Christian Lundgaard picks up his second pole of the season. (Photo: Jack Shanlin | The Podium Finish)
TORONTO – For the second time this season, Christian Lundgaard took the NTT P1 Pole Award in superb fashion.
The Danish racer will lead the 27-car field to green for Sunday’s Honda Indy Toronto at Exhibition Place as rain altered the outcome of Saturday’s qualifying session.
Fortunately for Lundgaard, his pole run of 64.1567 seconds occurred after the rain went away as his positive momentum from Mid-Ohio carried over.
“I wasn’t sure we were going to advance (into final qualifying), but then we put on a new set of (rain tires) and made it through on that final lap,” Lundgaard said. “Then, in Fast Six, we did one lap on rains and my race engineer made the decision to go to sticker alternate tires, rather than the used ‘greens’ we had planned.
“I think that was the right decision, so the team really won the pole for us today. We just nailed the strategy throughout qualifying. I don’t think I made it happen today, they did.”
Starting alongside Lundgaard is Scott McLaughlin, who had no match of outperforming the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver.
In fact, Lundgaard was the only driver to hit a qualifying speed of over 100 mph. Nevertheless, McLaughlin shifts his mind on trying to get back into victory lane like his former competitor and close friend Shane van Gisbergen did in NASCAR’s Grant Park 220 in Chicago.
“Overall, it was a great day for us,” McLaughlin said. “We start second which is another street course front row start. Really loving Toronto. Really happy with these guys and my Gallagher Chevrolet.
“The car was really good. I think we are due for a wet race. It’s something that I’ve always loved to do.”
Scott McLaughlin hopes to be the man to dethrone Alex Palou on Sunday. (Photo: Jack Shanlin | The Podium Finish)
Early in qualifying, the rain arrived in Toronto and led to several implications going into the 85-lap contest.
Among those heavily affected by Mother Nature’s wicked behavior was championship leader Alex Palou. His quest of winning four straight INDYCAR races is at stake after rain arrived during the Group 1 session. Consequently, Palou failed to make it out of the opening round and will start a season low 15th.
Prior to Saturday, Palou’s worst start of 2023 was seventh at both St. Petersburg and Texas, the opening two rounds of the championship trail. Palou would finish eighth and third respectively with the former result being his worst all season, showcasing why he has been tough to beat all season and has a 110-point lead over teammate Scott Dixon.
Should Palou rally his way to a four-peat, he will end a 17-year drought of an INDYCAR driver winning four consecutive races. Sébastien Bourdais was the last man to do it when he won the first four Champ Car races of 2006.
A season worst 15th is where Alex Palou will roll off Sunday. (Photo: Jack Shanlin | The Podium Finish)
Wet conditions also affected Graham Rahal’s session when Group 2 hit the street course. Rahal lost control and slid until the front wing tapped the wall. Whether it is his horrid Month of May or pit stop woes costing him a superb weekend at Mid-Ohio, Rahal will start last in Toronto in a year that has been nothing but frustration.
slippin' and slidin' on the Streets of Toronto. @GrahamRahal with slight contact in qualifying. pic.twitter.com/U8K8C7IilT
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) July 15, 2023
During practice, Andretti Autosport showcased tremendous pace with Kyle Kirkwood and Colton Herta being the highlights. This was not the case during qualifying as neither made the Firestone Fast Six.
Kirkwood qualified eighth, the highest among the Andretti camp while Herta only mustered a 14th starting position.
IMSA regular Tom Blomqvist will roll off 20th as he will embark in his INDYCAR debut for Meyer Shank Racing. Blomqvist, a two-time Rolex 24 at Daytona winner, is filling in for Simon Pagenaud as he has yet to be medically cleared after taking a violent tumble at Mid-Ohio two weeks ago.
“I’m not sure they could’ve thrown anything else at us this weekend,” said Blomqvist.” The rain started coming down just before our first-round qualifying – trying to find my way with the car in those conditions.
“I normally like the wet, but obviously 10 minutes (of qualifying) isn’t a whole lot of time to get used to it. Just trying to find the limits of the car was obviously not optimal. But we’re not last! Anyway, that’s the way the cookie crumbles and lets see what tomorrow brings.”
Navigating through the rain, Tom Blomqvist is filling in for Simon Pagenaud. (Photo: Jack Shanlin | The Podium Finish)
Live coverage of Honda Indy Toronto begins Sunday at 1:30 p.m. ET exclusively on Peacock. Last year, Scott Dixon scored his fifth win in Canada and equaled Mario Andretti at 52 career wins.
2023 Honda Indy Toronto Starting Lineup
- 45 – Christian Lundgaard
- 3 – Scott McLaughlin
- 5 – Pato O’Ward
- 8 – Marcus Ericsson
- 6 – Felix Rosenqvist
- 12 – Will Power
- 9 – Scott Dixon
- 27 – Kyle Kirkwood
- 28 – Romain Grosjean
- 11 – Marcus Armstrong (R)
- 2 – Josef Newgarden
- 21 – Rinus VeeKay
- 06 – Helio Castroneves
- 26 – Colton Herta
- 10 – Alex Palou
- 77 – Callum Ilott
- 18 – David Malukas
- 78 – Agustin Canapino (R)
- 30 – Jack Harvey
- 60 – Tom Blomqvist (R)
- 20 – Ryan Hunter-Reay
- 29 – Devlin DeFrancesco
- 51 – Sting Ray Robb (R)
- 14 – Santino Ferrucci
- 55 – Benjamin Pedersen (R)
- 7 – Alexander Rossi
- 15 – Graham Rahal
