Felix Rosenqvist gave his Arrow McLaren team a farewell present on Saturday (Sept. 9) by qualifying on pole for the final NTT IndyCar Series race of the year
The session seemed to all be in Christian Lundgaard’s hands; the RLL driver was on a provisional pole entering the final section of Laguna Seca. But the Danish driver fell prey to the infamous corkscrew corner, ruining his fast lap and instead only qualifying third.
“It’s so hard to put together,” Rosenqvist told NBC following the session. “All weekend people have been going on. Our strategy has been to save our moments for qualifying, especially in the Fast Six. It’s so physical out there.
Scott McLaughlin qualified second as the final driver on track.
Firestone Fast Six
There were no incidents in the final session.
Josef Newgarden ended up qualifying fourth, while Chip Ganassi Racing teammates Scott Dixon and 2023 Series Champion Alex Palou will start in fifth and sixth respectively.
Round 2
Pato O’Ward stalled out in the exit of turn four after spinning out off-track. The incident occurred on his final hot lap, ending the session early as time had expired.
The drivers who came up just short of the fast six:
7. Juri Vips
8. Rinus Veekay
9. Will Power
10. Romain Grosjean
11. Santino Ferrucci
12. O’Ward
Round 1 Group 1
With 87 seconds remaining in the session, the red flag came out after Ryan Hunter-Reay spun out on the frontstretch. The session was stopped timewise so that teams could still get one more flying lap.
Eliminated from Round 1 Group 1 were:
13. Agustin Canapino
15. Colton Herta
17. Alexander Rossi
19. Marcus Ericsson
21. Tom Blomqvist
25. Hunter-Reay
Round 1 Group 2
With seven minutes and 27 seconds to go in the session, Helio Castroneves spun out in turn three and got beached in the sand trap. The Brazilian was unable to continue in the session.
Eliminated from Round 1 Group 2 were:
14. Graham Rahal
16. Marcus Armstrong
18. Kyle Kirkwood
20. Callum Ilott
22. David Malukas
24. Sting Ray Robb
27. Castroneves
IndyCar Qualifying Results at Laguna Seca
The Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey at Weathertech Raceway Laguna Seca will go live at 3:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, Sept. 10, with coverage on NBC and Peacock.
About the author
Michael has watched NASCAR for 20 years and regularly covered the sport from 2013-2021, and also formerly covered the SRX series from 2021-2023. He now covers the FIA Formula 1 World Championship, the NASCAR Xfinity Series, and road course events in the NASCAR Cup Series.
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