Rosenqvist rockets to Long Beach IndyCar pole

There were a lot of questions surrounding how the single-lap Fast Six format would work at Long Beach, and it was Felix Rosenqvist who proved to have the answers. The Meyer Shank Racing driver backed up his 2024 pole at this event by again earning himself the first spot on the grid for Sunday’s race with a 1m07.4635s in the No. 60 Honda.

Rosenqvist, who was fourth in the queue, went out needing to chase a provisional best of 1m07.5289s set by Alex Palou – a time that looked vulnerable thanks to a big left-front lock-up by the Chip Ganassi Racing driver on the approach to the hairpin.

With Palou’s time duly bested, Rosenqvist then had to ride out a nervous wait while Pato O’Ward took his turn. The Arrow McLaren driver kept it tight, but couldn’t do quite enough to reel the Swede’s time in and had to settle for second, 0.0441s down.

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That left Palou third on the grid alongside defending winner Kyle Kirkwood, who lost time to a slide through Turn 4 and then a big wiggle in the middle of Turn 10. David Malukas, who was the first car to go out in the Fast Six, will start fifth alongside Scott Dixon.

Dixon’s mere presence in the Fast Six was something of a surprise. He was the last car in the Fast 12 to take the checker, and there was nothing in his first two sectors to suggest that he’d be able to pull himself above the cut line. But his final sector was superb, and vaulted the Kiwi into the pole shootout at the expense of Will Power.

Scott McLaughlin will share the fourth row with Power, while just behind them, Kyffin Simpson reinforced a solid day for Ganassi by qualifying ninth. Graham Rahal, who bumped Penske’s Josef Newgarden out of a transfer spot to claim his place in the Fast 12, will start 10th ahead of Christian Lundgaard and Rinus VeeKay.

UP NEXT: Warm-up, Sunday, 10:10am PT

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