IndyCar: Palou Takes Pole for Detroit Grand Prix

Alex Palou and the No. 10 Ridgeline Lubricants Honda scorched the streets of downtown Detroit today to claim Pole at the Detroit Grand Prix. The current series points leader set a blistering time of 1:01.8592 during the third and final round of Qualifying.

Palou earned his second pole in the last two weeks, one for the Indy 500 and this one.

Scott McLaughlin drove his Gallagher Insurance Team Penske entry to the second position with a time of 1:02.1592.

Andretti Autosport’s  Romain Grosjean came in third with a time of 1:02.2896.

Scott Dixon stayed out on primary tires to grab fourth position with a time of 1:02.5223

The Indy 500 winner, Josef Newgarden, took the fifth position on the starting grid with a time of 1:02.5223.

Marcus Ericsson, Dixon’s teammate, rounded out the top six with a time of 1:02.6184

Alex Palou

Alex Palou secured his first street course pole today, two weeks are winning the Indy 500 pole.

“Yeah, that was a good qualifying lap. We had a lot of speed since practice one. The track evolve a lot, but it seemed like our car kept on evolving, even during qualifying. I just had lots of confidence to go out there.”

“I thought it was going to be a bit tighter in Fast Six.  So, yeah, pretty happy that we were able to get that first pole position on a street course.”

“Honestly I agree with all the drivers, or most of the drivers. It’s too tight for INDYCARs. It’s too short for INDYCARs. There’s too much traffic.  It’s too bumpy.”

“But, yeah, I think I’m the happiest driver at the moment starting on pole, so I cannot complain too much. It’s going to be really important, but at the same time it’s a hundred
laps. It’s going to be a long day, similar to IMS. So we’ll see.”

Scott McLaughlin

Scott McLaughlin fought hard to put his Team Penske Chevrolet on the front row for tomorrow’s race.

“Yeah, you don’t know what the race will be like. It is what it is. Same for everyone. Hopefully just everyone, cool heads prevail, but you just never know.”

“Yeah, we’ll go in with the same aggression, see how we come out. It’s not the track I’m worried about, it’s just the outside. Everyone on the outside line, it’s going to be interesting.”

“We’ll be all right. With the track, there’s been a lot of noise. I’ve seen in Twitter, from other drivers and stuff. At the end of the day this is a new track, new complex. I think what
everyone has done to get this going, like the vibe is awesome. Belle Isle was getting old. We had to do it.”

“Yeah, first-year problems. It’s always going to happen. It’s just going to get better from here. The racetrack for the drivers is a blast. We don’t even know how it races yet.
Everyone is making conclusions already. They probably just need to relax and wait for tomorrow.  I just had to get that in. Sorry. ”

” I watched it. I watched all of it actually. It was carnage. At the same time what’s exciting
for me is if you got a fast car, you can make moves. You can come through.”

“It’s going to be all that tire life, tire life is going to be key.  One thing that’s good about  this track, it’s a lot of stop-start corners. If you get better runs than others, use the push to pass, I think it’s going to race similar to Nashville.”

“Everyone says we crash a lot in Nashville. I think it’s going to race very well. It’s just going to be up to us with the etiquette of the drivers to leave it up to us and figure it out along the way.”

“I think it’s going to race very similar to Nashville. Looking at it, there’s going to be a lot of passes, I think opportunities. Hopefully I only have to make one.”

Qualifying Results

Pursuant to rule 8.3.7.3, Car 06 has lost their fastest lap to that point.

Lucille Dust reporting  live from Detroit