Pato O’Ward Takes Pole for IndyCar’s Inaugural Thermal Grand Prix

Pato O’Ward overcame the challenging tire degradation conditions to take the pole and make it an Arrow McLaren Racing front row for the inaugural Thermal Club IndyCar Grand Prix. 

His 1:39.95-second pole winning lap earned him his first pole since 2022 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, and his new teammate for 2025 Christian Lundgaard will start alongside him for Sunday’s (March 23) race.

“I knew if we got the car to my liking, we could get it done,” O’Ward said. “Yea, I got to thank the guys, we’ve been working hard coming back here, we haven’t had the best of weekends in the past, but we turned it around.”

“We dialed it in after Q1, I was somewhat happy with it, but not perfect. We made just a little bit of an adjustment and as soon as we went out in Q2, I said I got this.”

Season-opening winner Alex Palou and Colton Herta will roll off from the second row.

While McLaren was happy with its day, Team Penske experienced the opposite. None of its drivers made it out of the first round, and all will start 17th or worse.

Firestone Fast 6

Handling the worn alternate tires was critical during the Firestone Fast 6. While O’Ward set the fastest lap, it seemed the previous pace setters — Lundgaard and Palou — would be able to challenge him on their last-lap runs, but neither had it in their Firestones.

Alexander Rossi, in just his second start with new team Ed Carpenter Racing, made the final qualifying round, placing sixth. It continues a good start for him in 2025, as he finished 10th at St. Petersburg three weeks ago

Position	Driver	Number	Team
1	Pato O’Ward	5	Arrow McLaren Racing
2	Christian Lundgaard	7	Arrow McLaren Racing
3	Alex Palou	10	Chip Ganassi Racing
4	Colton Herta	26	Andretti Global
5	Marcus Ericsson	28	Andretti Global
6	Alexander Rossi	20	Ed Carpenter Racing

Round 2

Teams balanced pushing on a second set of Firestone alternate tires and conserving something for the final round. Rookie Louis Foster didn’t advance, but will start 10th, the highest starting position for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.

Palou had an incident with O’Ward reviewed by race control, but it was deemed not penalty worthy.

Position	Driver	Number	Team
7	Marcus Armstrong	66	Meyer Shank Racing
8	Kyle Kirkwood	27	Andretti Global
9	Felix Rosenqvist	60	Meyer Shank Racing
10	Louis Foster	45	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
11	Scott Dixon	9	Chip Ganassi Racing
12	David Malukas	4	AJ Foyt Enterprises

Round 1

Group 1

All three Team Penske cars failed to advance. Scott McLaughlin spun right before he started his banker lap, and received a drive-through penalty after holding up Rosenqvist. Josef Newgarden couldn’t muster enough on his one alternate tire lap, going a little Baja into the dirty stuff and will start 17th. Will Power didn’t find any better success (21st), wrapping up one of the worst qualifying performances for the Captain’s team since the 2021 Indianapolis 500.

A review was made of an incident between Kyle Kirkwood and Rinus VeeKay, but no action was taken.

Position	Driver	Number	Team
13	Rinus VeeKay	18	Dale Coyne Racing
15	Conor Daly	76	Juncos Hollinger Racing
17	Josef Newgarden	2	Team Penske
19	Christian Rasmussen	21	Ed Carpenter Racing
21	Will Power	12	Team Penske
23	Jacob Abel	51	Dale Coyne Racing
25	Scott McLaughlin	3	Team Penske

Group 2

Unlike the first session, group two ended up less chaotic. After watching how the strategy played out for group one, some drivers tried two preparation laps to get heat into the alternates. This risked wearing them down further for the one circuit they’d push it. This worked exceptionally well for Lundgaard, who was the fastest in the session.

A rough weekend for rookie Robert Shwartzman continued. After a fire in the first practice on Friday (March 21), he missed Practice 2 and qualified last.

Position	Driver	Number	Team
14	Santino Ferrucci	14	AJ Foyt Enterprises
16	Nolan Siegel	6	Arrow McLaren
18	Graham Rahal	15	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
20	Kyffin Simpson	8	Chip Ganassi Racing
22	Callum Ilott	90	Prema Racing
24	Sting Ray Robb	77	Juncos Hollinger Racing
26	Devlin DeFrancesco	30	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
27	Robert Shwartzman	83	Prema Racing

2025 IndyCar Thermal Club IndyCar Grand Prix Qualifying Results

The Thermal Club IndyCar Grand Prix will start at 3 p.m. ET on Sunday, March 23, with coverage provided by FOX.