Portland Grand Prix Qualifying Report
Portland, OR — Christian Lundgaard demonstrated impressive speed during the qualifying sessions for the BitNile.com Grand Prix of Portland, clocking a lap time of 58.3939 seconds in his No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. This performance secured him his third career pole position, though he will start seventh on race day due to a penalty for an unapproved engine change.
Pato O’Ward, with a time of 58.5343 seconds in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, will inherit the pole position. The revised front row will feature Felix Rosenqvist from Meyer Shank Racing in second (58.5583s) and Team Penske’s Will Power in third (58.6424s). David Malukas of AJ Foyt Racing qualified fourth (58.6557s), while championship leader Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing secured fifth (58.6690s) despite an unfortunate brake-locking incident late in the session. Alexander Rossi of Ed Carpenter Racing completed the top six, elevated from a seventh-place time (58.4973s) due to Lundgaard’s penalty.
“It was a bit surprising qualifying considering where we were in practice,” O’Ward commented, acknowledging the team’s continued improvements over the season. Rosenqvist expressed satisfaction with his strong performance, stating, “P3, effectively front row after penalties. It was a good day for us.”
Palou reflected on his error, stating, “I just tried a bit too hard… happy that we’re starting top six tomorrow and ready to go for it.”
Josef Newgarden, despite a disrupted session due to an engine change in his No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet, qualified ninth. Meanwhile, Marcus Ericsson will start from 11th, with Colton Herta, who led morning practice, dropping to 16th, and Kyle Kirkwood finishing in 20th.
Devlin DeFrancesco notably led Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing in 14th place, outpacing teammates Louis Foster and Graham Rahal.
Teams will participate in a morning warm-up session on Saturday at 5:32 PM local time, prior to the main race scheduled for Sunday at 12:22 PM PT/3:22 PM ET.
Qualifying Results:
- Pato O’Ward (Arrow McLaren) – 58.5343s
- Felix Rosenqvist (Meyer Shank Racing) – 58.5583s
- Will Power (Team Penske) – 58.6424s
- David Malukas (AJ Foyt Racing) – 58.6557s
- Alex Palou (Chip Ganassi Racing) – 58.6690s
- Alexander Rossi (Ed Carpenter Racing) – 58.4973s
- Christian Lundgaard (Arrow McLaren) – 58.3939s (demoted to 7th due to penalty)
