10.1307s while Kyle Kirkwood starts 21st just ahead of Conor Daly in the No.76 Chevrolet who set a time of 01:10.4295s and starts the race just ahead of Callum Ilott and Rinus VeeKay. Jacob Abel starts the race from 25th just ahead of David Malukas while Robert Schwartzman rounds out the order in 27th place. Speaking following the action, Schwartzman said:
“It’s another unfortunate situation where I have had limited practice time and jumped straight into qualifying. I had only four laps total at a track I didn’t know so it was very difficult. I did the best I could but nonetheless I still didn’t feel really comfortable with the car. We definitely need to have a work through tonight to see what we can do for tomorrow’s race. We have nothing to lose, starting from behind. Tomorrow is another day, we’ll keep our heads down and try to figure something out.”
Callum Ilott said:
“It was a very close qualifying. We made big improvements and to get that close to seventh – we’re just half a tenth away – I think is a good carryover from Barber. Although the results don’t show it, it’s nice to be within fighting distance. We had a lot of work to do from Free Practice so it’s nice to get that close, but also a bit frustrating to be on the wrong side of it. We just have to see what we can do for tomorrow. We’re always trying to improve but it’s tough as it’s very tight.”