Palou gets a “superficial” pole position – Ohio’s mid-term qualifying

Alex Paulow and Chip Ganasi Racing began on Sunday, July 6th at pole position at the Indy 200 Mid-Ohio Race, setting a lightning lap at 1:05.021 to defeat the Christian Land Guard first at Arrom Claren.

Lundgaard, who started second, was two tenths later than Palou, but third place Kyffin Simpson was slower than his teammates, and was the only driver who could approach his current championship leader at Pace.

Rejoicing with the outcome, Parow said: “We’ve had great cars since we started Chip Ganassi racing, but this year it was incredible as we’ve always struggled with qualifying ahead of time.

“The speed we have in our cars is amazing on every racetrack we show up.”

Palou believes he was able to save the last soft tire by “tomorrow, let’s put our advantage,” but realizes that starting on pole would “provide us more.”

He said: “We know that there are cars that save tires, so we’re going to be a big threat to tomorrow.

Simpson wasn’t close to the pace of taking pole, but he happily left qualifying in the best qualifying position of his IndyCar career.

Although he never booked a qualifier with Fast Six, Simpson confirmed he would get this in 2025 when he knocked out in Round 2 at Andretti in Kyle Kirkwood.

Setting the lap time at the final moments, Simpson pits Kirkwood to score the final spot in round two.

Following the qualifying round, Simpson said: “It was incredible, it was a tough qualifier and was very close, especially in the first few segments.

“So it was a bit nervous that I barely slipped out in sixth place in both places and I got to P3 in that session.

Simpson is one of the drivers that Parow said will be a threat tomorrow as a set of red tires are preserved tomorrow.

Asked about his thoughts on this, Simpson shared that this gives him confidence to participate in tomorrow’s race.

He explained: “We’re the best we start with the extra red set, so I think it’s pretty good for us, and I think we have a lot of pace.

Kirkwood was unable to share Simpson’s uplift after the session and was visibly upset by his outcome.

He believed he was being hampered by being behind one of Ed’s Carpenter Drivers, so he couldn’t put in enough lap times.

Kirkwood will start in line 7th and 4th for tomorrow’s race.

Kirkwood lamented. “One of the carpenter’s cars was in front of us and we were getting too close to them.

“I don’t know what lap they were on or what they were doing, but I think we were probably just outside a second, and I don’t think it’s technically hindered, but that’s enough to cost hundreds of fish in high-speed corners.”

“I probably lost 10 and a half minutes in the backsector so I’m not going to lie about it.”

“We were like two or three, and it would have been transferring us easily. We shot the pole again, but it ruined our session.”

“We got the seventh, an extra set of reds, so we’ll take as positive as possible.”

Kirkwood wasn’t the only driver to have a bad day in the office as Patooward, the winner of the 2024 Mid-Ohio race, was unable to finish eighth past Group 1.

O’Word joined Pensuke driver Scott McLaughlin in the knockout zone of Group 1, which finished 11th. Palou will start tomorrow, the 15th, and McLaughlin will start on the 21st.

In Group 2, Will Power was also knocked out early, and Pensuke suffered another loss when he came to 11th to get 22nd in tomorrow’s race behind McLaughlin.

Power had previously faced him at Paloo after two practices, and vowed many times after believing that the Spaniard had blocked him several times during the session.

He commented following the conflict that Palou’s actions have stopped him and the team from “trying to think about what our cars are doing.”

Alongside Power, his Ozzy Osbourne/Black Sabbath colouring Meyer Shankker and David Marcus Felix Rosenqvist are also knocked out in Group 2, starting 16 and 14 respectively.

Alongside Simpson, Nolan Siegel celebrates his all-time qualifying position, finishing fourth in tomorrow’s race.

Siegel, the second-highest Arrom Claren driver, was pleased with the outcome, but he believed he would challenge Runguard and even be the fastest McLaren if given fresh red tires.

He said: “I’m happy. I think we could run to the front row of Christians in the new red.

But now (now) I’m really pleased to be able to start my fourth best IndyCar starting position.

“We’ve had a rough weekend and things are really turning around. The group is doing a great job. There were some new faces in the number six NTT data arrow McLaren Chevrolet. It’s all working well.”

Joseph Newgarden has had poor results for the Pensuke brothers as the team continued to get worse from bad condition following the Indy 500. The former world champion will be 18th in tomorrow’s race.