STEAM CORNERS, Ohio — If the hybrid engine was supposed to usher in a new era for IndyCar, it certainly created a unique collection for Saturday’s Firestone Fast Six for Sunday’s Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio.
Three of the six drivers in the Firestone Fast Six had never won an IndyCar pole before. Those included David Malukas, Marcus Armstrong and Marcus Ericsson.
Of those six drivers, Malukas was driving for Meyer Shank Racing, an Ohio-based operation that didn’t have a lot of experience during off-season testing of the hybrid engine.
But when the six-minute session was over, it was Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing who won the pole for the second-straight year for this race at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
Palou won the pole with a fast lap at 1:05.3511 around the 13-turn, 2.258-mile Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in the No. 10 Ridgeline Honda. He won the pole by just two-thousandths of a second over Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward, who was attempting to win his first pole in two years.
It was the closest Firestone Fast Six Qualifications in history (road and street circuits) as just 0.0024-of-a-second separated Palou from O’Ward.
For Palou, it was his second pole in a row and third of the season after winning the previous race on the schedule at Monterey, California on June 23.
It was Palou’s sixth career IndyCar Series pole.
“It was huge, it was huge,” Palou said. “We knew we had a really fast car. The car has been awesome. It’s nice and it was nice two weeks ago and we wanted to repeat. I’ve been super comfortable and are as ready as we can be.
“It’s the first pole in the Hybrid Era so I’m pretty happy about that.”
O’Ward came so close to winning the pole, well within the margin of what the hybrid engine could provide to a driver.
“There is always more,” O’Ward said. “I thought it was a really clean lap. The car has been really, really strong from the start. This is the strongest car we’ve had all weekend. I’m excited for Sunday and we are the runs chasing. It is good to have a carrot in front of you.
“I miss being at the front man, I do.”
Malukas was third in his second race for Meyer Shank Racing with a lap at 1:05.6509 in the No. 66 Honda.
“This is really something to do in just my second race here,” Malukas said. “This team, I knew going into it, was very, very quick and I knew we had the potential to do it.
“I feel incredible here and it’s a big team effort. I just turned left and right. That’s all I did.”
Malukas missed every race at the beginning of the season leading into the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey because of a fractured left wrist from a Mountain Bike crash in February. That injury cost him his ride at Arrow McLaren, but his career was quickly saved by Meyer Shank Racing.
Colton Herta of Andretti Global was fourth at 1:05.7653 in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda. Marcus Armstrong of Chip Ganassi Racing was fifth at 1:06.9402 in the No. 11 Root Honda and Ericsson rounded out the Fast Six at 1:05.9592 in the No. 28 Honda for Andretti Global.
First Group, Segment One
Graham Rahal had hopes of a tremendous qualification session, but when another car in front of him dropped a wheel into the dirt just ahead of Rahal’s Honda, he had to get off the throttle and never advanced into the next segment.
“Unfortunately, as the track evolution gripped up, the car wouldn’t turn at all,” Rahal said. “With the track gripping up, we couldn’t deal with the understeer. A little understeer around here is a half-second. It is literally to a T what I thought would happen on the understeer and we didn’t get it right.”
Palou was the fastest driver of that group with a lap at 1:05.4915 in the No. 10 Ridgeline Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing. Malukas was second at 1:05.5332 in the No. 66 Honda for Meyer Shank Racing. Alexander Rossi of Arrow McLaren was third at 1:05.5546 in the No. 7 Chevrolet.
Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin was fourth at 1:05.6277 in the No. 3 Sonsio Chevrolet followed by Christian Rasmussen’s 1:05.6374 in the No. 20 Chevrolet for Ed Carpenter Racing and Marcus Ericsson’s 1:05.6703 in the No. 28 Honda for Andretti Global.
Felix Rosenqvist was seventh at 1:05.6921, but with a six-grid position penalty for an engine change, he will start around 20th on Sunday.
Kyle Kirkwood did not advance out of the session at 1:05.7147 in the No. 27 Honda. He was followed by Nolan Siegel, Rahal, Santino Ferrucci, Pietro Fittipaldi and Toby Sowery.
Second Group, Segment One
Drivers with the most experience testing the hybrid engine during the offseason were expected to have an advantage in the early days of the unit. But those drivers including Scott Dixon, Will Power and Josef Newgarden all missed advancing out of the first segment.
“I think I should have gone harder on my first push lap,” Dixon said. “We went too deep into turn four and missed turn nine on the first push lap.
“I think I mismanaged it.”
Marcus Armstrong of Chip Ganassi Racing was the fastest at 1:05.5044 in the No. 11 Honda followed by Colton Herta’s 1:05.6545 in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda for Andretti Global. Christian Lundgaard of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing was third in the No. 45 Hy-Vee Honda at 1:05.7484 followed by Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward’s 1:05.7862 in the No. 5 Chevrolet, Linus Lundqvist’s No. 8 Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing at 1:05.8003. Romain Grosjean of Juncos Hollinger Racing rounded out the top six at 1:05.8113 in the No. 77 Chevrolet.
Dixon was seventh at 1:05.8562 in the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda. He was followed by Power’s No. 12 Chevrolet, Newgarden’s No. 2 Chevrolet, Rinus VeeKay’s No. 21 Chevrolet, Agustin Canapino’s No. 78 Chevrolet, Kyffin Simpson’s No. 4 Honda, Sting Ray Robb’s No. 41 Chevrolet and Jack Harvey’s No. 18 Honda.
Second Segment
With the field whittled down to 12, the intensity picked up in this session to determine who would fight it out in the Fast Six.
Each driver put in a banker lap on the primary Black tires before hitting pit lane to change to the faster alternate Red tires.
By the time the session was over, it was once again Palou the fastest on the track at 1:05.2848 followed by O’Ward at 1:05.3608, Herta’s 1:05.5041, Malukas’ 1:05.5073, Armstrong’s 1:05.5525 and Ericsson’s 1:05.5944.
Missing the Fast Six were McLaughlin, Rossi, Rasmussen, Lundgaard, Lundqvist and Grosjean.
“The driver sucks, that’s about it,” McLaughlin said as the first driver to miss out on advancing into the Fast Six. “The guys and girls on this car deserve better. We should have easily been in the Fast Six.
“We’ll set sail from seventh on Sunday.”