Before all
A day to remember for Linus Lundqvistwhich thanks to his best time in 1:45.1519 took pole position at Road America. Not just any result for the Swede of the Chip Ganassi team, who thanks to this performance gets his first career start at the pole in the top American open-wheel series.
A rookie on pole
What makes this outcome even more emblematic is Lundqvist’s experience in IndyCar, given that the Scandinavian is one of the rookie present on the track this year. Not since 2021 has a rookie established the best qualifying performance, that is, since former Formula 1 driver Romain Grosjean defeated all the competition on the Indianapolis road circuit.
The challenge in the wet
Then there is a third element that magnified Lundqvist’s performance: the wet track. The session therefore highlighted the drivers’ ability to manage the car on a circuit that progressively dried out, with Colton Herta who completed the front row finishing at over a tenth late from Lundvist. A pair of Chip Ganassi-Andretti drivers also appears in the second row, with Armstrong 3rd followed by Kirkwood.
The real surprise, however, is to be noted in the errors of the more experienced pilots: Will Power and Josef Newgarden. While the Australian spun on two occasions, things went worse for the winner of the last Indianapolis 500, who lost control of the Penske crashing violently into the barriers. Taken to the medical center as a precaution, the American did not suffer any consequences from the impact and will be on track for the race, live at 9.30pm on Sky Sport Max. A round which sees the return of Luca Ghiottowhich will start from 23rd place. Here is the complete starting grid.
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