CHEVROLET IN THE NTT INDYCAR SERIES
Bitnile.com Grand Prix of Portland
1.964-mile, 12-Turn Portland International Raceway Road Course
Portland, Oregon
Qualifying Report
August 9
Arrow McLaren duo Lundgaard and O’Ward qualify 1-2 four of Fast Six are Chevrolet-powered
PORTLAND (August 9, 2025) – For the second time in the 2025 season, Chevrolet-powered Arrow McLaren teammates qualified one-two, with Christian Lundgaard in the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet besting Pato O’Ward in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet by 0.1404 seconds after turning a lap of 58.3939 seconds in the Firestone Fast Six for the Bitnile.com Grand Prix of Portland.
Unfortunately, a six-place grid penalty for an unapproved engine change means that Lundgaard’s teammate O’Ward, who led the team’s front row qualifying effort at The Thermal Club in March, will have the preferred inside front row starting position for Sunday’s race, the fourth time this year that the Mexican driver will start on the front row.
Making it four of six Bowtie-powered drivers in the Firstone Fast six at the 1.964-mile, 12-Turn Portland International Raceway road course were Will Power in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet and David Malukas in the No. 4 A.J. Foyt Racing Gallagher Insurance Chevrolet.
Championship leader Álex Palou will start four spots behind O’Ward after an uncharacteristic mistake in the Firestone Fast Six.
Qualifying notes
- Group one in segment one followed the expected form, with drivers setting banker laps on the Primary (black) Firestone Firehawk racing tires, before switching to the quicker Alternate (red) Firestone Firehawk racing tires for a late run at advancing. An ill-timed red flag for an incident in Turn 12, which occurred during most drivers’ optimal lap on the reds, gave ten of the 13 drivers one flying lap to improve and go quicker than Palou and Power, who were able to set a representative time before the stoppage. Malukas and Alexander Rossi in No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Java House Chevrolet went quick enough on their final laps to beat fellow Team Chevy drivers Scott McLaughlin in the No. 3 Odyssey Battery Team Penske Chevrolet and Santino Ferrucci in the No. 14 A.J. Foyt Racing Sexton Properties Chevrolet by mere tenths of a second.
- The second group in segment one ran trouble-free, with O’Ward’s lap of 58.2420 seconds, topping the 14 drivers. Josef Newgarden in the No. 2 Astemo Team Penske Chevrolet, who underwent an engine change between practice and qualifying and O’Ward’s Arrow McLaren teammate Lundgaard also advanced from the group.
- Felix Rosenqvist led the Fast 12, but four of the six Chevrolet-powered drivers who joined him advanced to the Firestone Fast Six, with Rossi and Newgarden missing the final round of qualifying by a slim six-hundredths and two tenths of a second.
Qualifying numbers
The pole is the sixth of the year for Team Chevy and the 138th earned pole since Chevrolet returned to the NTT INDYCAR SERIES in 2012.
Lundgaard’s pole is the 11th pole for Arrow McLaren as a member of Team Chevy.
Chevrolet-powered drivers have now won eight poles at Portland International Raceway, including three of the last four.
The Firstone Fast Six appearance was Lundgaard’s sixth, O’Ward’s fourth, Power’s fourth and Malukas’ third of the season.
Qualifying Results from the Bitnile.com Grand Prix of Portland
Tune-In Alert
Saturday
NTT INDYCAR SERIES Warm Up – 8:30pm (ET)/ 7:30pm (CT)/6:30pm (MT)/5:30pm (PT) – FS2/INDYCAR Radio Network/SIRIUSXM 218
Sunday
Bitnile.com Grand Prix of Portland (110 laps) – 3pm (ET)/2pm (CT)/1pm (MT)/noon (PT) – FOX/INDYCAR Radio Network/SIRIUSXM 218
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING (QUOTES):
Christian Lundgaard, No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet qualified 1st:
You weren’t super happy with the car through the start of qualifying. Did you expect this?
“No. Honestly, as I crossed the line, I still didn’t really expect it. I just felt like I had a big push in Turn 5, a big push in Turn 6, and I knew I was slower than the Fast 12, so I didn’t really think that was it. But, we were discussing this, and this was kind of best case scenario for us with the six place grid penalty. I’m just proud of this team. I mentioned this to you yesterday. We’ve had a week off, everybody’s kind of recharged and obviously another front row lockout for the team. except only one of them will start there. I’m happy that we at least could help Pato out in that sense”
Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet qualified 2nd:
“It’s a bit of a surprising qualifying, considering where we were in practice. We were still inching away trying to make it better. So much changes in a year. I mean, where we were last year compared to where (we were last year). Christian, great job on getting the fastest lap time there. We did it back to back to back for all three qualifying sessions. I was super happy with that. The car just came alive. I don’t really have an explanation for you. We didn’t really change anything from practice. Sometimes that’s the story with these Firestone tires. So, I’m happy with this great qualifying session and we’ll be leading the field to green. It’s the best view into Turn 1 and super proud of the team and all the hard work that’s gone into it, because this was rally our toughest road course last year, so great step forward.”
Will Power, No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet qualified 4th:
We made some changes to the Verizon Chevy for the top six, to see if we could just get a little better, We just seemed to be off the quickest guys. Although Lundgaard was a stand out there. One-tenth (of a second) would have moved us up a couple spots, but that was it. It was a pretty good lap. I put it together. Obviously, there’s always a little bit in it somewhere, A big moment in (Turn) 10 there starting that last lap. Happy with that, any time you’re top six in this series is really good.
David Malukas, No. 4 A.J. Foyt Racing Gallagher Insurance Chevrolet qualified 5th:
“Good run. I mean, frustrating session, to be honest. So many things didn’t go our way in all the qualifying sessions. [In] Group 1 I made a mistake, so ended up having to do a Drive Through penalty. And then by the time we went back out, the red flag comes out. So they tell me, we have one lap to push. So tires are cold, and I scrape the lap together. Made it to the fast 12. And again, guys in front of us doing different strategies and we’re getting caught up behind them, try to push, and tires are cold. And we barely, again, scrape into the Fast Six. Then we’re actually in the Fast Six and we’re on a different strategy. We push on lap three, Palou goes off and causes a yellow and we have to back out try to save fuel for the last one. So it was a chaotic session, but the guys gave me an incredible rocket ship. I mean, it was so fast. The fact that we’re scraping laps together and still making it through every single time just goes to show how good this car is and how capable it was. Obviously it hurts, because I think we had a chance, an opportunity, to fight for that pole. But in the end, it is what it is, and we’ll take a p5, starting p4 tomorrow with the penalties. So good day for the number four crew in the Gallagher car.”
Alexander Rossi, No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Java House Chevrolet qualified 7th:
“The Java House Chevrolet rolled off strong, which is so critical when it’s so competitive, especially around a track like this. Huge effort by all the ECR team and all the Java House guys and girls. It was a tough summer stretch for us, so it’s nice to come out of that with a a strong qualifying. We do have an extra set of reds since we didn’t transfer, but ultimately I think we had the pace to transfer. Just didn’t quite get it done on that lap!”
Josef Newgarden, No. 2 Astemo Team Penske Chevrolet qualified 9th:
“I think that team did a great job. This Astemo Chevy group just put in a new engine quickly. An amazing job. They’re the best of the best, so I always feel good about that, and just bummed we couldn’t make it to the fast six today.”
Scott McLaughlin, No. 3 Odyssey Battery Team Penske Chevrolet qualified 13th:
“I didn’t quite get that last lap- that one lap together. I’m just really frustrated with myself, really. The Odyssey Battery Chevy didn’t roll out great, but we’ve made it better. I’m really proud of the guys. It’s consistently working. I want to deliver for the guys, and I’m pretty hard on myself. It’s just so close, and you can’t miss the apex by a tire and that’s exactly what happened. So, look at the data and we’ll get better. Yeah, just frustrated.”
Santino Ferrucci, No. 14 A.J. Foyt Racing Sexton Properties Chevrolet qualified 15th:
Obviously, I think we’re struggling. We’ve been struggling a lot this year in qualifying, and we’ve been struggling with the same thing in the car. Obviously coming back here and having the poll last year we were able to make some solid strides as to why we weren’t there. To be honest with you, this lap was good. I saw VeeKay off, but I wasn’t sure if he got back in front of me. This isn’t the reason why we didn’t advance. We just kind of missed it by two-tenths, it’s a bit of a shame, so we really needed to complete our first run before the red, and I think that’s what it would have got us in. Going out in the back here and having to sit in the traffic and check up, you just can’t get the tires in quick enough. So, it is what it is. We’ll take the grid penalty tomorrow as well, and we’ll what we do best and race our way forward. I love this track. I love this team. I think we’ll do a great job.
Christian Rasmussen, No. 21 Ed Carpenter Racing Liquid Science Chevrolet qualified 18th:
Sting Ray Robb, No. 77 Juncos Holliger Racing Chevrolet qualified 21st:
Nolan Siegel, No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet qualified 19th:
Conor Daly, No. 76 Juncos Holliger Racing Chevrolet qualified 26th:
Sting Ray Robb, No. 77 Juncos Holliger Racing Chevrolet qualified 21st:
Callum Ilott, No, 90 PREMA Racing Chevrolet qualified 24th:
“The black tires were really good. We built up some momentum, and then I really expected quite a bit more when we went into the reds. I just don’t think we got the tire preparation right. Something was missing and we just missed a lot of grip on the rear, and it’s so tight here in qualifying that every little bit makes a difference. It is a shame not to build off the speed on the blacks, but it is what it is and we will look to move forward tomorrow.”
Robert Shwartzman, No. 83 PREMA Racing Chevrolet qualified 25th:
“It was a difficult session as a whole. We opted to do two runs on the red tires, and things were looking okay after the first runs. We struggled to improve on the second set, and then unfortunately I had a moment in the last corner which resulted in hitting the wall and bringing out the red flag. It has put us at the back, and I am sorry to the team. We need to make the most of Final Practice later today and see what we can do tomorrow as we know the races can be very chaotic in Portland.”
NTT INDYCAR SERIES News Conference
Saturday, August 9, 2025
Pato O’Ward
Christian Lundgaard
Post Qualifying
Press Conference
THE MODERATOR: Pato O’Ward qualified second, which means after the grid penalties he will lead the field in tomorrow’s race here at Portland International Raceway.
Pato, your thoughts on what’s turning out to be a really good weekend for Arrow McLaren?
PATO O’WARD: Super proud of the team. A massive turnaround to where we were here last year. Super proud of everybody and all the work that’s gone into specifically this weekend to turn things around.
I must say it’s a bit of a surprise on my side. Practice, we weren’t quite getting there. The car randomly turned alive, not really changing anything from P2 to qualifying. Just a little bit here and there. But yeah, I was super pleased with that Q1.
As soon as I felt where the car was, I knew we had a shot for pole. Just missed it there with Palou getting onto the wall in our optimal kind of temp window.
Happy for Christian getting the fastest lap there and doing a 1-2. Yeah, we’ll be leading the field into a great (indiscernible) into turn one.
THE MODERATOR: Juices up the championship a little bit more?
PATO O’WARD: It juices it up for all you fans, also for ourselves.
The guy’s pretty much won it already. I know they’re making a big deal out of this, Championship 5. We are 130 points back. He has got to have the worst luck he’s ever had in his career, just like the best luck he’s had in his career this year, in order for us to keep this alive.
We’re focusing on our car, on our end of the grid and see where we can capitalize, hopefully just keep on scoring points.
THE MODERATOR: We’ll open it up for questions.
Q. Should you have asked Christian before the session started to maybe slow down a tick or two to give you that extra bonus point there?
PATO O’WARD: No. I mean, honestly I think we obviously knew we had a shot for it in Q3. I missed it there by being behind Palou and having to back off a little bit.
I’m super pumped to see both cars 1-2. I think that’s our second 1-2. But yeah, I just missed it there in Q3 a little bit.
Q. You mentioned you’re a little surprised with this result. Was this something coming into this weekend before you got on track that you thought was possible or has it even surprised you?
PATO O’WARD: No, I definitely knew that it was possible coming into the weekend. But in practice I wasn’t feeling super confident just because I was really struggling with the car. I was struggling to get a lap together.
When you’re operating at over capacity sometimes, when you nail the perfect lap, you know that car shouldn’t truly be there. I couldn’t get it right.
Very random in qualifying. As soon as in Q1, as soon as we went out there, it felt like a completely different car without changing anything. So sometimes that’s a nice surprise that Firestone gives us weekend after weekend, just having thankfully consistent tires at least through qualifying. That’s been a joy.
Q. This is maybe the most treacherous turn one we have on the circuit. You have the most optimal position. Do you go and talk to Felix who you’ll be starting next to?
PATO O’WARD: I’ve been having dinner with him the last two nights. I think it’s going to be the same this night. I will tell him, Let’s not screw each other up (smiling).
THE MODERATOR: Christian Lundgaard joins us with his first NTT P1 award of the season, second career. Your thoughts?
CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: Third.
THE MODERATOR: So sorry. Obviously turning out to be a nice weekend for Arrow McLaren.
CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: Yeah, I did not expect that. After yesterday having the pace, obviously being P1 on both tires in practice one, obviously you’re optimistic going into qualifying day.
In a sense I just caught up on a little bit of what Pato said there. He gained some pace from practice two going into qualifying. I almost felt like it was the opposite way for me from yesterday to today. I felt really good yesterday and struggled a little more today with basically no changes in the car overnight. It feels like a big surprise in a sense.
Obviously happy that we got it for the team and it’s another 1-2 from a qualifying position standpoint. Obviously not the start. We found an issue on the engine yesterday so we had to change it. Thanks to Chevy for finding that.
THE MODERATOR: More questions.
Q. Pato, yesterday you were talking about balance and pace. Did you have more balance this year than a year ago or more pace?
PATO O’WARD: I think a little bit of both. Definitely a better balance. Even you might have a good balance, but when the pace is not there, you can kiss a chance at pole good-bye.
It’s been good to have both pace and balance coming into qualifying. We’re done with it. But yeah, it was a bit of a surprise. I’m not going to lie. I definitely was not expecting the car to take such a step forward in both pace and balance without changing really anything.
So either the track just started coming to us, the temperature… I mean, this track is quite sensitive to the temperature as well. It was 15, 20 degrees hotter than what it was in practice two. That changes a lot.
Q. Pato, can you give us a bit of a historical look back on the team’s rise in qualifying performance even through last year. Don’t know what to expect coming into a weekend. Might be great. Might not. Seems like the team has found real consistency. You’re also resetting a lot of things at tracks, Toronto, Laguna. Talk about the team’s development. Seems like you’re rewriting things quite a bit.
PATO O’WARD: We’re breaking curses, as I like to call them. Zak was finally at a race win in the flesh. We’re finally breaking curses at certain circuits that have always been a very tough challenge for not just my side but sometimes all three cars. This is a perfect example of this track in the past being a big struggle.
I’m glad that we’ve pushed forward. The guys have brought me new things, new upgrades, to try on the cars. That just speaks to, like, how hungry we are to kind of close that gap and just bring the fight to pretty much the 10 car, which is the only car that’s up there all the time.
I think his success this year has overshadowed a little bit of how strong the team has kind of stepped up and given us the tools to perform every weekend, even though maybe the year prior to that it was a bit of a challenge.
Q. Pato, because you are in essence starting on the pole, I don’t know if you’re allowed to make a choice. I think at one time the polesitter could make a choice to start on the outside or inside. What would be your preference?
PATO O’WARD: Inside. Always inside.
Q. Because the barrier is there, there’s a curb, looks like the car goes into a dip, looks really violent. What is that like from inside the cockpit?
PATO O’WARD: It’s definitely quite violent. I’d say it’s gotten better for us. I have a lot of experience with this car for a few years. It’s been nicer going over through that.
Yeah, I mean, it is definitely not the most violent place that we go to. Like Detroit and stuff, you’re like the bubble head inside of the car. You can barely see straight.
Yeah, this one is not a problem stall.
THE MODERATOR: Pole is driver’s right. Choices are no longer an option in INDYCAR.
Q. Feel bad nobody is asking you questions, Christian.
CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: I was about to ask why am I here.
Q. Appeared to be a quick bonding between you and your race engineer. Seems like you have been really effective almost all season.
CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: Yeah, at the end of the day I think it’s quite simple. It’s wanting the same thing, and that’s to win. You want to be competitive. I think we’ve done well at that.
I think we identified some differences and things that I like on the car compared to Pato and Nolan. Very early in the season, I think most of our big finds was always in Sebring, the first test we did. We kind of just carried on from there.
The road course results this year have been pretty good, with exception of Road America where I kind of screwed that one up for myself. The performance was there. We were kind of easily on the podium without that in terms of where we were on strategy.
It’s frustrating, but overall I think we’ve lived up to the expectations that we put on ourselves pre-season.
THE MODERATOR: We’ll continue with questions.
Q. Christian, did you use red in Q3?
CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: No. I think all of us used the new set. I think all of us did. I think everybody in the Fast Six used the third set.
Q. Christian, when you came around and saw Alex in the tire barrier, did you almost do a double take? That’s not something we see very often.
CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: Well, I did see the yellow flag when I was going into turn 10. I wasn’t really paying attention to who it was. Just making sure it wasn’t going to be a red flag.
When I came around, I saw he was reversing. The only thing I was really thinking about was make sure I keep these tires clean for the next lap.
Q. Christian, knowing you’re starting behind this guy, teammate trying to fight for a championship, I’m not saying you should run him extra hard, but how do you balance trying to play your own race out and racing Alex hard to try to help Pato out?
CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: Yeah, ultimately I’m fighting for my own championship. That’s really where my priorities lie. If I have a chance of passing Alex, I will. But it’s not to help Pato. At the end of the day it’s not how we race.
Q. Are you going to be thinking points or free, go drive, have fun, see where you end up?
PATO O’WARD: I’ll be thinking winning the race. The points will take care of themselves, yeah.
Q. Christian, you’ve had five podiums this year, now a pole position, before the penalties. How pleased are you with your progress through the season?
CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: Yeah, it’s been awesome, right? I think we’ve had almost some better results than expected. For sure also some worse. But I think ultimately if you look at it, we’ve had a great season. We’ve been pretty much competitive at every event. We’re just trying to continue doing that.
Obviously we need a little more for next year to fight these two guys. But I think we have a long off-season. We have a lot to study, a lot to learn for next year. See if we can end the season on a high.
Q. Christian has been competitive on road and street courses this year. How important is it to have a teammate who pushes you, knowing you’ll start the race tomorrow on pole?
PATO O’WARD: It’s been great. To be honest, sometimes the solution to making sure that you improve maybe in places where you haven’t been as strong is getting your ass kicked. That’s the number one priority. The purpose of pushing somebody is you learn from somebody where they’re stronger than you.
I feel like I knew as soon as Christian coming into the team, that was only going to make me better. I think vice versa for him. He’s also got someone in me that is going to be pushing him every single week.
I think that is ultimately bringing the team to new heights. The engineers are obviously motivated to give us everything that we can in order to keep on fighting and pushing us forward.
But that’s all you can ask for. Whenever you have options to teammates, you want somebody to push you. It might make your life a little bit more stressful, but at the end of the day it’s only going to make you better. That’s why we’re here.
THE MODERATOR: Guys, congratulations.
Chevrolet wins at Portland International Raceway: 8
2024 – Will Power – Team Penske
2022 – Scott McLaughlin – Team Penske
2019 – Will Power – Team Penske
1993 – Emerson Fittipaldi – Team Penske
1991 – Michael Andretti – Newman Haas Racing
1990 – Michael Andretti – Newman Haas Racing
1989 – Emerson Fittipaldi – Patrick Racing
1988 – Danny Sullivan – Team Penske
Chevrolet poles at Portland International Raceway: 8
2025 – Christian Lundgaard -Arrow McLaren
2024 – Santino Ferrucci – A.J. Foyt Racing
2022 – Scott McLaughlin – Team Penske
2018 – Will Power – Team Penske
1992 – Emerson Fittipaldi – Team Penske
1991 – Emerson Fittipaldi Team Penske
1990 – Danny Sullivan – Team Penske
1988 – Danny Sullivan – Team Penske
Chevrolet podiums at Portland International Raceway: 20
Chevrolet podiums at Portland International Raceway by driver: Emerson Fittipaldi (5), Will Power (3), Michael Andretti (2), Al Unser Jr. (2), Mario Andretti (1), Scott McLaughlin (1), Rick Mears (1), Josef Newgarden (1), Bob Rahal (1), Felix Rosenqvist (1), Danny Sullivan (1) and Paul Tracy (1)
Chevrolet podiums at Portland International Raceway by team: Team Penske (11), Galles Racing (3), Newman Haas Racing (3), Patrick Racing (2), Arrow McLaren (1)
Chevrolet laps led at Portland International Raceway: 759
Chevrolet laps led at Portland International Raceway by driver: Michael Andretti (203), Emerson Fittipaldi (182), Will Power (155), Scott McLaughlin (109), Danny Sullivan (46), Pato O’Ward (28), Rick Mears (25), Mario Andretti (3), Felix Rosenqvist (3), Al Unser Jr. (3), Callum Ilott (1), and Josef Newgarden (1)
Chevrolet laps led at Portland International Raceway by team: Team Penske (408), Newman Haas Racing (206), Patrick Racing (110), Arrow McLaren (31), Galles Racing (3), and Juncos Hollinger Racing (1)
Manufacturer History at Portland International Raceway
Wins (with competition):
8 – Chevrolet (2024, 2022, 2019, 1993, 1991, 1990, 1989, 1988)
7 – Honda (2023, 2021, 2018, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1996
4 – Cosworth (1987, 1986, 1985, 1984)
2 – Ford (2001, 1992)
2 – Mercedes (1997, 1995)
1 – Toyota (2002
1 – Ilmor (1994
Poles (with competition):
8 – Chevrolet (2025, 2024, 2022, 2018, 1992, 1991, 1990, 1988)
6 – Honda (2023, 2021, 2019, 2000, 1999, 1996)
5 – Ford (2001, 1998, 1997, 1995, 1993
4 – Cosworth (1987, 1986, 1985, 1984)
1 – Toyota (2002
1 – Ilmor (1995)
1 – Porsche (1989)
Historical Chevrolet in the INDYCAR SERIES information
INDYCAR SERIES Manufacturer Championships (since 1979)
Chevrolet-Powered Wins in the Twin-Turbo 2.2L V6 Era (2012 – Present)
Chevrolet-Powered Wins (All-time)
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