2023-09-10 09:15:27
The final round of the 2023 season taking place at Laguna Seca will see Felix Rosenqvist start from pole position for his final race with McLaren Racing.
Rosenqvist took pole for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES season finale in his final race with Arrow McLaren, posting a 1’6″6416 lap in the team’s No. 6 Chevrolet at Firestone Fast Six This is the second pole of the season and fifth career pole for Rosenqvist, who will join Meyer Shank Racing next season.
Laguna Seca, Rosenqvist on pole
“It’s our last race together tomorrow, so what a way to start,” Rosenqvist said. “Especially here, track position is very important. We mightn’t have given ourselves a better opportunity.”
Rosenqvist will attempt to claim his second career victory and first with Arrow McLaren in Sunday’s 95-lap race. Scott McLaughlin will join Rosenqvist on the front row following his qualifying lap of 1:06.6513 behind the wheel of the No. 3 XPEL Team Penske Chevrolet. McLaughlin narrowly missed dislodging Rosenqvist from the top spot in the final flying lap of the Firestone Fast Six, almost overcoming a mistake early in his fast lap.
“I dropped some time in Turn 10, the fast right-hander, trying to gain a little more,” McLaughlin said. “The car was very fast. I feel really bad for the guys in the XPEL Chevrolet. Congratulations to Felix. It’s pretty impressive that he got his last pole with the team.”
Christian Lundgaard qualified third in 1’06″7478 in the No. 45 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Hy-Vee Honda. The Firestone Fast Six might have seen Lundgaard on pole, who cut inside of the famous Corkscrew turn during his penultimate qualifying run, while he was ahead.
Lundgaard also set an INDYCAR SERIES track record of 1’06″4610 during the second qualifying round, breaking Helio Castroneves’ record of 1’07″722 set in 2000. The 11-turn, 2.238-mile road course was repaved last May, improving grip and increasing times and speeds. Two-time series champion Josef Newgarden qualified fourth in 1:06.7937 in the No. 2 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet.
Six-time series champion Scott Dixon will start from the inside of Row 3 following qualifying fifth in 1:07.0171 in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. Alex Palou, who won his second championship of the season last Sunday in Portland, qualified in sixth position in 1’07″2846 at the wheel of the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda The American Legion. Palou earned a spot in the Firestone Fast Six for the ninth time this season.
Juri Vips was the top rookie qualifier, seventh in the No. 30 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda Mi-Jack. A former Formula 2 driver, Vips made his NTT INDYCAR SERIES debut last weekend in Portland.
One of the biggest surprises of the first round of qualifying was the elimination of Colton Herta, who led practice Friday in the No. 26 Andretti Autosport w/Curb-Agajanian Gainbridge Honda. Herta, who will start in 15th position, won this race from pole position in 2019 and 2021.
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