Lundqvist masters wet qualifying for first pole, Newgarden shunts

Linus Lundqvist claimed his first IndyCar pole position after a huge crash for Josef Newgarden brought an early end to qualifying.

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The Penske driver was unhurt after slamming into the barrier at the exit of the high-speed Kink corner. Newgarden lost control of his car when he touched the wet entry kerb on his final lap of the Fast Six session.

He was the second Penske driver to hit trouble in the final stage of qualifying. Team mate Will Power’s session ended after he spun off at Canada Corner earlier on.

Lundqvist had set the quickest time shortly before Newgarden’s crash, lapping a tenth of a second faster than Colton Herta. The Andretti driver led the field out of the pits when the session restarted after Power’s crash, but reached the chequered flag earlier than his rivals as lap times improved on the dry track.

Lundqvist and Herta will each have one of their team mates directly behind them on the grid for tomorrow’s race. Marcus Armstrong took third for Ganassi and Andretti’s Kyle Kirkwood will line up alongside him. Row three will be filled with the two Penske drivers whose lap times were deleted for causing the red flags in the Fast Six session.

While slicks were used in the final session, wet tyres were favoured earlier on when there was more water on the track. Last year’s winner Alex Palou narrowly missed his chance to reach the Fast Six and will start alongside Scott McLaughlin, who had several off-track moments in the third of the Penskes.

The highest McLaren driver will start ninth on the grid. Alexander Rossi and Pato O’Ward headed the first group when the track was at its wettest but lacked pace as the track dried out. Scott Dixon will separate them on the grid.

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Kyffin Simpson, who impressively progressed from group one with a late lap which eliminated Christian Lundgaard, claimed 12th. Lundgaard will start 13th alongside Romain Grosjean, who missed the cut to escape group two by a tenth of a second.

Qualifying result

Pos.	No.	Driver	Time
1	8	Linus Lundqvist	1’45.1519
2	26	Colton Herta	1’45.2913
3	11	Marcus Armstrong	1’45.6592
4	27	Kyle Kirkwood	1’46.4498
5	12	Will Power	No time
6	2	Josef Newgarden	No time
7	10	Alex Palou	2’00.8290
8	3	Scott McLaughlin	2’00.8840
9	7	Alexander Rossi	2’00.9035
10	9	Scott Dixon	2’01.2671
11	5	Pato O’Ward	2’01.5141
12	4	Kyffin Simpson	2’01.6266
13	45	Christian Lundgaard	2’02.3826
14	77	Romain Grosjean	2’01.7626
15	28	Marcus Ericsson	2’02.6460
16	20	Christian Rasmussen	2’02.0944
17	21	Rinus VeeKay	2’02.7088
18	6	Theo Pourchaire	2’02.1745
19	14	Santino Ferrucci	2’03.8144
20	18	Jack Harvey	2’02.9443
21	78	Nolan Siegel	2’05.0248
22	60	Felix Rosenqvist	2’03.3098
23	51	Luca Ghiotto	2’05.1341
24	15	Graham Rahal	2’04.8213
25	30	Pietro Fittipaldi	2’05.6079
26	41	Sting Robb	2’04.8553
27	66	Helio Castroneves	2’09.6837

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5 comments on “Lundqvist masters wet qualifying for first pole after heavy crash for Newgarden”

RandomMallard
9th June 2024, 9:59

That was a huge shunt for Newgarden, very glad he’s OK.

Congratulations to Lundqvist as well, those conditions can’t have been easy!
chimaera2003 (@chimaera2003)
9th June 2024, 12:32

Only caught the Fast 6 but the conditions were as sketchy as possible. No choice but to go on slicks but absolutely no margin for error as track was VERY wet off line.

The bravery needed to go no lift through the Kink in those conditions was genuinely unbelievable and for my money matches anything you’ll see in an F1 car this year! Glad Newgarden got out the car unaided as that was a big shunt!
1. Asd
  9th June 2024, 13:08
  
  Those safe barriers developed for the ovals are amazing. Obviously F1 adopted them too. And IndyCars’ side impact structures are the best in motorsport. I was blown away to see how little damage the car really had and Newgarden looking like nothing’s happend.
Le Jimster (@lejimster82)
9th June 2024, 14:05

I’ve been following Marcus Armstrong since last year as I watch his Screaming Meals channel. He was genuinely looking fast during that qualifying and was the only driver that was up on Lundqvist before Newgarden wrecked his car. Such a shame. I think he would have had pole.
Don
9th June 2024, 14:19

Just crazy that Newgarden wasn’t hurt as that side impact was HUGE! Congrats to the young Swede on his first pole.