Penske team mates Scott McLaughlin and Josef Newgarden finished one-two in qualifying for the Gateway 500.
But while McLaughlin was the fastest of the two, Newgarden will start first in today’s 500-kilometre race.That’s because McLaughlin was one of six drivers since the start of the weekend who were handed nine-place grid penalties for exceeding their allotted pool of four engines for a season. Other drivers impacted were championship leader Alex Palou and his Ganassi team mates Scott Dixon and Takuma Sato, plus Andretti Autosport’s Kyle Kirkwood and Juncos Hollinger rookie Agustin Canapino.
McLaughlin will still be recognised as the P1 Award winner given to the fastest qualifier and earned a championship point with a two-lap average qualifying speed of 182.951 miles per hour (294.431 kilometres per hour). With the grid penalty, he is expected to start tenth.
Meanwhile, Newgarden will inherit first place on the starting grid as he pursues a clean sweep of IndyCar’s five oval races in 2023, while also trying to begin what would be an improbable championship comeback with three races left in the season.
Colton Herta qualified third-fastest and was the fastest Honda-powered driver, followed by McLaren driver Pato O’Ward, then Palou, who qualified fifth, but will start from the middle of the 28-car field after his grid penalty for an engine change which was announced this morning.
Palou needs to score seven more points today than his Ganassi team mate Dixon, and four more points than Newgarden, to clinch his second IndyCar Series title.
Felix Rosenqvist qualified sixth, ahead of Dixon in seventh, then Sato, Romain Grosjean, and David Malukas rounding out the top 10.
Will Power was 12th-fastest to match his car number, and Marcus Ericsson qualified down in 18th. Both drivers were in rebuilt or new cars after a collision in practice yesterday evening where Power spun out of turn two, and was hit head-on by Ericsson.
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Ericsson, who recently announced a move to Andretti Autosport next season, was in a backup car originally prepared for Palou.
Also in the middle of the order, Conor Daly qualified 15th in his first drive for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, in the car previously occupied by Jack Harvey. Daly outqualified his full-time team mates Graham Rahal and Christian Lundgaard.
Gateway 500 qualifying results
| Position | Car | Driver | Team | Engine |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | Scott McLaughlin | Penske | Chevrolet |
| 2 | 2 | Josef Newgarden | Penske | Chevrolet |
| 3 | 26 | Colton Herta | Andretti | Honda |
| 4 | 5 | Pato O’Ward | McLaren | Chevrolet |
| 5 | 10 | Alex Palou | Ganassi | Honda |
| 6 | 6 | Felix Rosenqvist | McLaren | Chevrolet |
| 7 | 9 | Scott Dixon | Ganassi | Honda |
| 8 | 11 | Takuma Sato | Ganassi | Honda |
| 9 | 28 | Romain Grosjean | Andretti | Honda |
| 10 | 18 | David Malukas | Coyne/HMD | Honda |
| 11 | 7 | Alexander Rossi | McLaren | Chevrolet |
| 12 | 12 | Will Power | Penske | Chevrolet |
| 13 | 27 | Kyle Kirkwood | Andretti | Honda |
| 14 | 77 | Callum Ilott | Juncos Hollinger | Chevrolet |
| 15 | 30 | Conor Daly | RLL | Honda |
| 16 | 60 | Linus Lundqvist | Meyer Shank | Honda |
| 17 | 06 | Helio Castroneves | Meyer Shank | Honda |
| 18 | 8 | Marcus Ericsson | Ganassi | Honda |
| 19 | 29 | Devlin DeFrancesco | Andretti | Honda |
| 20 | 45 | Christian Lundgaard | RLL | Honda |
| 21 | 78 | Agustin Canapino | Juncos Hollinger | Chevrolet |
| 22 | 21 | Rinus VeeKay | Carpenter | Chevrolet |
| 23 | 15 | Graham Rahal | RLL | Honda |
| 24 | 20 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | Carpenter | Chevrolet |
| 25 | 51 | Sting Ray Robb | Coyne/RWR | Honda |
| 26 | 55 | Benjamin Pedersen | Foyt | Chevrolet |
| 27 | 14 | Santino Ferrucci | Foyt | Chevrolet |
| 28 | 33 | Ed Carpenter | Carpenter | Chevrolet |
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IndyCar
- Winning top rookie despite missing five races was a “tough ask” – Armstrong
- Dixon emerges through carnage to win Laguna Seca finale
- IndyCar to hold $1million pre-season exhibition race at Thermal Club
- Rosenqvist takes last-second pole in final IndyCar start for McLaren
- Malukas takes the McLaren seat Palou turned down in multi-year deal
