Malukas claims first career pole at IndyCar Phoenix 250
- Dan Jones
- 17 minutes ago
- 3 min read
After years of near-misses, David Malukas finally claimed his first IndyCar career pole by leading the charts at Phoenix in his first oval race with team Penske. He will share the front row alongside Penske teammate Josef Newgarden amidst a standout Friday for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.
How it happened
Qualifying would only see 24 drivers compete, as after a heavy crash in the morning practice session, Felix Rosenqvist was ruled out of qualifying after the team was unable to complete repairs prior to the start of the session.
Mick Schumacher was the first of the 24 drivers out on track and set the initial benchmark with a 173.667 on his first ever qualifying run on an oval. That time was a comfortable 3mph more than that managed by Santino Ferrucci who followed. Schumacher's time looked all the more impressive after being 1.5 mph clear at the top of the times after Scott Dixon completed his two laps.
Will Power was next on-track in his first oval weekend with Andretti and had beaten the first lap set by Schumacher, but lost the rear end entering Turn 1 on his second lap which saw the Australian driver spin backward and into the barrier. A third crash in two weekends for Power means he will line-up alongside Rosenqvist at the back on Saturday.
After the clean-up for Power's wreck had been complete, Sting Ray Robb slotted into second, but still 1 mph off Schumacher's pace. Nolan Siegel would then follow, reducing Schumacher's advantage at the top as he moved ahead of Robb into a provisional second place. Christian Rasmussen's run was a disappointing one, slotting in only ahead of Ferrucci in the timing sheets - a surprise for one of the strongest short oval drivers in the series.
Schumacher's surprise stint at the top came to an end after teammate Graham Rahal's run, with the American setting a 173.993 to leapfrog his way to the top of the timing charts. On the opposite end of the oval experience spectrum, Caio Collet set a speed of 167.647 mph - some 3mph off teammate Ferrucci at the bottom of the leaderboard.
Alexander Rossi then moved into third behind the RLL pair of Rahal and Schumacher with the American setting a slower speed than he had done in the morning practice with the increased temperatures. Kyffin Simpson's run saw him slot into eighth, only ahead of the two AJ Foyt Racing cars.
Louis Foster was the final RLL car to run and had a major lift at Turn 4 on his opening lap as he approached the barrier. Foster did the same on his second lap meaning he could only move into seventh but most importantly, was able to avoid the barrier.
There was high expedtations with Malukas the next driver on track, and Malukas delivered. The Lithuanian-American sped to the top of the times with a 175.383 average lap speed, notably being pinned on the throttle in Turns 1 and 2 on both laps and leaving Malukas 1.4 mph on the top of the times after 13 cars.
Marcus Armstrong's run saw him move into seventh, marginally ahead of his countryman Dixon. Dennis Hauger followed but was clearly lacking speed as he only moved ahead of fellow rookie Collet in the times. Rinus VeeKay's run was a solid one, as he moved into fifth behind Malukas, Rahal, Schumacher and Rossi. Romain Grosjean's run re-affirmed Dale Coyne Racing's lack of pace as he moved ahead of only his teammate and the Foyt cars.
Josef Newgarden's run continued to show Penske's speed but he was still some 0.8 mph off Malukas' speed but nethertheless easily slotted into second. Marcus Ericsson followed as he moved into 10th with just five cars remaining.
A huge opening lap for Pato O'Ward gave him a chance of challenging the Penske's at the top before a mistake at Turn 2 on his second lap lost the Mexican a huge amount of time as he slotted into sixth behind Alexander Rossi. Kyle Kirkwood's run saw him move into ninth as the highest placed Andretti Global car.
It was an underwhelming run for Christian Lundgaard who could only manage 15th with both McLaughlin and Palou left to run. McLaughlin's run saw him only manage fifth behind both his teammates as well as Schumacher and Rahal.
Palou was last up, the only driver who could challenge Malukas for pole. However, a 172.980 saw Palou only manage 10th, providing Malukas a first career pole.
Malukas will line-up alongside teammate Josef Newgarden on Saturday with a standout day for RLL seeing Rahal and Schumacher fill the second row. Full qualifying results are below
Malukas
Newgarden
Rahal
Schumacher
McLaughlin
Rossi
O'Ward
VeeKay
Siegel
Palou
Kirkwood
Robb
Armstrong
Ericsson
Dixon
Foster
Lundgaard
Rasmussen
Simpson
Grosjean
Ferrucci
Hauger
Collet
Power
Rosenqvist
