ELKHART LAKE, Wis. — Alex Palou’s pole streak has now hit five in a row as the Chip Ganassi Racing driver ran a fast time of 1:43.661 around the 4.014-mile, 14-turn Road America race course to continue his NTT IndyCar Series dominance.
Palou entered the race weekend as the defending winner at Road America and has won three times at this track since 2021.
The last driver to win five straight pole positions was Alex Zanardi, who took the last four poles of 1997 and the first pole in 1997. Another driver that won five poles in a row was Danny Sullivan in 1988.
“It’s incredible, five in a row this year,” Palou said. “This team and everybody at Honda have given me the car to deliver. It was super rapid.
“Yeah, I’m happy, man.
“But tomorrow is going to be tough. I don’t really know what tire is best. It’s going to be interesting with strategy. We are starting from the best spot and hopefully, we keep it there.”
Team Penske’s David Malukas was second fastest at 1:43.9542 in the No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet. He was followed by Marcus Armstrong in the No. 66 Meyer Shank Honda at 1:44.0225, 110th Indianapolis 500 winner Felix Rosenqvist of Meyer Shank at 1:44.0502 in the No. 60 Honda. Marcus Ericsson of Andretti Global was fifth in the No. 28 Honda and Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin rounded out the Fast Six at 1:44.824 in the No. 3 Chevrolet.
McLaughlin was the first driver to complete a lap in the session with a 1:46.245. That was his “banker” lap as the other five drivers elected to go with a quick, “out and in” lap.
With 4:20 left in the session, the remaining five drivers left pit road, which meant they would be grouped together on the race track.
With 40 seconds left, the intensity picked up as drivers started to push harder on the with all but Malukas on Firestone Red Tires. Malukas remained committed to the Blacks.
Lo and Behold, it was Alex Palou who once again won the pole at 1:43.6615.
