Arrow McLaren teammates Christian Lundgaard and Pato O’Ward produced the two quickest laps at the Portland International Raceway, respectively, during the Firestone Fast Six qualifying session Saturday for the BITNILE.COM Grand Prix of Portland presented by askROI. A year ago at this event, the top two qualifiers for the team were Alexander Rossi in 18th and O’Ward in 23rd.
O’Ward, clinging to his NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship hopes by a thread, will start from the pole because Lundgaard will be forced to move back six places on the grid to the seventh starting spot due to a penalty for an unapproved engine change after practice on Friday. Both drivers improved considerably on Firestone alternate tires from practice this morning, when Lundgaard was seventh quickest and O’Ward 11th on Firestone primary tires
Lundgaard earned the third NTT P1 Award of his career and his first with Arrow McLaren, which he joined before this season, with a best lap of 58.3939 seconds in the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. His last pole came in July 2023 for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing at Toronto, a race he won.
O’Ward’s best time in the Firestone Fast Six was 58.5343 in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. Felix Rosenqvist will join him on the front row for the 110-lap race Sunday (3 p.m. ET, FOX, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network) after his best Fast Six lap of 58.5583 in the No. 60 SiriusXM Honda of Meyer Shank Racing w/ Curb-Agajanian.
Starting third will be reigning Portland winner Will Power, who stopped the clocks at 58.6424 in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet. David Malukas will start fourth after his lap of 58.6557 in the No. 4 Gallagher Insurance Chevrolet of A.J. Foyt Enterprises.
Championship leader Alex Palou received a small bonus by earning the fifth starting spot in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. Palou went off track and nosed into the tire barrier in Turn 11 late in the Firestone Fast Six, losing his best lap for causing a local yellow that affected another competitor and ending up last in the final segment of qualifying.
Palou, who has won eight of 14 races this season, needs to lead O’Ward by 108 points after the race Sunday to clinch his third consecutive series championship and fourth title in the last five years. Palou leads O’Ward by 121 points entering this race on the 12-turn, 1.964-mile road course.
Rossi just missed the Firestone Fast Six by .0163 of a second in the second round of qualifying, but he will start sixth in the No. 20 ECR Java House Chevrolet due to Lundgaard’s penalty, tying his best starting spot of the season set in March at The Thermal Club.
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