Arrow McLaren’s Felix Rosenqvist captured his second consecutive pole at Texas Motor Speedway in qualifying for the PPG 375 NTT IndyCar series race and will have plenty his teammates close by when the green flag waves on Sunday at 12:15pm ET.
The Swede’s two-lap average of 220.264mph edged Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon, who produced a 219.972mph in the No. 9 Honda. McLaren’s Alexander Rossi will line up third in the No. 7 Chevy and have another member of the Bowtie family — Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden in the No. 2 entry — alongside in fourth.
McLaren’s Pato O’Ward was fifth fastest in the No. 5 Chevy, giving the team a P1-3-5 qualifying performance and all three cars in a straight line 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 an all-new confidence level this year.”
Elsewhere, Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Motorsports’ David Malukas impressed with a run to ninth, one position ahead of Colton Herta, Andretti Autosport’s fastest driver.
Like Malukas, the A.J. Foyt Racing duo of Benjamin Pedersen and Santino Ferrucci were high achievers in qualifying, locking in 13th and 14th, respectively, and of the remaining drivers who had a reason to be happy with their results, oval rookie Agustin 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’re disappointed,” Rahal said. “I just think aerodynamically, we’re missing something big. The car just doesn’t accelerate. I just think the cars are draggy and slow. It’s not acceptable.”
UP NEXT: Final Practice, 2:30pm ET