Following the action in FP2 this morning, teams now look to qualifying for the 2025 IndyCar Thermal Club GP, with Alex Palou and Christian Lundgaard emerging as the favourites for pole position after strong performances in both practice sessions. Attention is also on Marcus Ericsson, who appeared confident following his consistent P3 finishes in both sessions, full report and results below.
The track conditions were 30 degrees hotter than in the morning’s practice sessions bringing with it a sense of uncertainty on how many laps the soft tires would hold together. Drivers will need to strike a delicate balance between extracting maximum performance throughout their qualifying runs without ruining their tires before the lap is logged.
Round 1, Group 1
The green flag flies and the cars take to the track with immediate drama for Scott MacLaughlin who spun while completing his baker lap. Meanwhile David Malukas set the standard with a rapid 1:40.330 lap securing the top spot early in the session.
Veekay faced struggles as he found the Andretti car of Kyle Kirkwood impeding his lap and forcing him to make another attempt at setting a competitive time. Veekay proceeded to push his car to the limit sliding through the track and setting a time of 1:40.649 enough for 2nd at the time but would soon fall down the order as the field continued to set faster laps.
Reigning champion Alex Palou was the first to break into the 1:39.00’s with a mega 1:39.593 lap to take him half a second clear of the field a dominant time that cemented his place in the fast 12 with Rosenqvist positioning himself just behind the reigning champion with a 1:40.062.
A day to forget for Joseph Newgarden as he pulled into the pit lane unable to go quicker than a 1:40.695 and is eliminated from qualifying, shortly followed by last week’s pole sitter Scott McLaughlin whose struggles continued as he failed to find any rhythm in the final sector, skidding over the curbs and setting a disappointing 1:41.513. This placed him at the bottom of the timesheet and left him out of contention for the fast 12. A session plagued with mistakes meant all three Penske cars fall at the first hurdle unable to piece together a lap competitive enough for a place in the fast 12.
The advancing drivers were:
Palou
Rosenqvist
Dixon
Armstrong
Malukas
Kirkwood
Round 1, Group 2
Following the drama of group 1 the next set of drivers took to the track most notably Robert Schwartzman who was yet to complete a lap this weekend following continuous struggles with his Prema car in both practice sessions.
Rookie driver Louis Foster set the early benchmark with a 1:40.528 on the soft, red-striped tire as the track conditions continued to improve with each lap. This was further demonstrated by Pato O’Ward, who, employing a split strategy, bypassed the harder compounds and immediately ran on softs, propelling him to the top of the timesheets with a 1:40.388.
The struggles for Schwartzman continue as he is awarded a drive through penalty for speeding in the pit lane essentially costing him 3 minutes of what is already a short 10-minute qualifying session.
Meanwhile, Christian Lundgaard took a strategic approach, opting for two slower preparation laps to bring his tires up to optimal temperature before launching his push lap. The tactic paid off as he became the only driver to break the 1:40.000 barrier, securing P1 for McLaren with an impressive 1:39.961.
Despite being unable to improve on his first lap rookie Louis Foster would stay within the top 6 and advance into the fast 12, whereas both Prema’s would end the session at the back of the field unable to break into the 1:41.00’s. Disappointment for Santino Ferrucci as he misses advancing into the 12 by 2 thousandths of a second losing out to the Andretti of Marcus Ericson who joined his teammate Herta within the top 6 meaning all three Andretti’s progress into the fast 12.
The advancing drivers were:
Lundgaard
Herta
O’Ward
Rossi
Foster
Ericson
Fast 12
With the track temperature levelling out cars took to the track and prepared to launch their efforts for a spot in the fast 6. An impressive start for the Meyer Shank team meant they and Andretti were the only teams with all their cars in the fast 12.
Lundgaard leapt straight to the stop of the field with a 1:40.807 securing his first lap on the soft tires while his teammate Pato O’Ward reported an incident between himself being impeded by Alex Palou. Louis Foster continued where he left of jumping to second with a lap of 1:41.370 slotting in just behind Christian Lundgaard
With two minutes remaining, several high-profile drivers—including Scott Dixon, Colton Herta, Alexander Rossi, and Pato O’Ward—found themselves below the cutoff, with some of the youngest competitors leading the session.
Marcus Armstrong briefly took P1 with a 1:40.682, but Palou quickly responded with an impressive 1:39.651, the only sub-1:40 lap of the session. A flurry of fast times followed, as Rossi, Herta, and Lundgaard climbed back up the timing charts, ultimately pushing Armstrong’s No. 66 Meyer Shank car out of contention—much to his frustration. All eyes then fell to Pato O’Ward as he required a rapid final run which he would achieve securing a 1:39.948 lap time and his position within the fast 6.
The drivers advancing to the fast 6 were:
Palou
O’Ward
Lundgaard
Ericson
Rossi
Herta
Fast 6
And now the shoot out for pole position. Coming into the session Palou was the favourite to go quickest however the threat of a penalty still threatened to knock him off the top spot should he secure it. Everyone except for Palou joined the track with a set of soft tires to lodge their quickest times in this the shortest sessions yet.
Colton Herta was the first to set a benchmark with a 1:40.842, followed by Christian Lundgaard at 1:41.981 and Marcus Ericsson at 1:41.115. Meanwhile, Pato O’Ward took a different approach, running an additional warm-up lap before his push for pole—a tactic that had benefited his teammate earlier. The strategy proved invaluable as he delivered a clean, scorching lap of 1:39.956, putting him nearly a full second clear of Herta at the top of the leaderboard.
The final driver to set a time was Alex Palou, the fastest man of the weekend so far. After his initial lap fell short of O’Ward’s mark, he opted to attempt a second run hoping to muster his previous pace once more.
As the checkered flag fell Lundgaard put together a 1:40.124 making it a McLaren 1-2 with Herta unable to make any progress up the table. The cameras then focused on the one fast car left on track, the Chip Ganassi of Alex Palou, but as he approached the final corners the call was made for him to lift and with it his chances of pole faded away having to settle with a time of 1:40.309 and third on the grid.
With that, Pato O’Ward claimed his first pole position since 2022, leading a McLaren front-row lockout alongside Christian Lundgaard—a remarkable turnaround from the team’s struggles at St. Petersburg.
Full IndyCar Thermal Club qualifying results
