IndyCar News: Palou wins pole for Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio

Chip Ganassi Honda driver Alex Palou turned a lap of 1m05.3511s around the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course to win the first-ever NTT Data IndyCar pole using Hybrid engines.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

Palou beat Pato O’Ward’s McLaren Chevy by 0.0024s after O’Ward was quickest most of the day. O’Ward was the only Chevy powered driver in the top-6.

“It’s busy [on track] with the hybrid, but I think it was busy for everybody. Qualifying was super close, even Q1 and the Fast 12 was super tight<” said Palou. “But I knew we had a really fast car. The car, the team and everyone was great today. Kudos to HRC for placing five cars in the Fast Six, they did an amazing job. It was an awesome result for them. Now we’re looking forward to the first hybrid race tomorrow.”

“There’s always more, right?” O’Ward said. “That was a really clean lap, though. I thought we had it, but when I came over the line and I heard (pole) was a 35 and I saw 36 on the dash, I was like, “Urrgh.” The car has been really strong from the start. I told the guys this is the strongest car that we’ve had all year in a race weekend. I’m really excited for tomorrow.”

David Malukas was 3rd quick in his #66 Meyer Shank Honda, 0.3s behind Palou.  “Talk about a turn-around! This year has been an emotional roller coaster and honestly, just looking back at everything that’s happened I feel like I’m back at my maximum potential. We haven’t done much racing, but have done a lot of testing, and a lot of sim work. Also Josh [Pitts] from HRC helped a lot. I knew our car was there, the setup was there, so now we had to put it together. Man, it was a perfect situation for me and I couldn’t be happier.”

Andretti Global’ Honda driver Colton Herta was third, 0.414s behind – a massive margin.

Palou’s Ganassi teammate Marcus Armstrong was 5th, a massive 0.589s behind Palou.

Herta’s Andretti Global teammate Marcus Ericsson was 6th, a massive 0.6081s behind.  We never saw margins this big for ages as the hybrid era appears to have ushered in a far less competitive field.

First NTT P1 Award of the Hybrid Era 💪🔋

❤️ to CONGRATULATE @AlexPalou!#INDYCAR // @CGRTeams pic.twitter.com/IHmPwced6G

— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) July 6, 2024

It was the sixth career pole for two-time and defending series champion Palou, whose two race victories this season have come from the top spot, on May 11 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course and June 23 at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. He also won the non-points exhibition race from the pole in March at The Thermal Club.

“It was huge,” Palou said. “We knew we had a really fast car. We also knew we were at a disadvantage with the 5 (Pato O’Ward) with the tires because he did one lap less in the Fast 12, and we didn’t want to risk it. The car has been awesome.”

Christian Rasmussen was the top rookie qualifier, ninth at 1:05.6911 in the No. 20 Guy Care Chevrolet of Ed Carpenter Racing. That’s a career best, as his previous top spot was 13th in early June on the streets of Detroit.

While the debut of the new hybrid unit on all engines is a major storyline this weekend, the number of heavy hitters starting from mudpack or further back also is drawing headlines. Every team not only worked to understand the change in balance to its cars due to the additional weight from the hybrid unit, but the repaving of the 13-turn, 2.258-mile roller coaster of a road course also created setup challenges due to increased grip.

Series champions Will Power and Scott Dixon, Palou’s closest pursuers in the points, have a long way to go to get to the front Sunday. Six-time Mid-Ohio winner Dixon qualified 14th in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, while 2020 Mid-Ohio winner Power qualified 16th in the No. 12 Verizon Business Team Penske Chevrolet.

2024 Honda Indy 200 Qualifying Results