Michael Levitt/Lumen
O'Ward crushes pole dry spell with Arrow McLaren 1-2 at Thermal
On Monday, Pato O’Ward was deep in his feelings about the poor state of his qualifying performances, coming off a shocking run to 23rd in St. Petersburg. Saturday at The Thermal Club, the Arrow McLaren driver put a pole position dry spell dating back to 2022 to bed after rocketing the No. 5 Chevy around the 3.067-mile road course in 1m39.9567s.
“Maybe I figured out how to drive quickly again,” O’Ward told RACER with a smile.
O’Ward was joined in the demonstration of speed by new teammate Christian Lundgaard, who locked out the front row for Arrow McLaren and Chevy (1m40.1245s).
Entering the Firestone Fast 12, eight Hondas dominated the mix, but it was the Bowtie that got it done as the best from Honda was Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou in third (1m40.3092s), who had the Andretti Global duo of Colton Herta in fourth (1m40.3978s) and teammate Marcus Ericsson in fifth (1m40.7435s). Ed Carpenter Racing’s Alexander Rossi completed the Fast Six (1m41.0359s) and bookended the session for Chevy.
The shock of qualifying came from Team Penske, which saw all three of its drivers fail to make it out of the opening round. With the 27-deep field spit into two opening knockout sessions, the majority of IndyCar’s fastest drivers were in the first group where all three Penske drivers were located. Once it was over, the trio of Josef Newgarden (P17), Will Power (P21), and Scott McLaughlin (P25) were left with a lot of overtaking to do during Sunday’s 65-lap contest.
Qualifying got underway with McLaughlin spinning on his opening lap on Firestone’s primary tires as the field was met with 84 degrees and perfect blue skies.
In the final minutes, the group was led by David Malukas and Conor Daly, but as the rest of the field headed out on alternates to take their shots, the session ended with a transferring six led by Palou, Felix Rosenqvist, Scott Dixon, Marcus Armstrong, Malukas, and Kyle Kirkwood.
The second group with the remaining 14 drivers faced 85-degree weather and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Louis Foster was the first to set a fast lap. On the quicker alternate tires, O’Ward jumped ahead to first as the clock wound down to 2m30s.
It would shuffle as the best six to transfer was led by Lundgaard, Herta, O’Ward, Rossi, Louis Foster, and Ericsson.
Moving onto the Firestone Fast 12, things got serious in the final 90 seconds as Palou took command ahead of O’Ward, Lundgaard, Ericsson, Rossi, and Herta.
Positions seven through 12 were locked in with Armstrong, Kirkwood, Rosenqvist, Foster, Dixon, and Malukas.
In the Fast Six, Rossi sat on pit lane until the last moment as Palou went fastest until the McLaren drivers jumped ahead and locked out the front row.
Marshall Pruett
The 2026 season marks Marshall Pruett's 40th year working in the sport. In his role today for RACER, Pruett covers open-wheel and sports car racing as a writer, reporter, photographer, and filmmaker. In his previous career, he served as a mechanic, engineer, and team manager in a variety of series, including IndyCar, IMSA, and World Challenge.
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