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IndyCar Mid-Ohio: Palou takes pole by 0.002s for first-ever hybrid race

IndyCar Mid Alex Palou Arrow McLaren Christian Rasmussen Ganassi (Person) Pato OWard As (Person) Chip Ganassi Racing Christian Lundgaard

Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou pipped Arrow McLaren rival Pato O’Ward to pole for the first race of IndyCar's hybrid era at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

The reigning series champion pounded the freshly repaved 2.258-mile road course in 1m05.3511s to edge out O'Ward by 0.0024s.

“It was huge,” Palou said. “I knew we had a really fast car.

“We knew we were racing with a disadvantage to the #5 from the tyres because of the [extra] lap in the Fast 12, but we didn’t want to risk it. It was nice two weeks ago [winning the pole at Laguna Seca] and we wanted to repeat.”

The only Chevrolet driver to make the Fast Six, O’Wardwill line up second ahead of David Malukas on just his second outing with Meyer Shank Racing, having missed the start of the season through injury.

Malukas, who was due to race for Arrow McLaren in 2024 but lost his drive without ever racing for the team, was 0.2998s behind the mark set by Palou as he continues to adapt to a car driven by Tom Blomqvist in the early portion of the season.

David Malukas, Meyer Shank Racing Honda (Photo by: Josh Tons / Motorsport Images)

Andretti Global’s Colton Herta finished up fourth, with Ganassi's Marcus Armstrong fifth and Marcus Ericsson sixth for Andretti Global.

IndyCar Mid-Ohio Fast Six times


Cla	Driver	#	Laps	Time	Interval	Mph
1	A. Palou Chip Ganassi Racing	10	5	1'05.3511		124.387
2	P. O'Ward Arrow McLaren	5	5	+0.0024 1'05.3535	0.0024	124.382
3	D. Malukas Meyer Shank Racing	66	5	+0.2998 1'05.6509	0.2974	123.819
4	C. Herta Andretti Global with Curb-Agajanian	26	4	+0.4142 1'05.7653	0.1144	123.603
5	M. Armstrong Chip Ganassi Racing	11	3	+0.5891 1'05.9402	0.1749	123.275
6	M. Ericsson Andretti Global	28	3	+0.6081 1'05.9592	0.0190	123.240
View full results

Although O’Ward led the opening half of the Fast 12 segment, Palou set the quickest time at 1m05.2848s.

O’Ward secured second at 0.0760s behind, with Herta and Malukas in third and fourth.

Fifth went to Armstrong, with Ericsson snatching the final transfer spot in sixth.

Scott McLaughlin fell 0.0234s short in the fastest Team Penske entry and will start seventh, ahead of Arrow McLaren’s Alexander Rossi and Ed Carpenter Racing’s impressive rookie Christian Rasmussen in ninth.

Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske Chevrolet (Photo by: Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Images)

Days after he was announced as Rossi's replacement at Arrow McLaren for 2025, Christian Lundgaard put his Honda-powered Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing machine 10th, ahead of Ganassi rookie Linus Lundqvist in 11th.

Romain Grosjean secured the final spot and his Juncos Hollinger Racing entry will start 12th.

IndyCar Mid-Ohio Top-12 times


Cla	Driver	#	Laps	Time	Interval	Mph
1	A. Palou Chip Ganassi Racing	10	8	1'05.2848		124.513
2	P. O'Ward Arrow McLaren	5	6	+0.0760 1'05.3608	0.0760	124.368
3	C. Herta Andretti Global with Curb-Agajanian	26	7	+0.2193 1'05.5041	0.1433	124.096
4	D. Malukas Meyer Shank Racing	66	7	+0.2225 1'05.5073	0.0032	124.090
5	M. Armstrong Chip Ganassi Racing	11	8	+0.2677 1'05.5525	0.0452	124.004
6	M. Ericsson Andretti Global	28	8	+0.3096 1'05.5944	0.0419	123.925
7	S. McLaughlin Team Penske	3	8	+0.3330 1'05.6178	0.0234	123.881
8	A. Rossi Arrow McLaren	7	7	+0.3579 1'05.6427	0.0249	123.834
9	C. Rasmussen Ed Carpenter Racing	20	8	+0.4063 1'05.6911	0.0484	123.743
10	C. Lundgaard Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	45	9	+0.4857 1'05.7705	0.0794	123.593
11	L. Lundqvist Chip Ganassi Racing	8	8	+0.4957 1'05.7805	0.0100	123.575
12	R. Grosjean Juncos Hollinger Racing	77	5	+0.4974 1'05.7822	0.0017	123.571
View full results

In Group 1, Palou nailed a 1m05.4915s lap in the final minute to secure the top spot, edging out Malukas by 0.0417s.

Rossi secured third ahead of McLaughlin, who led before the group swapped from the harder primary compound to the alternates. Rasmussen made a late push into fifth, ahead of Ericsson in sixth.

Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist was the first driver on the outside of the transfer spot in seventh, with Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood eighth and missing the cut by 0.0226s from sixth.

Toby Sowery, Dale Coyne Racing Honda (Photo by: Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Images)

Graham Rahal dropped wheels briefly off course and missed the chance to transfer, finishing tenth behind Arrow McLaren's Nolan Siegel.

IndyCar debutant Toby Sowery only managed to log one lap after his Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing entry underwent some minor work from his crew in the early part of the session, which meant the Briton brought up the rear.

IndyCar Mid-Ohio Group 1 times


Cla	Driver	#	Laps	Time	Interval	Mph
1	A. Palou Chip Ganassi Racing	10	8	1'05.4915		124.120
2	D. Malukas Meyer Shank Racing	66	7	+0.0417 1'05.5332	0.0417	124.041
3	A. Rossi Arrow McLaren	7	8	+0.0631 1'05.5546	0.0214	124.000
4	S. McLaughlin Team Penske	3	8	+0.1362 1'05.6277	0.0731	123.862
5	C. Rasmussen Ed Carpenter Racing	20	8	+0.1459 1'05.6374	0.0097	123.844
6	M. Ericsson Andretti Global	28	8	+0.1788 1'05.6703	0.0329	123.782
7	F. Rosenqvist Meyer Shank Racing	60	7	+0.2006 1'05.6921	0.0218	123.741
8	K. Kirkwood Andretti Global	27	8	+0.2232 1'05.7147	0.0226	123.698
9	N. Siegel Arrow McLaren	6	8	+0.2764 1'05.7679	0.0532	123.598
10	G. Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	15	8	+0.3593 1'05.8508	0.0829	123.443
11	S. Ferrucci A.J. Foyt Enterprises	14	8	+0.4499 1'05.9414	0.0906	123.273
12	P. Fittipaldi Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	30	7	+0.6058 1'06.0973	0.1559	122.982
13	T. Sowery Dale Coyne Racing	51	1	+2.7584 1'08.2499	2.1526	119.103
View full results

In Group 2, Armstrong led the way and gave CGR a sweep of the groups after nailing a quick lap of 1m05.5044s.

Herta came across the finish line second, 0.1504s behind the Kiwi, with Lundgaard collecting third.

O’Ward delivered a strong last-gasp effort to vault from below the cut line to fourth, just ahead of Lundvist and Grosjean.

Big names who were knocked out included six-time Mid-Ohio winner Scott Dixon, who slotted seventh at just 0.0449s from transferring in his Ganassi machine.

“I should have gone harder on my first push lap,” Dixon said. “I tried and pushed a little too hard on the second.

“We were under by about two-tenths, which would have got us through. Went a little too deep into (Turn) 4 and lost out by one or two tenths.”

Team Penske’s Will Power also ended up missing the cut and finished eighth. Rinus VeeKay put his Ed Carpenter Racing machine ninth, ahead of Grosjean’s team-mate Agustin Canapino 10th.

Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden’s disappointing run to 12th means he will start 18th on the grid.

IndyCar Mid-Ohio Group 2 times


Cla	Driver	#	Laps	Time	Interval	Mph
1	M. Armstrong Chip Ganassi Racing	11	8	1'05.5044		124.095
2	C. Herta Andretti Global with Curb-Agajanian	26	8	+0.1501 1'05.6545	0.1501	123.812
3	C. Lundgaard Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	45	8	+0.2440 1'05.7484	0.0939	123.635
4	P. O'Ward Arrow McLaren	5	8	+0.2818 1'05.7862	0.0378	123.564
5	L. Lundqvist Chip Ganassi Racing	8	8	+0.2959 1'05.8003	0.0141	123.537
6	R. Grosjean Juncos Hollinger Racing	77	8	+0.3069 1'05.8113	0.0110	123.517
7	S. Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing	9	8	+0.3518 1'05.8562	0.0449	123.433
8	W. Power Team Penske	12	8	+0.4610 1'05.9654	0.1092	123.228
9	J. Newgarden Team Penske	2	8	+0.4813 1'05.9857	0.0203	123.190
10	R. van Kalmthout Ed Carpenter Racing	21	8	+0.5208 1'06.0252	0.0395	123.117
11	A. Canapino Juncos Hollinger Racing	78	8	+0.5506 1'06.0550	0.0298	123.061
12	K. Simpson Chip Ganassi Racing	4	8	+0.5990 1'06.1034	0.0484	122.971
13	R. Robb A.J. Foyt Enterprises	41	8	+1.1850 1'06.6894	0.5860	121.890
14	J. Harvey Dale Coyne Racing	18	8	+1.4570 1'06.9614	0.2720	121.395
View full results