Newgarden and Palou take pole positions for Iowa 275s as McLaughlin crashes - full qualifying report

Written by Dan Jones

Credit: Chris Owens

Josef Newgarden and Álex Palou took the honours in IndyCar qualifying at Iowa Speedway, with Newgarden leading the field to green this afternoon, whilst Palou took his fourth pole of the season - his first on a short oval. Scott McLaughlin will line-up last for both races after crashing on his opening lap.

How it happened

With qualifying being hosted on an oval, as usual, drivers ran two laps in reverse championship order. Their opening lap set their starting position for Race 1, whilst the second lap decided their starting position for Race 2.

Jacob Abel was the first to complete his two laps, averaging 175.255 mph on his opening lap and 177.145 mph on the American's second lap, which was a significant improvement on what the rookie completed in practice.

Callum Ilott quickly trumped Abel's time though with 181.257 and 182.214 mph average lap speeds. Devlin DeFrancesco followed, slotting in a provisional second behind Ilott for both races. Ilott's teammate, Robert Shwartzman, was next and would top Ilott's benchmark on both laps to lead the times after the opening four runs.

Sting Ray Robb would be next and struggled on both of his laps and could only beat the times set by Abel for both races. Louis Foster was the final rookie to set his two laps and moved e to the top of the times for Race 1, whilst slotting in behind both PREMA's in a provisional third for Race 2.

Graham Rahal was the final Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing car to run and slotted in behind Foster for the opening race but would set the quickest time to that point for Sunday's event. After the first quartar of the field had run, Foster topped the Race 1 times with a 182.381 whilst Rahal topped the Race 2 times with a 182.489.

Marcus Ericsson was next for Andretti Global and was behind both RLL cars on his opening lap, whilst being behind both PREMA's and Rahal on his second lap, slotting in fourth. Josef Newgarden's lowly positions in the standards meant he did his run much earlier than usual, and to the surprise of absolutely nobody, Newgarden topped the times for both races with a 183.999 for Race 1 and a 183.316 for Race 2.

Conor Daly would prove the promise that many expected the American to have this weekend, as he slotted in provisionally behind Newgarden on both of his laps. Nolan Siegel followed, qualifying third for Race 1 and second for Race 2. Ed Carpenter Racing ran well in practice, but Christian Rasmussen could not convert on that initial promise as he Dane qualified in ninth for both races, with 15 cars still left to run.

Kyffin Simpson was next on track and did not have the pace that he would have hoped, qualifying 11th and 10th respectively. Alexander Rossi's run followed and moved into fifth for Race 1 and eighth for Race 2 - a disappointment for the team considering the form that they showed in practice. Both of Rossi's laps were slower than what the American ran in practice earlier in the day.

Dale Coyne Racing have struggled throughout the weekend, and Rinus VeeKay's run was evident of that. The Dutchman qualified 14th, hitting the wall on the exit of Turn 4 on his opening lap, before having a major moment in Turn 3 on his second lap forcing him to bail out of his lap, seeing him last of the 15 runners to that point. David Malukas was next for the Penske-affiliated A.J. Foyt Racing, going fourth for Race 1, and making a significant jump for Race 2 to take the provisional pole away from Newgarden.

Scott McLaughlin was one of the pre-race favourites but it was disaster for the Kiwi! McLaughlin suffered a snap of oversteer in Turn 1 and was unable to save the slide, careering into the outside barrier. McLaughlin was unable to complete either of his laps, and will line-up last on both Saturday and Sunday. With hefty damage to the No.3, it remains to be seen if Team Penske can re-build the car in time for the green flag.

Once the track had cleared, Santino Ferrucci was next to run, and slotted in a provisional fourth for Race 1. It was a disastrous second lap for Ferrucci though, as he would line up 13th at best following his run.

Will Power was the final Penske to run, and went third for Race 1 and fourth for Race 2, with Newgarden and Malukas still setting the respective benchmarks. 2024 polesitter, Colton Herta followed Power, and had a major lift on Turn 2 on his opening lap, which meant he was 16th in the order. Lap 2 wouldn't be significantly better either, with Herta just 14th.

Marcus Armstrong was next on-track, finishing his laps in seventh and eighth provisionally, the top Honda-powered car to that point for both races. Felix Rosenqvist was out after Armstrong and would impress on both laps, with the Swede going third for Race 1 before moving to the top of the leaderboard, to provisionally line-up on pole for Race 2 by 0.6 mph.

Christian Lundgaard's opening lap was signified by a major lift on Turn 1 in his opening lap which meant that he could only manage 17th. Lap 2 was even worse for the Dane as he went 18th in the times.

Scott Dixon went fourth on his opening lap before going seventh on his second lap, with Dixon clearly struggling with the handling of his No.9 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. Pato O'Ward is the only non-Penske Iowa winner in the field, but could not make a significant impression on his qualifying run going fourth and eighth respectively. Kyle Kirkwood had no practice time after crashing in high-line practice and that showed in his qualifying pace, with the American in 17th for the opening race and 20th for the second.

Álex Palou was the final driver on track due to his championship position and went fourth for Race 1 before topping the time sheets for Race 2 to claim his fourth pole position of the season, and his first on a short oval.

Newgarden would claim the honours for the race later in the day though, with Daly doing an outstanding job for Juncos Hollinger Racing to line-up second. It would be an all-Chevrolet front row for Race 1, and an all-Honda one for Race 2 as Palou and Rosenqvist would lead the field to green on Sunday.

Race 1 starting line-up:

1. Newgarden

2. Daly

3. Rosenqvist

4. Palou

5. O'Ward

6. Dixon

7. Power

8. Siegel

9. Ferrucci

10. Malukas

11. Armstrong

12. Foster

13. Rossi

14. Rahal

15. Ericsson

16. Shwartzman

17. Ilott

18. Kirkwood

19. Rasmussen

20. DeFrancesco

21. Lundgaard

22. Simpson

23. Herta

24. Robb

25. VeeKay

26. Abel

27. McLaughlin

Race 2 starting line-up:

1. Palou

2. Rosenqvist

3. Malukas

4. Newgarden

5. Siegel

6. Power

7. Daly

8. Dixon

9. O'Ward

10. Rahal

11. Shwartzman

12. Armstrong

13. Ilott

14. Ericsson

15. Rossi

16. Foster

17. Rasmussen

18. Simpson

19. Herta

20. Ferrucci

21. Kirkwood

22. Lundgaard

23. DeFrancesco

24. Robb

25. Abel

26. VeeKay

27. McLaughlin