IndyCar: McLaughlin wins the pole for the IndyCar Bommarito 500

With temperatures in the low 90s this afternoon, Scott McLaughlin, driver of the No 3 Dex Imaging Team Penske entry, put down the fastest lap with a time of 25.0024 seconds to win the pole for the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 presented by Axalta and Valvoline at WTTR.

Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist qualified second with a time of 24.9961 seconds, 0.0489s behind McLaughlin.  Due to a grid penalty for an engine change, he will start nine positions back.

Meyer Shank Racing’s David Malukas, fastest in Practice 1, qualified third with a time of 25.0587, 0.1306s behind McLaughlin.  He will start on the front row due to his teammate’s grid penalty.

Team Penske teammates Josef Newgarden and Will Power will start fourth and fifth tomorrow, with times of 25.0708s and 25.0716s, respectively.

Andretti Global’s Colton Herta had the fastest first lap time in his qualifying attempt but lost the back end and hit the wall lightly in Turn 2 on his second lap. He will start the race 25th.  His average time was 25.0127 seconds.

Dale Coyne Racing’s two entries will start 26th and 27th—the No 51 e.l.f. Cosmetics car of Katherine Legge did not pass technical inspection and did not qualify.   Jack Harvey, the No. 18 Invst entry, had an issue with his hybrid after completing just one qualifying lap.

Scott McLaughlin

Scott McLaughlin has claimed his second pole at World Wide Technology Raceway.  Last year, he had the fastest time, but had to start back nine grid positions due to a penalty.

“We had a focus this morning, well, early noon, just to focus on the qualifying car because we knew we only had a short run before qualifying, and we knew how important it is to be at the front here. It went to plan. The car has been great from the jump. We’re in a really good spot, obviously, for tomorrow.”

“As we know, this is INDYCAR. Anything can happen. But we’ll try to stay on our toes and focus on this last practice session tonight just to get our race balance right, and hopefully we can come with a pretty fast printer wagon for tomorrow.”

“But I still think it’s going to be somewhat of a track position race, but I think if we can do this high line practice and then with the extra downforce, who knows what will happen, and I’m sure the restarts are going to be pretty hectic, as well, so that’s always good fun.”

Felix Rosenqvist

Felix Rosenqvist has had quite an impressive qualifying this season,  earning one pole, and has nine other second and third-place starts this season.  Tomorrow evening, the Swede will start 11th.

“You have to push the limits a little bit in qualifying because the two ends are so different on the car, and you can’t have a perfect car on both ends. I’d say it seemed like a lot of guys were pushing the limit of trimming, like downforce, and going more loose, and I think Herta obviously reached the limit of that. But that’s what you have to do if you want to fight for pole. You’re kind of happy when the two laps are over, to be honest.”

“We’ve been talking about the race now that I will start further back.  I think staying out of the pits would be very good. Don’t come into the pits. It’s costing a lot, especially now
with the stage pit limiter. I think there’s another three seconds or so loss from going into the pits, on a track that was already very penalizing for that.”

“If you can do the three-stopper, I think a lot of people are going to start looking at that early, and especially if you want to go forward from a position where you feel like you deserve to be further forward, you’ve got to start making some different plans early in the race because if you want to save fuel, you’ve got to commit early.”

Qualifying Results

Lucille Dust reporting live from WWTR