Scott McLaughlin Steals First NTT IndyCar Series Pole Position for Grand Prix of St. Petersburg

Scott McLaughlin won his first career NTT IndyCar Series pole position Saturday afternoon, and will lead the field to green for the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

McLaughlin, who also went fastest in practice two earlier in the day, was one of the last drivers to complete his run in the Fast Six, spoiling the party for Will Power and Colton Herta who traded the top spot back and forth in both the Fast Twelve and Fast Six in a fantastic qualifying duel. But with clean track ahead of him, the 28-year-old New Zealand native snatched his first ever NTT P1 Award.

Power managed to best Herta for second place, and will start on the front row alongside his fellow Team Penske driver, while Herta starts third. Ed Carpenter Racing‘s Rinus Veekay seems to have found the form he had at the beginning of last season, before an unfortunate accident where he broke his collarbone, beating out some of the best drivers in the series to make the Fast Six and finish an incredibly impressive fourth place.

Romain Grosjean, who started his day with a big crash in practice two, found his speed once again and will start fifth. He is joined on the third row by Simon Pagenaud, who has had a fantastic start to his time with Meyer Shank Racing and has been fast all weekend.

Alexander Rossi was one of the the major names found outside the top twelve, failing to advance out of the first round of qualifying after finding himself in the top five in both practice sessions. He will start tomorrow’s race from thirteenth position. Arrow McLaren SP also find both of their cars outside of the top fifteen, Pato O’Ward bent a left rear tow link on the exit of turn nine, failing to advance out of the first round, while Felix Rosenqvist struggled for pace as well. The duo will start sixteenth and twenty-first respectively.

Dalton Kellett of A.J. Foyt Enterprises just missed out on transferring into the fast twelve, but must be ecstatic with his fourteenth place starting spot, a new career best for the Canadian driver.

Takuma Sato and Jack Harvey, who were involved in accidents in practice two, languished at the bottom of group one in the first round of qualifying, and will have to work their way through the field starting twenty-second and twenty-third respectively.

Though the rookie qualifying battle was won by Kirkwood, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing‘s Christian Lundgaard won’t be far behind starting fifteenth. Devlin DeFrancesco of Andretti Autosport starts eighteenth, just ahead of Callum Ilott and Juncos Hollinger Racing in nineteenth. David Malukas of Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Motorsports recieved a qualifying interference penalty in the first round of qualifying and was stripped of his two fastest lap times sending him plummeting to twenty-fourth. Tatiana Calderon, Kirkwood’s Foyt teammate, rounds out the rookie field starting twenty-fifth.

The Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg will take place Sunday 27 February at 1200 EST / 1700 GMT.

Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg – Qualifying Results