Second-Row Starts for Palou, Lundgaard in Portland - Speedway Digest

NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship points leader Alex Palou led the way for Honda Saturday at Portland International Raceway, and qualified third for Sunday’s Bitnile.com Grand Prix of Portland.

Christian Lundgaard will start on the outside of the second row, fourth, in his Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda. Kyle Kirkwood and Graham Rahal completed the top six qualifiers today, with Honda drivers making up four of the “Fast Six” final qualifying group.

The Portland race is the fourth weekend and fifth race with the new INDYCAR SERIES hybrid system—known as the Energy Recovery System or ERS—as well as second road course featuring the system. Introduced at Mid-Ohio in July, the ERS has run on road courses, ovals and a street circuit—marking each of the three circuit types the NTT INDYCAR SERIES competes on.

Bitnile.com Grand Prix of Portland Honda Qualifying Results

3^rd Alex Palou Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
4^th Christian Lundgaard Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
5^th Kyle Kirkwood Andretti Global Honda
6^th Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
9^th Marcus Armstrong Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
10^th Colton Herta Andretti Global Honda
11^th Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
12^th Marcus Ericsson Andretti Global Honda
13^th Pietro Fittipaldi Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
16^th Juri Vips-R Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
19^th David Malukas Meyer Shank Racing Honda
20^th Felix Rosenqvist Meyer Shank Racing Honda
21^st Toby Sowery-R Dale Coyne Racing with RWR Honda
22^nd Linus Lundqvist-R Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
26^th Kyffin Simpson-R Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
28^th Jack Harvey Dale Coyne Racing Honda

R – Rookie

Quotes

Alex Palou (#10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) qualified 3^rd, INDYCAR championship points leader: “Qualifying was a little bit more chaotic than we wanted with the off-track in Q2. But we made it out and I’m happy we’re starting P3 tomorrow. It’s great. The #10 DHL Honda has been fast all weekend. Hopefully during final practice we can tweak it a little bit and fight for the race win tomorrow.”

Christian Lundgaard (#45 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda) qualified 4^th: “It was a pretty busy qualifying, there was a lot going on. Being fastest in the first group was a little unexpected. I think our car was fast. We don’t have the ultimate pace that some of the other cars have, which was shown in the Fast Six, but I was happy to make it through. Last year we didn’t make through Group 1 when we had a car to put it on pole. This year, I don’t think we had a car to put it on pole, but I thought we had a car to get through to the final — the Fast Six — and then see what we could do in there. It’s a good starting spot. Both Juri [Vips] and Pietro [Fittipaldi] did a good job as well. They were fast but just missed out by thousandths and that just proves how close it is. It’s a good starting point.”

Fast Facts

Honda drivers have won three of the five NTT INDYCAR SERIES races at Portland International Raceway since the series returned to the Rose City in 2018 (there was no race in 2020 due to the COVID pandemic).

Last year, Alex Palou clinched his second NTT INDYCAR SERIES Drivers’ Championship with a victory at Portland after leading 69 laps of the 110-lap event. His Chip Ganassi Racing teammate, Scott Dixon, finished third.

Where to Watch

Television coverage of Sunday’s Bitnile.com Grand Prix of Portland starts at 3 p.m. EDT on the USA Network. Complete, flag-to-flag race coverage also will be available on NBC Peacock, the INDYCAR Radio Network, and SiriusXM INDYCAR Nation (Channel 160).

Honda Racing PR