Felix Rosenqvist picked up exactly where he left off last year by taking another pole at Texas Motor Speedway. (Photo: Dylan Nadwodny | The Podium Finish)
FORT WORTH, Texas — Arrow McLaren showed what the entire team can do at full strength, with all three Chevrolets qualifying in the top-five and Felix Rosenqvist taking the pole at Texas Motor Speedway for the second consecutive year.
Rosenqvist scored his fourth career pole in the NTT IndyCar Series, earning the right to lead the field of 28 starters to the green flag in the PPG 375. The driver of the No. 6 Chevrolet had a two-lap average speed of 220.264 mph.
“Waiting for most of the field to run is kind of what we went through last year,” Rosenqvist said. “It was funny how similar that was to 2022. We have a great, great car! Thanks to McLaren, NTT DATA, Chevrolet and all our partners for just doing a phenomenal job to put us in this position.
“All three of us are quick and it’s always in the details by the team you know. It’s flat-out just trying to shorten that track distance. And it worked out.”
Rosenqvist’s teammates, Alexander Rossi and Pato O’Ward, qualified third and fifth respectively. Arrow McLaren has certainly showed up to the Lone Star State leading the charge for Chevrolet, who had four bowties qualify in the top-five.
Besides the three McLarens, Josef Newgarden from Team Penske qualified fourth. Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon was the fastest Honda driver in second-place, joining Rosenqvist’s Chevrolet on the front row for the 250-lap race.
One of the biggest surprises from qualifying was Scott McLaughlin down the charts, after being quickest in the morning practice session.
McLaughlin enters Texas as one of the favorites to win and his two-lap average speed in qualifying was only good enough to place him 15th on the starting grid.
Reflecting on the finish of last year’s IndyCar race at Texas, McLaughlin dominated until the final lap when his teammate, Newgarden, made a daring move by taking the high line through Turn 4 to steal the win at the last moment.
After watching victory barely slip away in 2022, the driver of the No. 3 Chevrolet will surely be hungrier this time around to finally seal the deal on the 1.5-mile oval.
We will start P15. Not sure on where our qual pace went. Can’t do much when the throttle is hard on the stop!
But have no doubt the #thirsty3s will get me to the front tomorrow! Press on! pic.twitter.com/HMUe7BJ862
— Scott McLaughlin (@smclaughlin93) April 1, 2023
2023 PPG 375 Starting Lineup
Here’s the view the rest of the field will see entering Turn 1 at the start of the PPG 375 on Sunday afternoon. (Photo: Dylan Nadwodny | The Podium Finish)
- (6) Felix Rosenqvist
- (9) Scott Dixon
- (7) Alexander Rossi
- (2) Josef Newgarden
- (5) Pato O’Ward
- (11) Takuma Sato
- (10) Alex Palou
- (12) Will Power
- (18) David Malukas
- (26) Colton Herta
- (28) Romain Grosjean
- (29) Devlin DeFrancesco
- (55) Benjamin Pedersen (R)
- (14) Santino Ferrucci
- (3) Scott McLaughlin
- (8) Marcus Ericsson
- (77) Callum Ilott
- (33) Ed Carpenter
- (78) Agustin Canapino (R)
- (27) Kyle Kirkwood
- (06) Helio Castroneves
- (60) Simon Pagenaud
- (51) Sting Ray Robb (R)
- (15) Graham Rahal
- (20) Conor Daly
- (21) Rinus VeeKay
- (45) Christian Lundgaard
- (30) Jack Harvey
Coverage of the PPG 375 at Texas Motor Speedway gets underway on Sunday, April 2 at 12 p.m. ET on NBC for the first oval race of the 2023 NTT IndyCar Series season.
