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Team Penske driver Will Power during the 2025 Thermal Club IndyCar Grand Prix weekend.
(Photo: Danny Peters)

Team Penske Stumbles & Falls in 1st Qualifying Round at Thermal Club

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After scoring pole position at the NTT IndyCar Series’ season-opening race on the streets of St. Petersburg, none of Team Penske’s three drivers advanced out of the first round of qualifying for Sunday’s (March 23) Thermal Club IndyCar Grand Prix at The Thermal Club.

All three drivers were in the first group in round one and Josef Newgarden led the team by being ninth fastest in the group. His fastest lap of 1:40.6956 puts the No. 2 Chevrolet in 17th place on the 27-car grid.

“We just weren’t quick,” Newgarden said. “All of us didn’t look fantastic in our group. I think if you’re saying ‘Hey, you need three, four tenths,’ I think we could’ve put that together on the red tire. Had traffic on the end of my run. I don’t know who it was, I think it might’ve been [Rinus] VeeKay. It was probably a tenth or two in that final sector and then I dropped a little time personally in turn 9.

“So I think I can see getting a transfer spot out of that, just maybe losing sort of the major speed that we were going to need. So I don’t know. I felt really good going into qualifying. I thought our car was in a good window. Obviously, we’re going to have to find some speed for tomorrow now but we can always make something happen.”

Will Power was 10th-fastest in the group, meaning the No. 12 Chevrolet will start 19th.

“A good out lap,” Power said when asked what more he needed to have a stronger run. “To get some front-tire temperature. Maybe we should have [left pit lane] early to have a clear out lap because my first corner I pushed wide and I saw I was three tenths down so I aborted that. And then, I reckon you’re on the back foot anyway because you’ve put a half-lap on your tires.

“We were good in every single session except the one that counted. That’s been our whole year so far, we’ve just been extremely good; fast in practice and testing, even on [primary tires], we were fourth quickest then. And when it came time to do it, it just wasn’t there.”

Scott McLaughlin in the No. 3 Chevrolet had a chaotic run as he spun early in the 10-minute session. Race control penalized McLaughlin with a drive-through penalty for causing a local yellow that affected another competitor. That resulted in the 2024 Indianapolis 500 polesitter being 13th-fastest in the group, destined to start 25th.

“I made that mistake on the black tire and saved it, but it’s hard to get a read of the track conditions after that,” McLaughlin said. “And then the red tire, I felt like we were going to be pretty good because we were out of sync, we weren’t using this No. 1 pit stall and I come around the corner at Turn 1 and there was just dirt everywhere from whoever was in front of me before and yeah, had no grip whatsoever. So who knows if we would’ve advanced but I think we would’ve been a lot better than where we are right now.”

Christopher DeHarde has covered IndyCar racing and the Road to Indy for various outlets since 2014. In addition to open wheel racing, DeHarde has also covered IMSA and various short track racing events around Indiana. Originally from New Orleans, DeHarde moved to the Indianapolis area in 2017 to further pursue a career as a motorsports writer.