Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin surged late to take pole for the IndyCar season finale Grand Prix of Monterey at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
The 33-year-old New Zealander set a 1m09.1363s lap in the final moments of qualifying on the 11-turn, 2.238-mile natural terrain road course, which bested newly crowned five-time series champion Alex Palou’s #10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda by 0.0177s. It marks McLaughlin’s third pole of the season.
“Oh, man, since this thing left the hauler, it’s been on rails,” McLaughlin said. “This DEX Chevy has been great. So stoked for Chevy to get their 250th pole, but going to try and transition this into a win. Yeah, really proud of everyone.”
Felix Rosenqvist qualified third in his final race for Meyer Shank Racing, with Alexander Rossi putting together his best road course starting position this season with fourth in the #20 ECR Chevrolet.
Fast Six
ECR’s Alexander Rossi set the initial benchmark of 1m10.658s that stood until Palou went out and nailed a 1m09.154s flyer with one minute left in the round. Rosenqvist was tracking to knock off Palou but lost time at the last second in the Zanardi Corkscrew to grab a 1m09.1931s lap to temporarily slot second.
Moments later, however, McLaughlin throttled to the quickest lap in the round with a 1m09.1363s to dethrone Palou. Rosenqvist attempted to improve on his final lap but remained third.
Rossi went faster in the round with a 1m09.3247s lap, which left him fourth and 0.1184s off McLaughlin’s benchmark time.
Arrow McLaren’s Christian Lundgaard, who has a six-place grid penalty for an unapproved engine change going into the weekend, went out on a used set of softer alternate tires and ended up fifth. Team Penske’s David Malukas was sixth.
Round of 12
Palou paced the round with a lap of 1m09.149s, which bettered McLaughlin by 0.1229s. In third was Malukas, with Lundgaard in fourth, and Rossi in fifth. Rosenqvist climbed into the final transfer spot in sixth, besting the #27 Andretti Global Honda of Kyle Kirkwood by 0.1626s. Marcus Ericsson followed his Andretti Global teammate to slot eighth. Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kyffin Simpson was ninth, with Meyer Shank Racing’s Marcus Armstrong claiming 10th.
Louis Foster, in the #45 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL) Honda, ended up 11th, with AJ Foyt Racing rookie Caio Collet in 12th.
Groups
The difference between Lundgaard and Power in Round 1 👀 pic.twitter.com/VSnHUr12GV
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) September 5, 2026
In the first group, Malukas nailed a 1m09.4090s quick lap and edged out McLaughlin by 0.0046s to take the top spot. Kirkwood was third, followed by Rossi, and Foster. Simpson took the final transfer spot in sixth, besting Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward by 0.0090s.
RLL rookie Mick Schumacher held the top spot in the final two minutes, but a self-admitted mistake in the Zanardi Corkscrew resulted in enough time loss to slide down to eighth. Six-time IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon was unable to advance in his final race for Chip Ganassi Racing, slotting ninth. Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Rinus VeeKay was 10th, ahead of AJ Foyt Racing’s Santino Ferrucci in 11th, and Dale Coyne Racing’s Romain Grosjean in 12th.
The second group was led by Palou, who delivered a remarkable 1m09.139s flying lap. Ericsson was second, followed by Rosenqvist, and Armstrong in fourth. Collet and Lundgaard made last-gasp efforts as both took the final transfer spots in fifth and sixth, respectively.
Andretti Global’s Will Power fell 0.0575s below the transfer spot in seventh. Arrow McLaren’s Nolan Siegel ended up eighth, only 0.0003s behind Power. ECR’s Christian Rasmussen took ninth, ahead of Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden, RLL’s Graham Rahal, and Dale Coyne Racing rookie Dennis Hauger. Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Sting Ray Robb took the final spot in 13th.
