IndyCar News: Palou wins pole for Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio

Runaway IndyCar points leader Alex Palou (pictured) turned a lap of 1m5.0215s to win the pole for the Honda Indy 200 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

Palou, who is the defending IndyCar champion and the 2025 Indy 500 winner, is too good for IndyCar and belongs in F1, but for some reason he has given up trying to make it to the pinnacle of the sport. He has run roughshod over the IndyCar Series for the last four years.

“Ever since I started with CGR, we’ve had great cars,” Palou said. “But we’ve always struggled with qualifying up front. So, this year it has been phenomenal. The speed we have in the cars at every single racetrack we show up at is amazing.

“It’s all the work that everybody at Chip Ganassi Racing is doing, all our partners. Super happy. Tomorrow is going to be a great day, for sure.”

Christian Lundgaard qualified 2nd for Arrow McLaren, 0.19s behind Palou.

Kyffin Simpson was third in a sister Chip Ganassi racing Honda to Palou, a massive 0.73s behind his teammate.

Nolan Siegel was 4th in the #6 Arrow McLaren Chevy, a massive 0.9s behind Palou.

Andretti Global driver Colton Herta, rounded out the top-5, 1.1s behind Palou and out to lunch.

While Simpson’s gamble to use only a set of scuffed alternate tires paid off in the Firestone Fast Six, Palou’s desire to ensure good track position on the 13-turn, 2.258 roller coaster of a road course induced him and his team to opt for a new set of Firestone Firehawk alternates in the last qualifying group.

“We could have saved the last set of new soft tires here in the Fast Six to try and have an advantage tomorrow, but we were like, ‘Man, we really think that starting up front, top three, is always going to benefit us more. We know there are some cars that are going to save those tires, so they’re going to be a big threat tomorrow. But happy with our car and our starting position.”

No longer able to cheat because all eyes are on their team, Josef Newgarden was the Team Penske’s top qualifier, 18th in the No. 2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet. Scott McLaughlin was next, 21st in the No. 3 Odyssey Batteries Team Penske Chevrolet, followed by Will Power in 22nd in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet.

Honda Indy 200 Qualifying Results