Portland IndyCar: McLaughlin takes third pole ahead of teammates
Scott McLaughlin took his third pole position of the 2022 NTT IndyCar Series season, leading a Team Penske-Chevrolet 1-2-3 ahead of the hugely impressive rookie Christian Lundgaard of Rahal Letterman Lanigan-Honda.
Firestone Fast Six
Alex Palou went out on primaries for a sighting lap, but his 59.4992 was inevitably eclipsed by Christian Lundgaard who went out on Firestone reds straight away and produced a 58.4482sec. Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin went second and third with their first flyers, then Power moved to the top… but only briefly. He had messed up his lap by hitting his upchange gearshift paddle after adjusting his front anti-rollbar in Turn 4.
He was eclipsed by both his teammates, McLaughlin landing a 58.2349sec, a mere 0.078sec ahead of Newgarden whose grid penalty for an early engine change means he’ll start eighth and allow Power to start from the front row.
Lundgaard did a superb job on his first race weekend at Portland to qualify fourth ahead of Ganassi’s lead runner Palou, and Pato O’Ward in the top Arrow McLaren SP-Chevrolet.
P |
No |
Name |
FTime |
Diff |
Gap |
FL |
Laps |
LapTime |
LPit |
Led |
ST |
FSpeed |
Elapsed |
Engine |
Tire |
Points |
Team |
1 |
3 |
Scott McLaughlin |
58.2349 |
58.2349 |
0.000 |
2 |
3 |
58.3872 |
0 |
4 |
121.412 |
6:32.3956 |
Chevy |
2 |
|||
2 |
2 |
Josef Newgarden |
58.3129 |
0.0780 |
0.0780 |
4 |
4 |
58.3129 |
0 |
1 |
121.249 |
6:22.1069 |
Chevy |
1 |
Team Penske |
||
3 |
12 |
58.4254 |
0.1905 |
0.1125 |
2 |
3 |
58.9460 |
0 |
3 |
121.016 |
6:15.0173 |
Chevy |
11 |
Team Penske |
|||
4 |
30 |
Christian Lundgaard |
58.4482 |
0.2133 |
0.0228 |
2 |
5 |
58.5366 |
3 |
2 |
120.969 |
6:30.1441 |
Honda |
21 |
|||
5 |
10 |
Alex Palou |
58.5075 |
0.2726 |
0.0593 |
4 |
5 |
58.5908 |
2 |
6 |
120.846 |
6:26.3869 |
Honda |
9 |
|||
6 |
5 |
58.6090 |
0.3741 |
0.1015 |
3 |
4 |
58.7963 |
1 |
5 |
120.637 |
6:06.2517 |
Chevy |
4 |
Q2
On primaries, Power, Newgarden and McLaughlin went 1-2-3 for Team Penske-Chevrolet ahead of Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda, Power’s best effort on these harder compound tires being a 58.6447sec before pitting for reds.
Onto those soft Firestones, Power whittled his time down to 58.2516, then 58.0868sec, but he was shaded by Newgarden’s 57.9651sec, and Christian Lundgaard’s 58.0753.
Behind Power, teammate McLaughlin was fourth, while Pato O’Ward’s Arrow McLaren SP-Chevy and Palou were fifth and sixth.
O’Ward’s teammate Rosenqvist was less than a tenth slower but that was enough to keep him out of the Firestone Fast Six, yet ahead of Andretti Autosport-Honda’s Colton Herta and Alexander Rossi. That was still a relative success for Herta given his Round 1 issues (see below).
David Malukas of Dale Coyne Racing w/HMD-Honda will start 10th, ahead of the second RLL-Honda and Rinus VeeKay’s Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevy.
P |
No |
Name |
FTime |
Diff |
Gap |
FL |
Laps |
LapTime |
LPit |
Led |
ST |
FSpeed |
Elapsed |
Engine |
Tire |
Points |
Team |
1 |
2 |
Josef Newgarden |
57.9651 |
57.9651 |
0.000 |
8 |
8 |
57.9651 |
5 |
1 |
121.977 |
9:35.9633 |
Chevy |
1 |
Team Penske |
||
2 |
30 |
Christian Lundgaard |
58.0753 |
0.1102 |
0.1102 |
8 |
8 |
58.0753 |
5 |
2 |
121.745 |
10:21.3252 |
Honda |
21 |
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
||
3 |
12 |
Will Power |
58.0868 |
0.1217 |
0.0115 |
8 |
8 |
58.0868 |
5 |
4 |
121.721 |
9:41.5522 |
Chevy |
11 |
Team Penske |
||
4 |
3 |
Scott McLaughlin |
58.2504 |
0.2853 |
0.1636 |
8 |
8 |
58.2504 |
5 |
6 |
121.379 |
9:47.2022 |
Chevy |
2 |
Team Penske |
||
5 |
5 |
Pato O'Ward |
58.2593 |
0.2942 |
0.0089 |
7 |
8 |
58.3420 |
4 |
3 |
121.361 |
10:09.7299 |
Chevy |
4 |
Arrow McLaren SP |
||
6 |
10 |
Alex Palou |
58.3381 |
0.3730 |
0.0788 |
8 |
8 |
58.3381 |
4 |
12 |
121.197 |
10:02.0733 |
Honda |
9 |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
||
7 |
7 |
58.3475 |
0.3824 |
0.0094 |
8 |
8 |
58.3475 |
4 |
10 |
121.177 |
10:29.6483 |
Chevy |
6 |
Arrow McLaren SP |
|||
8 |
26 |
Colton Herta |
58.3925 |
0.4274 |
0.0450 |
7 |
8 |
59.0863 |
5 |
9 |
121.084 |
10:06.2389 |
Honda |
17 |
Andretti Autosport w/Curb-Agajanian |
||
9 |
27 |
Alexander Rossi |
58.3983 |
0.4332 |
0.0058 |
8 |
8 |
58.3983 |
5 |
7 |
121.072 |
9:55.7431 |
Honda |
18 |
Andretti Autosport |
||
10 |
18 |
David Malukas |
58.4038 |
0.4387 |
0.0055 |
8 |
8 |
58.4038 |
5 |
8 |
121.061 |
9:50.7053 |
Honda |
14 |
Dale Coyne Racing with HMD |
||
11 |
15 |
58.4475 |
0.4824 |
0.0437 |
8 |
8 |
58.4475 |
5 |
11 |
120.970 |
10:17.6903 |
Honda |
13 |
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
|||
12 |
21 |
Rinus VeeKay |
58.5356 |
0.5705 |
0.0881 |
7 |
8 |
59.4539 |
5 |
5 |
120.788 |
10:14.0275 |
Chevy |
16 |
Ed Carpenter Racing |
Q1 Group 2
Scott McLaughlin and Scott Dixon got down to 58.7s on primary tires before they joined the other frontrunners in pitting for Firestone alternate compound ‘reds’.
Alex Palou laid down a 58.4647sec lap on the softer rubber ahead, but although he worked down to a 58.1497, he only just got through, because up at the top of the times, rookie Christian Lundgaard and Will Power got down to 57.9, with Scott McLaughlin only 0.0811sec in arrears.
The remarkable David Malukas made it through to Q2 again for Dale Coyne Racing with HMD-Honda, ahead of Felix Rosenqvist of Arrow Mclaren SP-Chevy.
The surprise failures to graduate were Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda’s main title hopes Scott Dixon and Marcus Ericsson in eighth and ninth.
P |
No |
Name |
FTime |
Diff |
Gap |
FL |
Laps |
LapTime |
LPit |
Led |
ST |
FSpeed |
Elapsed |
Engine |
Tire |
Points |
Team |
1 |
30 |
Christian Lundgaard |
57.9218 |
57.9218 |
0.000 |
8 |
8 |
57.9218 |
5 |
3 |
122.068 |
10:35.9474 |
Honda |
21 |
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
||
2 |
12 |
Will Power |
57.9266 |
0.0048 |
0.0048 |
7 |
7 |
57.9266 |
4 |
1 |
122.058 |
9:42.5135 |
Chevy |
11 |
Team Penske |
||
3 |
3 |
Scott McLaughlin |
58.0029 |
0.0811 |
0.0763 |
7 |
7 |
58.0029 |
5 |
2 |
121.897 |
8:59.2000 |
Chevy |
2 |
Team Penske |
||
4 |
18 |
David Malukas |
58.0506 |
0.1288 |
0.0477 |
7 |
8 |
58.3007 |
5 |
6 |
121.797 |
10:00.8942 |
Honda |
14 |
Dale Coyne Racing with HMD |
||
5 |
7 |
Felix Rosenqvist |
58.1465 |
0.2247 |
0.0959 |
8 |
8 |
58.1465 |
4 |
11 |
121.596 |
10:45.5807 |
Chevy |
6 |
Arrow McLaren SP |
||
6 |
10 |
Alex Palou |
58.1497 |
0.2279 |
0.0032 |
8 |
8 |
58.1497 |
4 |
7 |
121.590 |
10:04.9157 |
Honda |
9 |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
||
7 |
77 |
58.1988 |
0.2770 |
0.0491 |
8 |
8 |
58.1988 |
5 |
5 |
121.487 |
10:25.1429 |
Chevy |
26 |
Juncos Hollinger Racing |
|||
8 |
9 |
Scott Dixon |
58.2628 |
0.3410 |
0.0640 |
8 |
8 |
58.2628 |
5 |
4 |
121.354 |
10:11.7312 |
Honda |
8 |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
||
9 |
8 |
Marcus Ericsson |
58.3064 |
0.3846 |
0.0436 |
8 |
9 |
58.3115 |
5 |
8 |
121.263 |
10:52.8265 |
Honda |
7 |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
||
10 |
20 |
58.4398 |
0.5180 |
0.1334 |
8 |
8 |
58.4398 |
5 |
10 |
120.986 |
10:32.1383 |
Chevy |
15 |
Ed Carpenter Racing |
|||
11 |
51 |
58.6058 |
0.6840 |
0.1660 |
8 |
8 |
58.6058 |
5 |
12 |
120.643 |
10:22.7849 |
Honda |
24 |
Dale Coyne Racing w/RWR |
|||
12 |
29 |
58.6127 |
0.6909 |
0.0069 |
8 |
8 |
58.6127 |
5 |
9 |
120.629 |
10:15.5827 |
Honda |
20 |
Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport |
|||
13 |
4 |
59.0082 |
1.0864 |
0.3955 |
8 |
8 |
59.0082 |
5 |
13 |
119.821 |
10:29.7159 |
Chevy |
3 |
AJ Foyt Enterprises |
Q1 Group 1
With cool conditions of only 70deg, even on Firestone primaries the drivers were swiftly down into the low 59secs, Alexander Rossi and Josef Newgarden nailing 59.0s. However, Newgarden then ducked into the pits for reds, while Rossi was setting a 58.961.
Before he could make his switch, Colton Herta hit the Armco barrier at the Turn 1 apex with his right-front wheel.
Newgarden delivered a mighty 58.1605 once he got his reds up to temperature, and then lowered that to 58.0433sec before pitting.
Pato O’Ward’s Arrow McLaren SP-Chevrolet got within one tenth of that benchmark before he pitted, while Rinus VeeKay clocked third ahead of Rossi.
Remarkably, the #26 Andretti Autosport crew got Herta’s right-front fixed so that he was able to leap into fifth, ahead of Graham Rahal’s Rahal Letterman Lanigan-Honda, and thereby bumping out the still impressive Kyle Kirkwood’s AJ Foyt Racing-Chevrolet.
P |
No |
Name |
FTime |
Diff |
Gap |
FL |
Laps |
LapTime |
LPit |
Led |
ST |
FSpeed |
Elapsed |
Engine |
Tire |
Points |
Team |
1 |
2 |
Josef Newgarden |
58.0433 |
58.0433 |
0.000 |
7 |
7 |
58.0433 |
4 |
1 |
121.813 |
9:03.3217 |
Chevy |
1 |
Team Penske |
||
2 |
5 |
Pato O'Ward |
58.1408 |
0.0975 |
0.0975 |
7 |
8 |
58.3202 |
4 |
5 |
121.608 |
9:59.1309 |
Chevy |
4 |
Arrow McLaren SP |
||
3 |
21 |
Rinus VeeKay |
58.2292 |
0.1859 |
0.0884 |
8 |
8 |
58.2292 |
5 |
10 |
121.424 |
10:20.7853 |
Chevy |
16 |
Ed Carpenter Racing |
||
4 |
27 |
Alexander Rossi |
58.2318 |
0.1885 |
0.0026 |
7 |
8 |
58.2895 |
5 |
4 |
121.418 |
10:11.3626 |
Honda |
18 |
Andretti Autosport |
||
5 |
26 |
Colton Herta |
58.3020 |
0.2587 |
0.0702 |
7 |
7 |
58.3020 |
5 |
2 |
121.272 |
10:44.2223 |
Honda |
17 |
Andretti Autosport w/Curb-Agajanian |
||
6 |
15 |
Graham Rahal |
58.4106 |
0.3673 |
0.1086 |
8 |
8 |
58.4106 |
5 |
3 |
121.047 |
10:24.7370 |
Honda |
13 |
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
||
7 |
14 |
Kyle Kirkwood |
58.4865 |
0.4432 |
0.0759 |
8 |
8 |
58.4865 |
4 |
7 |
120.889 |
10:31.6046 |
Chevy |
12 |
AJ Foyt Enterprises |
||
8 |
28 |
58.5097 |
0.4664 |
0.0232 |
8 |
8 |
58.5097 |
5 |
6 |
120.842 |
9:37.5304 |
Honda |
19 |
Andretti Autosport |
|||
9 |
45 |
58.5332 |
0.4899 |
0.0235 |
8 |
8 |
58.5332 |
5 |
9 |
120.793 |
10:15.0072 |
Honda |
22 |
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
|||
10 |
60 |
58.6898 |
0.6465 |
0.1566 |
7 |
8 |
58.7332 |
5 |
8 |
120.471 |
9:51.5568 |
Honda |
25 |
||||
11 |
06 |
58.7534 |
0.7101 |
0.0636 |
7 |
8 |
58.9194 |
5 |
11 |
120.340 |
10:08.4641 |
Honda |
5 |
Meyer Shank Racing |
|||
12 |
48 |
59.1933 |
1.1500 |
0.4399 |
8 |
8 |
59.1933 |
5 |
12 |
119.446 |
10:40.8633 |
Honda |
23 |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
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