On Friday afternoon, 27 drivers took to the IMS road course to decide who would start in the top spot ahead of Saturday’s race.
Despite a short rain shower 30 minutes before qualifying, the track was completely dry by time the all-important time trials began.
After the knockout sessions whittled the field down to six, it was Christian Lundgaard that put in the fastest lap of all in the final qualifying session to secure pole.
READ MORE: IndyCar IMS road course – Full Qualifying Results
The sophomore driver earned his first IndyCar pole with the effort, showing once again that he is very skilled behind the wheel.
His pole time was 1:09.3321, which was nearly a second faster than the most recent pole time from last year’s race.
Felix Rosenqvist very nearly took his second pole of the season, but his final lap was a mere 0.003 seconds too slow. A slight bobble in a single turn was the only thing between the Swedish driver and the top spot.
Alex Palou and Jack Harvey earned spots on the second row, with the latter truly having a race to turn around his poor performances he’s suffered lately.
Harvey’s other RLL team-mate did well also, with Graham Rahal earning the eighth place spot in a rather surprising team showing.
Just ahead in seventh was the points leader Marcus Ericsson, who just missed out on advancing to the final Fast 6 shootout.
Pato O’Ward and Kyle Kirkwood fill out the third row, and both have been at the front of the field nearly the entire season.
Alexander Rossi kicked up some grass while pushing hard, and will start in 10th. Photo: Kevin Dejewski
The other three Andretti Autosport drivers did not fare nearly as well, however. Colton Herta earned the 14th position, followed immediately by Devlin DeFrancesco. And Romain Grosjean will start down in 18th, a disappointing run for the Frenchman.
Team Penske also had a qualifying day to forget, with Will Power’s 12th starting spot the best of the bunch.
Josef Newgarden narrowly missed out on advancing out of the first round, clocking a lap 0.006 seconds slower than the cut time. As a result, he will start down in 13th, three places ahead of Scott McLaughlin.
Ben Pedersen was given a penalty in the opening round for causing a local yellow by spinning on track. He likely wasn’t going to advance, but will have to start from all the way back in 23rd.
The GMR Grand Prix takes place on Saturday afternoon, with the green flag waving at 3:30 PM Eastern Time.
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