Schumacher shines in first career oval qualifying session

Mick Schumacher was the first IndyCar driver to make a qualifying run on Friday afternoon at Phoenix Raceway and impressed with a 173.667mph average during the first oval qualifying performance of his career.

Schumacher didn’t know where it would leave the No. 47 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda among the 25 entries for Saturday’s Good Ranchers 250, but he watched with a smile. After 11 drivers made their runs, Schumacher sat second, behind RLL teammate Graham Rahal who moved to first with a 173.993mph average. Through 15 runs, Schumacher held third as eventual pole winner David Malukas made his statement.

Once it was over, Schumacher’s No. 47 Honda was locked into fourth ahead of Indy 500 winners Alex Palou, Alexander Rossi, and Marcus Ericsson, and other oval stars in Pato O’Ward, Scott McLaughlin, Rinus VeeKay, Kyle Kirkwood, and more who fell short ahead of tomorrow afternoon’s 250-lap contest.

“Pretty quick, pretty short,” Schumacher said of his remarkable run. “Great to have the experience. We managed to get a good couple of laps there together so hopefully we’ll be right in the mix and can manage to have a good start.”

Rahal held onto third with his No. 15 Honda and was pleased with the team’s year-to-year improvement on short oval pace, not to mention Schumacher’s standout performance, as RLL took possession of the second row and led all Honda drivers in qualifying.

The third member of the RLL trio, Louis Foster, wasn’t as fortunate in qualifying and will start 16th in the No. 45 Honda.

“Really good pace improvements over practice,” Rahal said. “I thought Mick did just a top-tier job. He's silky smooth with his feet, way smoother than me or Louis, so that's a big benefit. Big step, and we knew that short ovals, that's the Achilles heel, so it's got to get better.”