Marcus Armstrong’s strong pace at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course has transitioned to qualifying, with the #11 Chip Ganassi Racing driver qualifying fifth for tomorrow’s race.
However, a six-place grid penalty for an unapproved engine change sees him line up eleventh.
Therefore, Scott McLaughlin starts as the first Kiwi, promoted to the third row in sixth, where he’ll start alongside Marcus Ericsson.
Scott Dixon failed to progress from the group stages and will line up in 14th.
IndyCar Series leader Alex Palou took the first pole of IndyCar’s hybrid era by just 0.0024s over Pato O’Ward. David Malukas and Colton Herta complete the second row.
“It was huge,” Palou said. “We knew we had a really fast car. We also knew we were at a disadvantage with the 5 (Pato O’Ward) with the tyres because he did one lap less in the Fast 12, and we didn’t want to risk it. The car has been awesome.”
Palou’s 1:05.3511 in the Firestone Fast Six was enough for the position, with O’Ward falling just two-thousandths short in a last-minute dash for the line.
Having qualified fourth from Group A, McLaughlin was eliminated from the Top 12 with a 1:04.6178, just 0.0234 short of Ericsson in sixth.
Dixon was eliminated from group stage qualifying, going seventh fastest and missing out on Round 2 by 0.0449s to Romain Grosjean.
Championship contenders Will Power and Josef Newgarden also failed to progress from the group stages and line up 16th and 18th, respectively.
Coverage of Monday’s Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio begins at 5.30 am on Sky Sport.
Header Image: Penske Entertainment: Travis Hinkle
