Arrow McLaren’s Felix Rosenqvist captured his second straight pole at Texas Motor Speedway in qualifying for the PPG 375 NTT IndyCar Series race and will have many of his teammates close by when the green flag flies on Sunday at 12:15pm ET.
The Swede’s two-lap average of 220.264 mph bested Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon, who produced 219.972 mph in the No. 9 Honda. McLaren’s Alexander Rossi will line up third in the No. 7 Chevy and will have another member of the Bowtie family, Josef Newgarden of Team Penske in the No. 2 entry, along with the fourth.
McLaren’s Duck O’Ward was fifth fastest in the No. 5 Chevy, giving the team a P1-3-5 rating and all three cars going straight as they approach the start.
Complementing Dixon in second, new CGR driver Takuma Sato secured sixth on his debut in the No. 11 Honda.
“Arrow McLaren gave us weapons again,” Rosenqvist said. “We’ll take it. We’ve always been good here, but it’s a whole new level of confidence this year.”
Elsewhere, Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Motorsports’ David Malukas impressed with a run to ninth, one position ahead of Andretti Autosport’s fastest driver Colton Herta.
Like Malukas, the AJ Foyt Racing duo of Benjamin Pedersen and Santino Ferrucci had big wins in qualifying, coming 13th and 14th respectively, and of the remaining drivers who had reason to be happy with their results, the Oval rookie Agustín Canapino qualified 19th for Juncos Hollinger Racing, ahead of Andretti’s Kyle Kirkwood, Meyer Shank Racing’s Helio Castroneves and Simon Pagenaud, Ed Carpenter Racing’s Conor Daly and Rinus VeeKay, and the entire Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing team. .
“We are disappointed,” Rahal said. “I just think aerodynamically, we’re missing something big. The car just doesn’t accelerate. I just think cars are heavy and slow. Is not acceptable.
UNTIL NEXT TIME: Final practice, 2:30 p.m. ET
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