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It was a hot and humid 80-degree afternoon in Alabama as the IndyCar Series field headed out to qualify for Sunday’s 90-lap race at Barber Motorsports Park. Adjusting to the rising temperature was a big part of how some teams and drivers thrived and others struggled, and with the clock wound down to the final minute, it was Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin who took pole, knocking teammate Will Power off of the top starting spot by a scant 0.0970s.
For McLaughlin, who won last year’s Barber race, it was his sixth career IndyCar pole position, and comes after a tough week for the New Zealander and the rest of Team Penske.
“The car today was just phenomenal,” McLaughlin said. “We’ve hardly changed it. When you arrive here, you drop it out of the truck, you don’t have to change it that much, you build more confidence, more confidence, more confidence. You just find the limit, know the limit. Thankfully the car was really good on that final set of reds. We were able to put her up the front.”
With McLaughlin’s lap of 1m05.9490s setting the standard, only Power and Rahal Letterman Lanigan’s Christian Lundgaard were close (+0.1328s) to the Kiwi. Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward staved off a bad day for the entire team by claiming fourth (+0.3450s) as his teammates qualified 16th or lower.
Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist — with a fresh engine after his Honda motor failed in the morning practice — continued his strong season of Saturday runs by capturing fifth (+0.5034s) and like O’Ward with his team, Chip Ganassi Racing’s Marcus Armstrong offered the one ray of hope after securing sixth (+0.9532s) as the lone member of the five-car team to crack the Firestone Fast Six.
The opening phase of the Firestone Fast 12 saw Alex Palou lead the 13-car group, followed by Pato O’Ward, Marcus Armstrong, Graham Rahal, Romain Grosjean, and Kyle Kirkwood transfer into the next round. Among the surprises were Long Beach winner Scott Dixon and runner-up Colton Herta, who missed the cut and will start 13th and 15th respectively.
“It is what it is,” Dixon said. “We just missed it. We need to find out why we didn’t have the speed.”
IndyCar newcomer Luca Ghiotto showed well, qualifying 21st in the 27-deep field on his second day in an Indy car.
The second phase of qualifying with the other 14 cars was led by McLaughlin, Power, Josef Newgarden, Lundgaard, Rosenqvist and Tom Blomqvist.
The surprises were found with Alexander Rossi and Marcus Ericsson, who will roll off in 16th and 18th respectively.
“We’re missing something and it’s a bit strange because the car feels OK to drive,” Ericsson said.
Rinus VeeKay, fastest in the morning practice session, was unable to make a proper qualifying attempt when an issue at the back of his car kept him on pit lane.
“We were losing power, but it’s because of an electrical issue,” VeeKay said.
The third round of qualifying — the Fast 12 — sent Lundgaard, Power, McLaughlin, Armstrong, O’Ward and Rosenqvist through to fight for pole.
Seventh through 12th was set with Rahal and four straight surprises in Newgarden, Kirkwood, Palou and Grosjean; Blomqvist completed the group.
“I didn’t do a great lap. It’s a decent spot for us,” Newgarden said.
