McLaughlin, the 32-year-old New Zealander, pulled off a clutch flying lap in the waning seconds of 1m00.5426s (107.032mph) around the 1.8-mile, 14-turn temporary street circuit. Pole means he’ll lead the field to the first green flag of the 2026 IndyCar season.
Marcus Ericsson’s No. 28 Andretti Global Honda also delivered a stellar run, falling short of pole by a narrow 0.0195s.
Rookie Dennis Hauger, last year’s Indy NXT champion, led a surprise outing by Dale Coyne Racing and vaulted to third, just 0.0317s behind. Reigning and four-time IndyCar Series champion Alex Palou, in the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, was fourth.
David Malukas, in his first race with Team Penske, claimed fifth, ahead of another Dale Coyne Racing Honda of Romain Grosjean in sixth.
The Round of 12
While the likes of McLaughlin, Palau, Ericsson, Hauger and Malukas made it through comfortably, the drama was centered around Grosjean. Despite being sixth-fastest and in the last transfer spot, he was penalized by Race Control for an incident in Turn 10 for “causing a yellow that affects another competitor (Rule 8.3.7.3),” which leads to a loss of his best lap to that moment. However, he still managed to deliver a lap of 1m00.7452s to advance.
The first out was Meyer Shank Racing’s Marcus Armstrong, followed by Pato O’Ward in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Louis Foster was ninth, ahead of Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kyffin Simpson. Felix Rosenqvist, driver of the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Honda, and the No. 7 of Christian Lundgaard, ended up 11th and 12th, respectively.
Groups
The opening round of running saw some surprises from the first group as the Andretti Global duo of Kyle Kirkwood and Will Power, who crashed at the start of the second practice earlier, failed to advance, with Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden ending up last after a mistake in Turn 13 in the final seconds. Newgarden will roll off 23rd on Sunday.
The second group of the initial round saw ECR’s Christian Rasmussen, who also crashed in second practice, the first out, with Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon directly behind.
ECR’s misery was layered after Alexander Rossi ended up last in the group, and as a result will start in final spot (25th) for the race.
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