ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — In a highly entertaining qualification session, Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin won his third Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg pole on Saturday.
McLaughlin’s best lap was 1:00.5426 around the 13-turn, 1.8-mile St. Petersburg street course in the No. 2 DEX Chevrolet.
“I have a great team, Raul Prado, my new engineer, is a great man with a lot of experience,” McLaughlin said. “Everybody knows the slough we went through last year and this is a great way to start the season.”
But the real story was Dale Coyne Racing, as both of its drivers made it to the Firestone Fast Six including rookie driver Dennis Hauger, the 2025 Indy NXT Champion.
The “Norwegian Nightmare” was the third fastest qualifier with a fast time of 1:00.4743. That was just a tick behind Andretti Global driver Marcus Ericsson’s No. 28 Honda with a fast time of 1:00.5621.
“I wasn’t really expecting that to be honest, we were on the back foot entering qualifying, but we were pretty quick” Hauger said. “A great start.”
Four-time NTT IndyCar Series champion Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing was fourth at 1:00.5743 in the No. 28 DHL Honda followed by Team Penske’s David Malukas in the No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet at 1:00.7638.
The second Dale Coyne Racing driver was Romain Grosjean, the sixth fastest at 1:01.3462 in the No. 18 Honda.
