INDIANAPOLIS — Danish driver Christian Lundgaard gained his first IndyCar pole Friday, claiming the No. 1 beginning spot for Saturday’s Indianapolis Grand Prix.

Final season’s rookie of the 12 months posted a quick lap of 1 minute, 9.3321 seconds on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s 14-turn, 2.439-mile highway course. It is the primary time Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing has gained a pole this season.

A late wiggle on Felix Rosenqvist’s ultimate qualifying run left the Swede to start out second after going 1:09.3348. Alex Palou, the Spaniard who gained the 2021 sequence title, earned the No. 3 beginning spot.

It actually wasn’t simple on the cooling course, which was vastly totally different from the 2 observe rounds that had been carried out in largely sunny, scorching situations.

The consequence: A few of the pole favorites did not even make it out of the primary spherical of qualifying. The checklist included defending race winner Colton Herta, four-time Indianapolis 500 champion Helio Castroneves, three-time Indianapolis GP winner Simon Pagenaud, two-time sequence champ Josef Newgarden and two drivers within the high 5 of the present standings — Scott McLaughlin and Romain Grosjean.

4 Indianapolis 500 winners had been eradicated from pole rivalry in Spherical 2 — Marcus Ericsson, Scott Dixon, Alexander Rossi and Will Energy. The six-car shootout additionally was left with none of Workforce Penske’s three vehicles and solely included one automobile every from powerhouse groups Chip Ganassi Racing and Andretti Autosport, which had gained three of the 4 earlier poles this season.