Hunter McElrea will start fourth for the INDY NXT Grand Prix of Alabama. Christian Rasmussen won the pole leading a train of 13 drivers quicker than the track record at Barber Motorsports Park.
Rasmussen, from Denmark, saved his best lap for last in the frantic, eight-minute session, earning his second career INDY NXT pole with a time of 1 minute, 10.7371 seconds in the No. 6 HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing entry. That lap obliterated the track record of 1:11.5149 set by Linus Lundqvist during qualifying in 2021 on the 17-turn, 2.3-mile road course.
Rookie Nolan Siegel, quickest in practice Saturday morning, will join Rasmussen on the front row after his best lap of 1:10.8682 in the No. 39 HMD Motorsports with DCR car. Fellow rookie Louis Foster qualified third at 1:10.9247 in the No. 26 Copart/USF Pro Championship machine fielded by Andretti Autosport.
A top-three starting position has been an essential path to victory at this race. In 17 INDY NXT races at Barber, the winner has come from the first three starting spots. The pole sitter has won 14 times and finished second three times, a good omen for Rasmussen.
Veteran Hunter McElrea helped Andretti Autosport lock out the second row of the starting grid by qualifying fourth at 1:11.0690 in the No. 27 Smart Motors car.
The 35-lap race is scheduled for 12:55 p.m. Sunday (local time)
INDY NXT Qualifying (qualifying position, car number in parentheses, driver, time and speed in parentheses)
1/ (6) Christian Rasmussen, 1:10.7371 (117.053 mph)
2/ (39) Nolan Siegel, 1:10.8682 (116.837)
3/ (26) Louis Foster, 1:10.9247 (116.744)
4/ (27) Hunter McElrea, 1:11.0690 (116.506)
5/ (14) Toby Sowery, 1:11.0836 (116.483)
6/ (21) Kyffin Simpson, 1:11.1578 (116.361)
7/ (76) Reece Gold, 1:11.2148 (116.268)
8/ (68) Danial Frost, 1:11.2155 (116.267)
9/ (47) Enaam Ahmed, 1:11.2944 (116.138)
10/ (29) James Roe, 1:11.3740 (116.009)
11/ (3) Josh Green, 1:11.4137 (115.944)
12/ (75) Matteo Nannini, 1:11.4623 (115.865)
13/ (98) Jagger Jones, 1:11.5003 (115.804)
14/ (57) Colin Kaminsky, 1:11.5430 (115.735)
15/ (51) Jacob Abel, 1:11.5850 (115.667)
16/ (7) Christian Bogle, 1:11.8030 (115.316)
17/ (28) Jamie Chadwick, 1:11.9208 (115.127)
18/ (99) Ernie Francis Jr., 1:12.0393 (114.937)
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