IndyCar: O’Ward wins Pole for Thermal Club IndyCar Grand Prix

Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward turned a lap of 1m 39.9567s in the Firestone Fast Six Qualifying to win the pole for tomorrow’s Thermal Club IndyCar Grand Prix NTT INDYCAR Series race.  This was the sixth pole of his career.

O’Ward’s teammate, Christian Lundgaard, will start alongside on row one after a lap of 1m 40.1245s to lock up the front row for Arrow McLaren. Lundgaard was fastest in Practice 2,  but 0.1678s behind O’Ward when it counted.

Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou will start third on the grid after turning a lap of 1m 40.3092s, 0.3525s behind O’Ward.

Andretti Global’s Colton Herta will start fourth after turning a lap of 1m40.3978s, 0.441s behind O’Ward.

Herta’s teammate Marcus Ericsson will start fifth after turning a lap of 1m40.7435.

Ed Carpenter Racing’s Alexander Rossi turned only one lap with a time of 1m 41.0359s to start sixth tomorrow, 1.0792s behind O’Ward.

Pato O’Ward 

“I am super pumped. Really happy with how we turned things around. I would say we didn’t start the day amazing. Q1 was kind of getting there. We just made a bit of an adjustment, and it just brought the car alive in Q2. It felt good.,” said O’Ward.

“You used to have your car a lot on the edge without the hybrid, but with all this weight in  the rear, they just plow like pigs really.”

“It’s what we need in INDYCAR, like every weekend is stronger, and some guys can be a surprise. I think we’ve been a surprise this weekend. So I think we’re in good shape, and we’re pushing forward. We want to beat the big guys. We’re still the underdogs,” Continued O’Ward.

Christian Lundgaard

“Yeah, I thought the alternate tires are going to be better than I think we expected going
into the weekend.”

“But I always find, when you go into the Firestone Fast Six, you expect a slight drop-off on the alternate, but I always feel like you’re able to either match or potentially go a little
faster, and I think we saw that today. So I think that’s a sign for tomorrow too.”

“Personally, I don’t think it’s going to be as big of a drop-off as we expected going into the race weekend leaving St. Petersburg.”

“Again, we don’t have much data on it, so it’s going to be interesting. I think all options are open for tomorrow. ”

2025 The Thermal Club IndyCar Grand Prix Qualifying Results

Lucille Dust reporting live from the Thermal Club