VeeKay takes Alabama Grand Prix pole at Barber

Rinus VeeKay took pole position for the Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park, as Josef Newgarden, the current IndyCar championship leader, missed the final stage of qualifying and will start seventh.

VeeKay started the day off with the fastest time in the second practice session. After advancing through rounds one and two, VeeKay leapt over defending race winner Álex Palou to claim his first pole in over a year, setting a fastest lap of 1’06.251 around the 3.8 kilometre circuit.

Despite a small mistake at the start of his final flying lap, McLaren SP driver Pato O’Ward still went quick enough to qualify second, sharing the front row with VeeKay. Palou will start third as he looks for his first win of the year – from the same position that he won from last year at this venue, no less – next to St. Petersburg GP winner Scott McLaughlin in fourth.

Alexander Rossi was unsure if he’d even be able to run in qualifying after a crash in second practice, but he made it all the way into Fast Six qualifying and will start fifth, next to Felix Rosenqvist in sixth.

Newgarden, the points leader and a three-time winner at Barber Motorsports Park, will start seventh next to Romain Grosjean in eighth, Graham Rahal in ninth, and Colton Herta – the fastest driver in Friday’s first practice session – in tenth.

Callum Ilott and Juncos Hollinger Racing advanced to the second round of qualifying for the first time; Ilott will start eleventh as the top rookie, ahead of Marcus Ericsson, who spun off into the gravel at turn nine at the end of round two qualifying, and brought out a red flag as the timer hit zero, resulting in the deletion of his fastest lap.

Further back in the field, Scott Dixon will start 13th as he vies for his first win at the circuit, and Will Power, a four-time pole winner at Barber, starts down in 19th place.

Sunday’s Grand Prix of Alabama will run over 90 laps. The green flag will fly at 6.15pm UK time.

Grand Prix of Alabama qualifying results:

Position	Car	Driver	Team	Engine
1	21	Rinus VeeKay	Carpenter	Chevrolet
2	5	Pato O’Ward	McLaren SP	Chevrolet
3	10	Alex Palou	Ganassi	Honda
4	3	Scott McLaughlin	Penske	Chevrolet
5	27	Alexander Rossi	Andretti	Honda
6	7	Felix Rosenqvist	McLaren SP	Chevrolet
7	2	Josef Newgarden	Penske	Chevrolet
8	28	Romain Grosjean	Andretti	Honda
9	15	Graham Rahal	RLL	Honda
10	26	Colton Herta	Andretti	Honda
11	77	Callum Ilott	Juncos Hollinger	Chevrolet
12	8	Marcus Ericsson	Ganassi	Honda
13	9	Scott Dixon	Ganassi	Honda
14	30	Christian Lundgaard	RLL	Honda
15	45	Jack Harvey	RLL	Honda
16	6	Helio Castroneves	Meyer Shank	Honda
17	51	Takuma Sato	Coyne/RWR	Honda
18	18	David Malukas	Coyne/HMD	Honda
19	12	Will Power	Penske	Chevrolet
20	29	Devlin DeFrancesco	Andretti Steinbrenner	Honda
21	14	Kyle Kirkwood	Foyt	Chevrolet
22	20	Conor Daly	Carpenter	Chevrolet
23	4	Dalton Kellett	Foyt	Chevrolet
24	60	Simon Pagenaud	Meyer Shank	Honda
25	11	Tatiana Calderon	Foyt	Chevrolet
26	48	Jimmie Johnson	Ganassi	Honda