There’s cause to copy and paste the lede from the last race, because Alex Palou did it again.
The defending NTT IndyCar Series Champion won the pole for the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio during Saturday’s (July 6) qualifying session. It was a clean sweep of every qualifying group for the Spaniard, who clearly sat as the man to beat with the fastest car.
“We knew we had the really fast car,” Palou said.
“We knew we had the advantage on the No. 5 with the tires because we did one less lap in Fast 12, and we didn’t want to risk it. The car’s been awesome, the No. 10 Ridgeline car is going to look good on the front row. It’s nice. It was nice two weeks ago, so we wanted to repeat.”
Pato O’Ward missed out by .0024 seconds in pursuing his first pole since 2022. However, it will be his best start on the season. Behind him in third is David Malukas, competing in just his second race with Meyer Shank Racing after recovering from an injury sustained to his wrist in the offseason. It was his best start since Iowa Speedway last year, but even better, the highest he has ever rolled off the grid on a road or street course.
The top four teams—Team Penske, Chip Ganassi Racing, Andretti Global, and Arrow McLaren—heavily tested the hybrid in-season, so it was presumed the sessions would favor them. However, the results were fairly balanced, with six of the 14 cars not making it out of Round 1.
Firestone Fast Six
Palou led the way, taking one point in the championship for the pole, and will lead the field to the green on Sunday. O’Ward was close but not fast enough on his last lap to overtake Palou.
Malukas’ start is a personal best for him and makes Ohio-based owner Mike Shank happy. While Marcus Armstrong continues to be a consistent participant in the Firestone Fast Six, he, unfortunately, won’t start that high Sunday as he will drop six spots due to an engine change.
| Position | Driver | Number | Team | Time |
| 1 | Alex Palou | 10 | Chip Ganassi Racing | 1::05:3511 |
| 2 | Pato O’Ward | 5 | Arrow McLaren | +0.0024s |
| 3 | David Malukas | 66 | Meyer Shank Racing | +0.2998s |
| 4 | Colton Herta | 26 | Andretti Global | +0.4142s |
| 5 | Marcus Armstrong | 11 | Chip Ganassi Racing | +0.5891s |
| 6 | Marcus Ericsson | 28 | Andretti Global | +0.6081s |
Round 2
Scott McLaughlin, for a second race in a row, put his car seventh on the grid, being the fastest Team Penske car for the weekend. The team has a lot of work ahead of them on Sunday.
Ed Carpenter Racing’s rookie Christian Rasmussen put up his best qualifying effort, starting ninth. Free-agent-to-be Alexander Rossi put aside the recent news of his split with Arrow McLaren, slotting in 8th. He is the pick by Frontstretch for the win this weekend.
Palou was fastest in the group.
| Position | Driver | Number | Team | Time from Advancing |
| 7 | Scott McLaughlin | 3 | Team Penske | +0.0234s |
| 8 | Alexander Rossi | 7 | Arrow McLaren | +0.0483s |
| 9 | Christian Rasmussen | 20 | Ed Carpenter Racing | +0.967s |
| 10 | Christian Lundgaard | 45 | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | +0.1761s |
| 11 | Linus Lundqvist | 8 | Chip Ganassi Racing | +0.1861s |
| 12 | Romain Grosjean | 77 | Juncos Hollinger Racig | +0.1878s |
Round 1 Group 1
The first qualifying session with the hybrids in IndyCar history started with one team, the No. 51 Dale Coyne Racing and rookie Toby Sowery, unable to get it to work initially.
Graham Rahal, who was second fastest in the morning practice session was unable to advance. On his final lap, rookie Rasmussen leaped into the top six to advance to Round 2 for the first time in his young career, leaving Rahal disappointed at his home race.
The biggest surprise in the group was Kyle Kirkwood, who is fifth in the championship, was only able to muster the eighth-best time in the group.
Palou was quickest out of the six cars to move on to Round 2.
Both Felix Rosenqvist and Pietro Fittipaldi will drop six positions further on the grid for going over the engine limits for the year.
The session ran without incident.
| Positon | Driver | Number | Team | Time from Advancing |
| 13 | Felix Rosenqvist | 60 | Meyer Shank Racing | +0.0218s |
| 15 | Kyle Kirkwood | 27 | Andretti Autosport | +0.0444s |
| 17 | Nolan Siegel | 6 | Arrow McLaren | +0.0976s |
| 19 | Graham Rahal | 15 | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | +0.1805s |
| 21 | Santino Ferrucci | 14 | A. J. Foyt Enterprises | +0.2711s |
| 23 | Pietro Fittipaldi | 30 | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | +0.427s |
| 25 | Toby Sowery | 51 | Dale Coyne Racing w/ RWR | +2.1953s |
Round 1 Group 2
Championship contenders Will Power and Scott Dixon will have to hope their race pace and strategy will keep them within reach of Palou as neither had the speed to get out of the first round.
Josef Newgarden struggled in qualifying for the second race in the row, he will start 18th.
Dale Coyne’s hope of a good start to the weekend ended unceremoniously. His second car with Jack Harvey came in last of the group. Both DCR cars finished slowest in each session.
Like Group 1, there were no incidents.
| Position | Driver | Number | Team | Time from Advancing |
| 14 | Scott Dixon | 9 | Chip Ganassi Racing | +0.0449s |
| 16 | Will Power | 12 | Team Penske | +0.1541s |
| 18 | Josef Newgarden | 2 | Team Penske | +0.1744s |
| 20 | Rinus VeeKay | 21 | Ed Carpenter Racing | +0.2139s |
| 22 | Agustin Canapino | 78 | Juncos Hollinger Racing | +0.2437s |
| 24 | Kyffin Simpson | 4 | Chip Ganassi Racing | +0.2921s |
| 26 | Sting Ray Robb | 41 | A. J. Foyt Enterprises | +0.878s |
| 27 | Jack Harvey | 18 | Dale Coyne Racing | +1.150s |
2024 IndyCar Honda 200 at Mid-Ohio Qualifying Results
The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio will start at 1:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, July 7, with coverage on NBC and Peacock.
About the author
Tom is an IndyCar writer at Frontstretch, joining in March 2023. Besides writing the IndyCar Previews and the occasional Inside Indycar, he will hop on as a fill-in guest on the Open Wheel podcast The Pit Straight. His full-time job is with the Department of Veterans Affairs History Office and is a lieutenant colonel in the Army National Guard. After graduating from Purdue University with a Creative Writing degree, he was commissioned in the Army and served a 15-month deployment as a tank platoon leader with the 3d ACR in Mosul, Iraq. A native Hoosier, he calls Fort Wayne home. Follow Tom on Twitter @TomBlackburn42.
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