McLaughlin denies Palou for pole in Laguna Seca Qualifying
- Morgan Holiday
- 4 minutes ago
- 4 min read
Despite domination from Álex Palou for most of qualifying, it was Team Penske's Scott McLaughlin who took pole position for the final race of the year at Laguna Seca. Palou settled for second ahead of Meyer Shank Racing's Felix Rosenqvist.
Group 1
The first 12 drivers hit the track on Saturday afternoon in Monterey and last weekend's double race winner Pato O'Ward was the first driver to set a lap time in qualifying. But Santino Ferruci was the early pacesetter, the first driver to get in the 1:09s range as he went fastest over Louis Foster and O'Ward.
Rookie Mick Schumacher, the only rookie in Group 1, was also quick and stayed floating in the top six early on though he was knocked down as the Team Penske pair of David Malukas and Scott McLaughlin jumped up the order.
Ferrucci and Foster stayed at the top as the minutes ticked down, and with less than three minutes to go Kirkwood was the final driver in the top six as Kyffin Simpson, Alex Rossi and Scott Dixon were on the top of the list of drivers set to get eliminated.
Looking to make an appearance in the Fast 12 in the final race weekend of the season, Schumacher set a lap time of 1:09.572 to go fastest overall before he was overtaken by Malukas on the timing sheets. O'Ward went second next, then McLaughlin as Schumacher was quickly bumped from first to seventh, now back in the elimination zone.
As drivers set their final times of the session, Malukas and McLaughlin made it a Team Penske 1-2 as Kirkwood and Rossi improved to third and fourth. Foster and Simpson also secured a spot in the top six and moved on to the next stage.
O'Ward finished the session and the day in seventh place as the top driver knocked out in Round 1. Schumacher, Dixon, Rinus VeeKay, Ferrucci and Romain Grosjean made up the rest of the eliminated drivers, their positions for Sunday's race now set.
Group 2
The rest of the grid took to the track as newly crowned champion Álex Palou looked to score his third consecutive pole position at Laguna Seca. And true to form, Palou was the early pacesetter before Christian Rasmussen usurped him on the timing sheet.
But it was Nolan Siegel who was in first after the first runs were said and done, running ahead of Rasmussen and Palou. Rookie Caio Collet sat in fourth ahead of Josef Newgarden and Christian Lundgaard, with Marcus Ericsson the top driver in the elimination zone.
Right before the final minute of the session, Felix Rosenqvist and Will Power jumped to first and second before Palou set a lap time of 1:09.139, topping Rosenqvist's time by three tenths of a second. Ericsson then went second, closing the gap a little but still unable to beat Palou.
The clock ran out as drivers finished their final laps, Collet and Lundgaard the only drivers able to make a last minute improvement. Ericsson and Rosenqvist followed Palou, with Armstrong in fourth and Collet and Lundgaard rounding out the top six.
Power was the top driver to be eliminated, finishing ahead of Siegel, Rasmussen and Newgarden. Graham Rahal, Dennis Hauger and Sting Ray Robb completed the Group 2 runners.
Fast 12
The top six drivers from both groups came out next for their second and final chance at progressing to the Fast 6. Rosenqvist and Palou came out of the gate on top as drivers set their first lap times of the session before Kirkwood jumped up to first.
Unsurprisingly, Palou came up to first again not long after, McLaughlin slotting into second behind him. Then it was Lundgaard who set a time of 1:09.799 to go fastest overall so far, Armstrong and Collet also jumping up the timing sheet.
But with the first set of laps completed, Malukas was on top of Lundgaard, with Rossi, Armstrong, Collet and McLaughlin completing the top six, Palou down in seventh with four minutes to go.
But Palou was tracking to go well over a second faster than his previous best time as drivers began their final runs, eventually setting a time of 1:09.149 to go six tenths faster than the driver in second place.
McLaughlin then jumped up to second with less than a minute to go, Rossi and Collet on the bubble of elimination with Lundgaard in the danger zone in sixth place.
Rossi jumped up to third to bump Lundgaard down before Malulas went third. With the time run out and drivers completing their final laps, Lundgaard was the only driver looking like he might be able to improve out of the bottom six, going fourth overall.
So Palou took the top spot ahead of McLaughlin and Malukas, Lundgaard, Rossi and Rosenqvist the final drivers to make it through to the fight for pole position.
Kirkwood was the top driver eliminated, his Andretti Global teammate Ericsson right behind him. Simpson, Armstrong, Foster and Collet finished in that order, setting their spots in the bottom half of the top 12 for tomorrow's race.
Fast 6
Five teams were represented in the Fast 6, with Team Penske the only team to have two drivers make it through to the final round of qualifying. Four of the six drivers sit in the top six in the championship standings (Rosenqvist and Rossi the odd men out). Palou locked down the title already, but with other places still at play, the stakes were high in the fight for pole position.
Rossi led the field at the start of the session, McLaughlin and Malukas still in tandem behind him. But in short fashion it was Palou who jumped to the top, his lap time of 1:09.154 enough to send him easily to provisional pole.
Rosenqvist was looking fast on one of his final laps but a mistake at the corkscrew corner meant his lap was only good enough for second place. But there was a driver able to usurp Palou and that was McLaughlin, who went two hundreths of a second faster to take the top spot on his final lap.
Palou had to settle for second place as Rosenqvist completed the top three. Rossi finished fourth, with Lundgaard and Malukas following behind.
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