All three Kiwis are in the mix for tomorrow’s IndyCar Grand Prix of Detroit, with Scott McLaughlin the best of the three and earning a front-row start by going second fastest. Scott Dixon starts directly behind in fourth, while Marcus Armstrong is the best rookie from 11th.
Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou will start on pole for the second race in a row, his 1:01.8592 over the nine-turn Detroit street circuit pipping McLaughlin by 0.3 seconds.
“Credit to him – great lap,” McLaughlin said. “Man, this is a tough old joint here. You’re wheeling it pretty hard. We just didn’t quite have it, but this is a great result for us in the Gallagher Chevy. This is a real tough challenge.”
Romain Grosjean returned to some form to qualify third, only 0.13 seconds shy of McLaughlin and 0.14 seconds ahead of Dixon.
“It was definitely an interesting qualifying day,” said Dixon. “I didn’t get the most out of it. I was pretty close in Q2 to getting bounced. In Q3, we decided to go to primaries while everyone else was on reds.
“We had a couple of slow laps because people went off track and caused a yellow. So we missed our last lap, which we really needed. Overall, it was a good day for the team.”
Despite not competing on ovals, Armstrong continues to lead the rookie championship and is set to continue that charge, with closest rival Benjamin Pedersen going 19th quickest.
“Very fast in Q1, the car was great, and we used both sets of tires,” said Armstrong. “Put the reds on for Q2 and really struggled for some reason, in comparison to before – couldn’t string the lap together, it felt more slippery than the previous runs, and subsequently didn’t drive my best.
“P11 is still a good place to start from tomorrow.”
Last week’s Indy 500 winner Josef Newgarden starts the race fifth, while Marcus Ericsson rounded out the Fast Six competitors.
Coverage of tomorrow’s IndyCar Grand Prix of Detroit begins at 7.00 am on Sky Sport 5.
Header Image: Team Penske (Scott McLaughlin)
