Scott Dixon will start Sunday’s IndyCar Sonsio Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Road Course from sixth, two places ahead of his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Marcus Armstrong.
Dixon and Armstrong were the only Kiwis to progress to Round 2 of qualifying, with Scott McLaughlin falling an agonising 0.0048 seconds short of moving on from the group stages.
Defending champion Alex Palou will start from the pole, with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Christian Lundgaard earning his third consecutive front-row start on the IMS Road Course.
Team Penske’s Will Power and Josef Newgarden lock out the second row, with Dixon joined by Pato O’Ward directly behind.
Power had earlier topped Group 1 of Round 1 with a 1:08.7890 flyer, 0.1572 seconds quicker than second-fastest Rinus Veekay. Newgarden, O’Ward, Alexander Rossi, and Pietro Fittipaldi were the others to progress to Round 2 from the group, with the latter’s 1:09.1330 just five thousandths better than McLaughlin’s best time.
Felix Rosenqvist set Group 2’s benchmark at 1:08.9912 to lead Lundgaard, Armstrong, Graham Rahal, Palou, and Dixon, respectively. Just five-hundredths separated the top five drivers. Dixon was only 0.1618 seconds off the leader’s pace but scraped through to Round 2 by just 0.0182 seconds over seventh-placed Kyle Kirkwood.
Championship leader Colton Herta was the significant omission from the top 12, only managing to qualify 12th in Group 2, one place ahead of Kiwi Tom Blomqvist.
Power was fastest in the top 12 shootout, leading with a 1:08.8194, just 0.0194 quicker than Lundgaard. Palou was third, ahead of O’Ward, Newgarden and Dixon, who scraped through 0.0185 seconds ahead of Rossi.
Palou’s 1:09.0004 earned him the pole in the Fast 6, with Lundgaard one-tenth in arrears.
Sunday’s IndyCar race begins at 7.00 am NZST and will be shown live on Sky Sport.
Header Image: Chris Owens/ Penske Entertainment
