Palou "very happy" with Portland front row despite "couple mistakes" in qualifying

Credit: Paul Hurley

Álex Palou secured his eighth front row start of 2026 by qualifying second at Portland International Raceway, as he'll line-up alongside Felix Rosenqvist at the front for Sunday's Grand Prix of Portland.

Palou had led the way in the opening practice session of the weekend and was the favourite for pole position heading into Saturday but fell short of a seventh pole of 2026 as Rosenqvist earned his second P1 award of the year.

"It was tight. It was tight, man. We knew," said Palou of his qualifying session. "But it's always like that. Q1, Q2 lap times, Q2 suddenly everybody was two-tenths slower. Suddenly we all picked up those two-tenths.

"It felt great when I was driving. Man, this could be the one. I did couple mistakes there. So yeah, not super happy that Felix got it, but very happy that we got the front row. Yeah, looking forward to tomorrow, starting on the front row here is huge"

As is always the case at Portland, small margins made a huge impact, when considered that lap times are under 60 seconds. Palou's group segment saw all 12 cars separated by 0.35 seconds, before he was the right side of those razor thin margins, advancing to the Fast Six by just 0.07 seconds. His gap from pole was even smaller, with just 0.018 seconds separating Palou from another pole and a further all-important championship point.

"It's going to be a tight race as well," Palou added. "Everybody I feel it's like so close. A a tenth-and-half to two-tenths could have been P12 to P1. It's going to be an interesting race pace, one of those races."

Portland's opening lap has known to be perilous, given the numerous accidents that have taken place over the years into the opening chicane. That is a challenge that Palou and Rosenqvist will have to navigate at the start, something Palou failed to do on his last Portland front row start in 2021 - albeit he still recovered to victory that day. The Turn 1 barrier has also seen several incidents throughout Friday's practice and into qualifying, including Palou's teammate, Scott Dixon.

"I think it's always tough here on that first turn, said Palou on the opening lap. "Then that curb, yeah, I feel like it's a bit different to what we've normally had on the apex in Turn 1. It sticks out a little bit more. I think that's why it's been getting a lot more attention from some drivers.

"Hopefully we don't need to revisit that."

Credit: Paul Hurley

Sunday's race is expected to be predominantly ran on the primary tyre, a compound that Palou has excelled using on road courses in the last few seasons. However, teams will also have to factor in when they use the unfavoured alternate tyre, something that will come more into focus during warm-up prior to the race.

"I think a lot of people struggled on reds [tyres] in Practice 1. Reds were much faster today in qualifying than the primaries. I don't know if they're going to make it, if they're going to be better than the primaries or not. We're going to see that in warm-up, although the conditions are going to be better than the race.

"Yeah, it's going to be interesting. I don't think it's going to be easy to manage those soft tires, but they could be faster. It could be over a stint a better tyre. I think everybody's just asking the same questions."

The close nature in lap time between all 25 drivers combined with the varying strategy options is expected to lead to an unpredictable race on Sunday and continue a recent trend of some drivers claiming surprising finishes in the Pacific Northwest. With fuel saving and tyre saving expected to be minimal and track position still vital, Palou believes that Sunday's race could be a must-watch.

"First of all what happens is that the race pace is really fast because you cannot really try and save tyres or fuel because someone else is at the same pace as you and is going to overtake you. Then that creates a lot of strategy shake-up, like lap 20, 30. Everybody just starts going at different paces and it makes for a really entertaining race."

"Hopefully we can be up front and have more of a normal race strategy. But yeah, it's going to be fun."

Palou will look to add to his 2021 and 2023 successes at Portland and further extend his 84-point championship lead as he heads toward a fifth IndyCar championship and a fourth consecutive title. A sixth victory of 2026 may prove the moment it is all but mathematically decided with a crucial race ahead for the likes of Kyle Kirkwood and David Malukas to keep Palou in reach.