Rosenqvist controls heat one but Palou takes pole for final in heat two

Felix Rosenqvist and Alex Palou converted their pole positions for IndyCar’s two heat races at The Thermal Club into victory, meaning they will share the front row of the grid for the final.

Heat One

IndyCar’s first heat race at Thermal Club in a largely orderly affair following a first-lap collision.

Scott Dixon punted Romain Grosjean sideways well before the field reached the first corner on the 17-turn course. The sliding Juncos Hollinger car thumped into Rinus Veekay, putting both out on the spot.

Dixon was handed a drive-through penalty which he served after the race restarted. That immediately ended his hopes of finishing in the top six and progressing to the final.

Rosenqvist had to get his elbows out to keep Scott McLaughlin behind at the initial start but was never seriously challenged once the race resumed. The Meyer Shank driver ran out the winner while McLaughlin and his Penske team mate Josef Newgarden also progressed.

Christian Lundgaard, Agustin Canapino and Colton Herta took the final spots on the grid for heat one. There were no significant changes of position after the restart, though newcomer Nolan Siegel briefly took an interest in Herta’s sixth place.

Siegel slipped back after a slight error and took the chequered flag as the first driver outside of the crucial top six, followed by Santino Ferrucci and Will Power. The latter passed Sting Ray Robb and Kyle Kirkwood in an ultimately fruitless attempt to reach the top six after being delayed at the start.

IndyCar Thermal heat one result

P.	No.	Driver	Team	Engine
1	60	Felix Rosenqvist	Meyer Shank	Honda
2	3	Scott McLaughlin	Penske	Chevrolet
3	2	Josef Newgarden	Penske	Chevrolet
4	45	Christian Lundgaard	RLL	Honda
5	78	Agustin Canapino	Juncos Hollinger	Chevrolet
6	26	Colton Herta	Andretti/Curb-Agajanian	Honda
7	18	Nolan Siegel	Coyne	Honda
8	14	Santino Ferrucci	Foyt	Chevrolet
9	12	Will Power	Penske	Chevrolet
10	27	Kyle Kirkwood	Andretti	Honda
11	41	Sting Ray Robb	Foyt	Chevrolet
12	9	Scott Dixon	Ganassi	Honda
13	21	Rinus VeeKay	Carpenter	Chevrolet
14	77	Romain Grosjean	Juncos Hollinger	Chevrolet

Heat Two

Alex Palou romped to victory in the second heat and claimed pole position for the final.

The second group of drivers performed a much cleaner start that the first did, as pole-winner Alex Palou and Marcus Armstrong led the field to the first corner. From there the two green cars disappeared, third-placed Graham Rahal dropping back at around two second per lap.

Linus Lundqvist in fourth place, and Pietro Fittipaldi behind, were content to bide their time. But further back all three McLarens completed the first lap outside the crucial top six placed which offered progression to the final.

The last place in the top six was held by Tom Blomqvist. Callum Ilott, still substituting for David Malukas at McLaren, initially led the three orange cars, but kept it clean when Alexander Rossi dived to his inside. Pato O’Ward also grabbed his chance to take seventh from Ilott, but still needed to find one more position to reach the final.

Palou began to drop Armstrong over the final laps and took the chequered flag five seconds ahead of his rival. The next five cars ran in close company but no one came close to mustering a pass, so Rahal, Lundqvist, Fittipaldi and Rossi claimed the last places in the final.

IndyCar Thermal heat two result

P.	No.	Driver	Team	Engine
1	10	Alex Palou	Ganassi	Honda
2	11	Marcus Armstrong	Ganassi	Honda
3	15	Graham Rahal	RLL	Honda
4	8	Linus Lundqvist	Ganassi	Honda
5	30	Pietro Fittipaldi	RLL	Honda
6	7	Alexander Rossi	McLaren	Chevrolet
7	5	Pato O’Ward	McLaren	Chevrolet
8	66	Tom Blomqvist	Meyer Shank	Honda
9	6	Callum Ilott	McLaren	Chevrolet
10	20	Christian Rasmussen	Carpenter	Chevrolet
11	4	Kyffin Simpson	Ganassi	Honda
12	28	Marcus Ericsson	Andretti	Honda
13	51	Colin Braun	Coyne	Honda

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