THERMAL, Calif. (Saturday, March 22, 2025) – Arrow McLaren earned its first 1-2 start in NTT INDYCAR SERIES competition, as Pato O’Ward and Christian Lundgaard locked out the front row Saturday during NTT P1 Award qualifying for The Thermal Club INDYCAR Grand Prix.
Team veteran O’Ward earned his sixth career pole and first since July 2022 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course with a top lap of 1 minute, 39.9567 seconds during the Firestone Fast Six in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. The pole was an impressive rebound for Mexican driver O’Ward, who qualified a disappointing 23rd in the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding earlier this month.
O’Ward turned his best lap with one minute, 45 seconds remaining in the final segment and didn’t have to stand on the gas again, saving precious wear on his Firestone Firehawk alternate tires. He needed just four laps in the Firestone Fast Six to earn pole; only Alexander Rossi turned fewer laps during that segment.
“I knew if we could get the car to my liking, I would get it done,” O’Ward said. “I’ve got to thank the guys. We turned it around. We dialed it in after Q1 (first qualifying segment) because I was somewhat happy with it but not perfect. Just made a little bit of an adjustment and as soon as we went out in Q2, I said, ‘I’ve got this.’”
Team newcomer Lundgaard followed right behind at 1:40.1245 in the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. It is his best start since last May when also qualified second for the Sonsio Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, where he spent the first three full seasons of his career. Lundgaard was quickest in pre-qualifying practice earlier today.
Arrow McLaren’s previous-best effort in qualifying for its top two cars since rejoining the series in 2020 was 1-3 by Felix Rosenqvist and Rossi, respectively, in April 2023 at Texas Motor Speedway.
Up next for the inaugural points-paying NTT INDYCAR SERIES event at The Thermal Club is the 25-minute warmup at 11 a.m. ET Sunday (FS1, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network. The 65-lap race follows at 3 p.m. (FOX, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network).
Three-time and two-time reigning series champion Alex Palou qualified third Saturday on the 17-turn, 3.067-mile natural terrain road course at 1:40.3092 in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.
Palou, who won the season opener at St. Petersburg, appeared to be pole-bound early in qualifying. He ripped the quickest lap of the weekend, 1:39.5933, during the first segment of qualifying and followed with a top lap of 1:39.6518 to lead the Fast 12 segment. Palou was the last driver on track during the Firestone Fast Six, but team officials told him to back off on his final lap and save his Firestone Firehawk alternate tires for the race Sunday after it was obvious he wasn’t going to surpass O’Ward.
Colton Herta qualified fourth at 1:40.3978 in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda to lead two Andretti Global cars in the Firestone Fast Six. Teammate Marcus Ericsson was fifth at 1:40.7435 in the No. 28 Bryant Honda.
Rossi rounded out the top six qualifiers with his best lap of 1:41.0359 in the No. 20 ECR Java House Chevrolet to continue his solid start with Ed Carpenter Racing, which he joined after last season.
Arrow McLaren’s front-row monopoly was one of two big stories during qualifying under sunny Southern California skies. The other was the failure of Team Penske to advance past the first round of qualifying for the first time in more than three years.
Two-time and reigning Indianapolis 500 winner Josef Newgarden was the quickest of the three Team Penske drivers, qualifying 17th in the No. 2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet. Two-time series champion Will Power, the all-time INDYCAR SERIES leader in poles, was next in 21st in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet. Scott McLaughlin ended up 25th in the 27-car field in the No. 3 XPEL Team Penske Chevrolet.
The last time no Penske driver advanced from the first round in road course qualifying came in September 2021 at Portland International Raceway, when all four of the team’s cars were outside of the top 12 after the opening segment.
Source: INDYCAR Communications
