Pole in Long Beach was set to be determined differently this year, with a single-car qualifying for the Fast 6. They only had one lap to determine who would be starting first. After the intense qualifying, for the second time in his career, Felix Rosenqvist will lead the field in Long Beach.
Clean Group Sessions
As the group 1 cars hit the track on a sunny California afternoon, drivers were quick to set their time, with the majority on the hard tire. Early on in the session, drivers traded places for the fastest time, including an Arrow McLaren 1-2. Things really kicked off after drivers pitted for the softs. With 1:20 to go, David Malukas set a time of 1:07.693, which at the time was good enough for the top of the timesheets; he would finish the group in third. Rosenqvist managed to put down a huge lap of 1:07.469.
Group 2 saw a few different tires to start off their session. Álex Palou set the benchmark. He was quickly beaten by Alexander Rossi, Christian Rasmussen, and Kyffin Simpson, who were on the faster soft tires. In the final minutes, with everyone now on the sticker reds’ lap times fell quickly. Palou looked like he was going to finish atop, but in the dying seconds, teammate Scott Dixon went quicker with a 1:06.523, making it a Chip Ganassi Racing 1-2. They were followed by Will Power and Kyle Kirkwood.
Fast 12
The Fast 12 has bigger stakes this weekend with the new rule IndyCar introduced: “The fastest qualifier from Segment 2 will be the first to choose which position they would like to make their Fast Six qualifying run,” and you could tell from the speed in the closing minutes of the session.
Early in the Fast 12, Rosenqvist continued to be quick and set a time of 1:07.752. It would stay until the final two minutes when Palou came in with a time of 1:07.254. The time seemed as if it would be the fastest of the session, but with 19 seconds to go, Malukas beat that time with a 1:07.244. Power was sitting in the final spot of the Firestone Fast Six and was set to move on. However, a huge final sector from Dixon on the last lap, which essentially came out of nowhere, knocked him out.
One Shot and One Opportunity for Pole
Pole at Long Beach was decided with a single-car lap. With Malukas finishing atop the Fast 12, Malukas and team had first pick and picked to go out first. Palou, Rosenqvist, and Kirkwood slotted in second, third, and fourth, respectively. O’Ward chose to go last, leaving Dixon to set his lap time fifth.
Malukas set the benchmark with a 1:07.650 while struggling to get the tires up to temperature. Palou was up next, had sights on the pole, but a lock-up in the final corner hindered his chance, but still moved ahead of Malukas with a 1:07.528
Rosenqvist was slower than Palou for the majority of the lap, but managed to stay clean and put down a 1:07.463 to steal provisional pole from Palou. Kirkwood and Dixon followed, with them unable to beat the Swede’s time; they would start fourth and sixth. Last to go was O’Ward, who was neck and neck with Rosenqvist’s time but fell just short, slotting into second with a 1:07.507. This is Rosenqvist’s second pole on the streets of Long Beach.