Arrow McLaren’s Christian Lundgaard knocked teammate Pato O'Ward off the top of the leaderboard at the last moment to capture pole for Sunday’s IndyCar round at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
After a delay of two hours, 33 minutes due to repeated lightning delays, impending free agent Lundgaard saved his best for last and delivered a flying lap of 1m04.839s, dethroning O’Ward by 0.0253s on the 2.258-mile, 13-turn natural-terrain road course. It’s the first pole of the season for Lundgaard, and fourth of his career.
When asked by FOX Sports what message Lundgaard is sending about his abilities entering free agency, he provided a short response:
“I think everybody knows, Lundgaard said. “I think everybody knows the abilities, so I don't need to say more than that.”
Fast Six
Christian Rasmussen put down the initial quick lap of 1m05.619 in the #21 ECR Chevrolet, but over the final 30s of the round rivals began to knock out their respective quick times.
Right as the checkered flag waved on the session, O’Ward knocked off Rasmussen with a 1m04.864s. However, O’Ward’s teammate Lundgaard was still on track and was the last driver to cross the line and went even quicker with his 1m04.839s flyer able to vault to the top.
Andretti Global’s Will Power was 0.0382s off the top mark to end up third, with Team Penske’s David Malukas in fourth at 0.0687s.
Rasmussen fell to fifth, ahead of VeeKay in sixth.
Round of 12
Alex Palou's chase for a sixth-straight pole ends at Mid-Ohio. pic.twitter.com/BKFn4AMXgD
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) July 4, 2026
The biggest surprise of the session came in the Round of 12 as Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou, winner of the last five consecutive poles, ended up eighth and was knocked out from advancing.
“I did a big mistake in Turn 1 on my first push lap and then couldn't really put my best lap together,” Palou said. “So yeah, it's a shame. We had a really fast car but I was just trying very hard. I knew it was going to be very very tight, but I overdid it.”
Malukas was the fastest in the round with a 1m04.709s flyer, which edged out Rasmussen by 0.1266s for the top spot.
Lundgaard was third, ahead of Power in fourth, O’Ward in fifth, and VeeKay in sixth.
Andretti Global’s Marcus Ericsson was the first driver to be bumped out, missing the transfer spot to fight for pole by 0.0109s to end up seventh, directly ahead of Palou.
Josef Newgarden (Team Penske) was ninth, while Kyle Kirkwood (Andretti Global) was 10th.
AJ Foyt Racing rookie Caio Collet ended up 11th, with Graham Rahal’s #15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL) Honda in 12th.
Groups
In the first group, Kirkwood delivered the monster flying lap of 1m04.893s to go to the top of the board.
Rasmussen was a distant second at 0.2419s behind, followed by O’Ward in third. Malukas was fourth-fastest, with VeeKay moving on in fifth. The final transfer spot went to Rahal.
Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist was the first driver to miss out on transferring through, missing the cut by a narrow 0.0130s. The Swede was followed by Nolan Siegel (Arrow McLaren), Scott McLaughlin (Team Penske), and Louis Foster (RLL) ending up 10th.
Six-time IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon ended up 11th out of the group, which was impacting after Race Control handed out a penalty for qualifying interference for impeding Dale Coyne Racing’s Romain Grosjean. Dixon lost his fastest two laps as a result. Grosjean ended up 12th - last - among the first group.
Palou led the second group, hitting a quick lap of 1m04.865s with roughly 45s remaining. Lundgaard followed up in second, just 0.0496s. Ericsson slotted third, with Newgarden fourth, and Power fifth. Collet secured the final transfer spot in sixth.
Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Sting Ray Robb missed out by 0.080s to slot seventh, but will incur a six-spot grid penalty for an engine change. RLL Rookie Mick Schumacher was eighth, followed by ECR’s Alexander Rossi, and CGR’s Kyffin Simpson.
Santino Ferrucci (AJ Foyt Racing) was 11th, ahead of Marcus Armstrong (Meyer Shank Racing), and rookie Dennis Hauger (Dale Coyne Racing).
