Alex Palou grabs his second consecutive pole at the Sonsio Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (Photo: The Podium Finish | Anthony Sylvia).
Speedway, Ind. – Alex Palou’s unprecedented dominance is spectacular. Palou’s No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda team continued their fantastic start to the 2025 NTT IndyCar Series Season on Friday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, as Palou earned his second consecutive NTT P1 Award for Saturday’s Sonsio Grand Prix at Indianapolis.
See: Sonsio Grand Prix Qualifying Results
Palou has won three of the first four races this season to go along with his two poles on the year, playing the strategy game by using his set of sticker Firestone Firehawk alternate tires on his final run to capture the pole.
“We had a bit of an advantage there with the set of new soft tires,” said Palou. “I think some people used them in Q1, and we didn’t. Maybe that’s where the time comes.”
“That No. 10 DHL car was amazing. Super-fast. It’s been super-fast all season, honestly, but today it’s been on fire.”
Palou beat out second-place qualifier Graham Rahal by .4099 of a second in the No. 15 Fifth Third Bank Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda. This is Rahal’s best starting position since Portland in 2023. Rahal Letterman Lanigan racing as a whole had a historical day at IMS.
Rahal’s teammate, rookie Louis Foster, qualified a season-best third in the No. 45 Mi-Jack Honda with a time of 1:09.8801. The third RLL car driven by Devlin DeFrancesco qualified fifth in the No. 30 EVTEC Honda, which tied his career best from August 2023 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course.
“It feels so good,” Rahal said after qualifying second. “What a lap. The balance was really consistent and matched my best of the whole day. It feels great for this entire team. We needed this. We expect to be good at the Indy road course, but to see it come together and have three cars in the top five is amazing.”
Graham Rahal heading down the Hulman backstretch during practice for the Sonsio Grand Prix (Photo: The Podium Finish | Anthony Sylvia).
Scott McLaughlin starts fourth with a lap of 1:09.8910 in the No. 3 Sonsio Vehicle Protection Team Penske Chevrolet.
Two-time NTT IndyCar champion Josef Newgarden completed the Firestone Fast Six with a time of 1:09.9829 in the No. 2 Astemo Chevrolet for Team Penske.
On the flip side, Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach winner Kyle Kirkwood qualified an abysmal 21st in the No. 27 PreFab Andretti Global Honda after having a solid start to the season.
The warmup for the Sonsio Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway will air at 11:30 a.m. ET on FS1, with the Sonsio Grand Prix starting at 4:30 p.m. ET on FOX and SiriusXM INDYCAR Nation Channel 218.
