Alex Palou ends Saturday perfect with pole position at Barber
- Jeffrey Hrunka
- 20 hours ago
- 3 min read
Jeffrey Hrunka - INDYCAR Contributor
Alex Palou sweeps Saturday sessions with his second consecutive NTT INDYCAR SERIES pole position at Barber Motorsports Park on March 28. He cemented a dominant day for Honda, with all five of its teams represented in the Fast Six.
"Very happy, obviously. I was very happy with the car this morning in practice two compared to yesterday," Palou said. "Feel like yesterday we were missing a little bit of balance. Conditions today helped a ton."
Alex Palou, driver of the No.10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, picked up his pace in practice two and qualifying after a lackluster seventh-place effort in Friday’s practice session. The two-time winner of the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix led practice two with a 1:06.468s and backed his pace up with a 1:06.234s in the Fast Six.
He was the sole bright spot for Chip Ganassi Racing in qualifying, as Scott Dixon, driver of the No. 9, failed to advance past the first round for a fourth consecutive race, the first time ever in his career. As for Kyffin Simpson, his lack of pace has been prevalent throughout the weekend. The duo line up 13th (1:06.527s) and 19th (1:06.794s).
"I just love this place. It's one of these tracks that allows you to just push really, really hard," Palou said. "There's really high-speed corners, kind of feels like you're a super hero driving the car. Qualifying laps, it's incredible. Especially if they allow you to use a brand-new set of alternates. The feeling you get..."
After having none of its drivers finish inside the top-10 for the second session of INDYCAR practice, Team Penske was one of two teams to have multiple drivers in the second round of qualifying. Josef Newgardem, driver of the No.2 Chevrolet, qualified ninth while David Malukas, driver of the No.12 Chevrolet, was the only Chevrolet to advance to the Fast Six, lining up second (1:06.348s).
"Obviously, we had the opportunity to go for pole. It was actually my call to make a big setup swing change going into the Fast Six. Overdid it. It was a bit on me," Malukas said. "If Palou is going to do the same thing like last year and pull away [on the race start], hopefully we can pull away with him and create a gap before those guys get the new set of reds [alternate tires]."
Arrow-McLaren was the other organization to have multiple drivers in the top-12, as Christian Lundgaard, driver of the No.7 Chevrolet, and Pato O’Ward, driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet, qualified 10th (1:06.51s) and 12th (1:06.819s).
Juncos Hollinger Racing was the only organization to not advance to the second round of qualifying, as Rinus Veekay, driver of the No.76 Chevrolet, qualified 16th (1:06.741) after having top-10 pace through both practice sessions. Teammate Sting Ray Robb, driver of the No.77 Chevrolet, timed 25th with a 1:07.611s.
"For some reason, this track, and I would say also the [Indianapolis Motor Speedway] road course, they feel so hard to drive, so hard to be consistent," Palou said. "For some reason, everybody is just super, super close, which is good. It's super fun. As soon as you don't have a super good lap, you're out."
The session didn’t go without incident as Will Power, driver of the No.26 Andretti Global Honda, hit the turn five wall after his brakes failed going into the corner. He was checked and released from the care center.
Romain Grosjean, driver of the Dayle Coyne Racing No.18 Honda, was the session’s biggest surprise, chalking up a sixth-place starting spot in his second Fast Six appearance of the season.
NTT INDYCAR SERIES Qualifying Results (Top 12):
Alex Palou #10 -1:06.468s* (LEADER)
David Malukas #12 -0.114s*
Graham Rahal #15 -0.284s*
Marcus Armstrong #66 -0.297s*
Kyle Kirkwood #27 -0.599s*
Romain Grosjean #18 -0.602s*
Santino Ferrucci #14 -0.338s
Marcus Ericsson #28 -0.351s
Josef Newgarden #2 -0.387s
Christian Lundgaard #7 -0.471s
Alexander Rossi #20 -0.648s
Pato O’Ward #5 -0.78s
*Denotes Fast Six
The NTT INDYCAR SERIES returns to the track on Sunday for qualifying at Barber Motorsports Park for the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix on FOX at 1:00 p.m. EST.
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