At a track where he has enjoyed some of his biggest triumphs in IndyCar, defending series champion Alex Palou captured the pole position for the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey.
The No. 10 Dallara-Honda driver turned a lap of 1 minute, 7.1465 seconds at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, edging the No. 27 Dallara-Honda of Kyle Kirkwood by 0.0739 seconds.
“It was really tough, really tight all qualifying to get to the Fast Six,” Palou told NBC Sports’ Dillon Welch. “It was really tricky with track conditions. As soon as there was some wind, you couldn’t really finish the lap because there was no grip.
TIRE COMPOUND CHOICES: Softs or hards at the green flag
“But really happy. The car was on rails today, so hopefully we get a clean start the first couple of laps and not a lot of cautions that screw our strategies. Looking forward to it, the car’s been amazing this weekend.”
Felix Rosenqvist qualified third as Hondas swept the top four and five of the top six spots. Alexander Rossi of Arrow McLaren was the only Chevrolet driver to reach the final round of qualifying.
It’s the second pole position of the season for Palou, who is five points behind Will Power (who qualified 15th) in the championship standings entering Sunday’s race (6 p.m. ET, USA and Peacock).
QUALIFYING RESULTS: Click here for Laguna Seca qualifying speeds | Round 1, Group 1 | Round 1, Group 2 | Round 2 l Round 3
Last year in Laguna Seca’s final race as the IndyCar season finale, Palou finished third while celebrating his second title. In 2022, the Spaniard dominated to win by nearly a lap on the 11-turn, 2.238-mile road course.
Kirkwood will be starting a season-best second, his best qualifying effort since winning from the pole position at Long Beach last year.
In his Arrow McLaren debut, Nolan Siegel qualified 23rd for his third career IndyCar start.
Here’s the IndyCar starting lineup for Sunday’s Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey on an 11-turn, 2.238-mile road course in Monterey, California (qualifying position, driver, car number in parentheses, engine, time and speed):
ROW 1
1. (10) Alex Palou, Honda, 1 minute, 7.1465 seconds (119.988 mph)
2. (27) Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, 1:07.2204 (119.856)
ROW 2
3. (60) Felix Rosenqvist, Honda, 1:07.2917 (119.729)
4. (26) Colton Herta, Honda, 1:07.2972 (119.720)
ROW 3
5. (7) Alexander Rossi, Chevrolet, 1:07.3594 (119.609)
6. (45) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 1:07.5112 (119.340)
ROW 4
7. (3) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 1:07.3994 (119.538)
8. (77) Romain Grosjean, Chevrolet, 1:07.4286 (119.486)
ROW 5
9. (5) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 1:07.4900 (119.378)
10. (9) Scott Dixon, Honda, 1:07.5874 (119.206)
ROW 6
11. (11) Marcus Armstrong, Honda, 1:07.6143 (119.158)
12. (66) David Malukas, Honda, 1:07.8422 (118.758)
ROW 7
13. (78) Agustin Canapino, Chevrolet, 1:07.8976 (118.661)
14. (2) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 1:07.7246 (118.964)
ROW 8
15. (12) Will Power, Chevrolet, 1:08.0178 (118.451)
16. (8) Linus Lundqvist, Honda, 1:07.8056 (118.822)
ROW 9
17. (14) Santino Ferrucci, Chevrolet, 1:08.0344 (118.422)
18. (28) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 1:07.9233 (118.616)
ROW 10
19. (15) Graham Rahal, Honda, 1:08.0922 (118.322)
20. (21) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 1:07.9897 (118.500)
ROW 11
21. (20) Christian Rasmussen, Chevrolet, 1:08.3711 (117.839)
22. (4) Kyffin Simpson, Honda, 1:08.1571 (118.209)
ROW 12
23. (6) Nolan Siegel, Chevrolet, 1:08.6785 (117.312)
24. (30) Pietro Fittipaldi, Honda, 1:08.1824 (118.165)
ROW 13
25. (41) Sting Ray Robb, Chevrolet, 1:09.1304 (116.545)
26. (18) Jack Harvey, Honda, 1:08.4730 (117.664)
ROW 14
27. (51) Luca Ghiotto, Honda, 1:08.5078 (117.604)