ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — What a difference a day makes.
A day after destroying the front of his car in practice, Scott McLaughlin wins the pole for the NTT INDYCAR Series’ Firestone Grand Prix, on Sunday. The driver of the No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet clocked in the fastest lap of the entire session at a time of 59.462.
It’s the 11th career INDYCAR pole for the New Zealand native, 12th for Team Penske on the streets of St. Petersburg and McLaughlin’s first pole as a dad.
Colton Herta clocked in second at a time of 59.639. Felix Rosenqvist clocked in third at 59.699. Marcus Armstrong placed fourth at 59.828. Christian Lundgaard came home fifth at 59.866 and Scott Dixon rounded out the Firestone Fast 6 at 59.922.
Second round
Herta, on used Firestone reds, clocked in to open the second round at 1:00.564, a second slower than he went in Round 1. With four minutes to go, Lundgaard timed in at 1:00.070. With 90 seconds left, Marcus Ericsson clocked in a lap of 1:00.003.
In the final minute, Herta ran the fastest lap of Round 2 at 59.545. He, Lundgaard, Armstrong, Dixon, Rosenqvist and McLaughlin advanced to the Firestone Fast 6.
Nobody in Round 2 ran a sub one-minute lap until the final minute of the round.
First round
Group 1
For most of the session, Kyffin Simpson held the top spot with a time of 1:00.104, on Firestone reds. Josef Newgarden usurped him with roughly four and a half minutes to run with a lap of 59.721, also on Firestone reds. With less than a minute to run, Nolan Siegel jumped to the top with a lap of 59.625.
McLaughlin ended the session on top with a lap of 59.469. Herta, Siegel, Newgarden, Lundgaard and Rinus VeeKay advanced with him to the second round.
Everybody turned their fastest lap on Firestone reds, and the first seven cars posted a sub one-minute lap.
Group 2
Dixon clocked in the fastest lap to open Group 2 with a time of 1:01.396, on Firestone blacks. Louis Foster, on Firestone reds, turned in a lap of 1:00.456. Devlin DeFrancesco clocked in at 1:00.168.
Dixon, on Firestone reds, clocked in a lap of 59.841. With a minute left, Alex Palou timed in the fastest lap of Group 2 at 59.600. Along with him advanced Dixon, Rosenqvist, Ericsson, Armstrong and Kyle Kirkwood.
Only four drivers in Group 2 posted a sub one-minute lap.
