Alex Palou Back on Track, Captures Pole at Mid-Ohio

Alex Palou celebrates his third pole of 2025 at the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio. (Photo: Anthony Sylvia | The Podium Finish)

LEXINGTON, Ohio — Even a shook-up Firestone Fast Six that saw some fresh new faces among feisty veterans couldn’t stop one driver from capturing his third NTT P1 Award of the season— namely, Alex Palou.

The championship points leader got back on track to his winning ways after capturing the pole position for the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Presented by the All-New 2026 Passport and the ninth of his career with a lap of 1:05.0215 in the No. 10 OpenAI Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.

“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 will round out the front row after qualifying second with a lap of 1:05.2126 in the No. 7 Velo Arrow McLaren Chevrolet.

Palou’s Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Kyffin Simpson turned heads by posting his best qualifying effort of his career with a third place run with a lap of 1:05.7555 in the No. 8 Journie Rewards Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. What is most impressive is that Simpson put up his big lap on used Firestone Firehawk alternate (red) tires, saving is new set of alternates for Sunday’s 90-lap race.

Nolan Siegel navigates the twists and turns of Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course during Saturday practice leading up to qualifying (Photo: Wayne Riegle | The Podium Finish).

Nolan Siegel also made a splash in the Firestone Fast Six by qualifying a career-best fourth with a lap of 1:05.9262 in the No. 6 NTT Data Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. Colton Herta quietly makes his mark in the Fast Six with a fifth-best time of 1:06.1218 in the No. 26 Gainbridge Andretti Global Honda, while Road America pole winner Louis Foster rounded out the Fast Six with a time of 1:06.2398 in the No. 45 Droplight Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda.

The quickest driver in Friday afternoons practice session, Kyle Kirkwood was unable to overcome heavy traffic during the second round of 12 and struggled to move into the Firestone Fast Six with a lap of 1:05.4443 that was good enough for a seventh place starting position.

The unprecedented struggles for Team Penske continued on the 2.258-mile, 13-turn hilly road course, when the team was able to salvage a best, 18^th starting position for Josef Newgarden in the No. 2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet. Newgarden’s teammates were close behind with Scott McLaughlin posting a 21^st starting position in the No. 3 Odyssey Batteries Team Penske Chevrolet, and Will Power in the 22^nd position in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet.

Coverage for Sunday’s Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio will begin at 1:00 p.m. ET on FOX and IndyCar Nation SiriusXM channel 218, with the morning warmup preceding tomorrow’s race at 9:30 a.m. ET on FS1

Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Starting Lineup

Alex Palou looks like the driver to beat for Sunday’s Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. (Photo: Wayne Riegle | The Podium Finish)