NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Scott McLaughlin won the second pole of his IndyCar career and Romain Grosjean and Christian Lundgaard won the top start of the season in qualifying for the Music City Grand Prix which was delayed due to rain.
McLaughlin won pole in the 11-turn, 2.1-mile round-robin final on Saturday’s session, which started 90 minutes late due to weather delays. A sloppy, shortened first group qualifying round angered some drivers over the hot, humid conditions following rain in Nashville.
The Team Penske driver was also the fastest in Saturday morning practice.
Grosjean qualified second for Andretti Autosport, where three drivers were eliminated in the first round of qualifying. Lundgaard was the third career best for Rahal Letterman Lanigan, who lifted all three of his drivers to the top 12.
Lundgaard overcame a penalty in the second round and locked the tire in the final round and still won third place.
The championship contenders had a mixed day with the defending champion Alex Palouwho placed sixth in the six-driver fight, the highest fourth. Pato O’Wardwho is fifth in the rankings, only moving forward because IndyCar leads in points Spirit disqualified from the final quick six for obstructing O’Ward’s lap when he deviated in the top 12.
The penalty stripped Power’s fastest lap and O’Ward took his spot. Power has a nine-point lead over the defending race winner Marcus Ericssonand only 52 points separate Power from Palou with Sunday’s race the first of four finals this season.
“We can have a great day tomorrow,” Power said of the eighth start. “Get good strategy, good pit stop and see what we’ve got.”
Josef Newgarden of Penske, who finished third in the rankings, qualified sixth.
Ericsson and Scott Dixon, fourth on the leaderboard, could not pass the first round. Dixon will start at 14th and Ericsson 18th, where he started from winning last year.
