Felix Rosenqvist and Alex Palou every battled gusty winds and altering monitor situations Saturday to assert poles for the 2 warmth races Sunday setting the sphere for The Thermal Club $1 Million Challenge.
Rosenqvist and reigning NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Palou can be on the head of the sphere for their respective 10-lap warmth races Sunday on the 17-turn, 3.067-mile desert circuit close to Palm Springs, California. The high six finishers in every of these heats will compete within the Sprint for the Purse, a two-segment, 20-lap function race that awards $500,000 to the winner.
SEE: Heat 1 Qualifying Results | Heat 2 Qualifying Results
Live protection of the 2 warmth races and non-points Sprint for the Purse begins at 12:30 p.m. ET Sunday on NBC, Peacock and the INDYCAR Radio Network.
“It’s an angry pack behind in the mirror,” Rosenqvist of ranging from the entrance within the warmth. “I think it’s about the start and getting away, but, man, everyone’s going to go for it. That’s the beauty and the curse of this format. Everyone is just going to give it all, and that’s what we did now and ended up first.”
Rosenqvist continued his sturdy efficiency from the season opener earlier this month in St. Petersburg by taking the highest spot for the primary 10-lap warmth with a greatest lap of 1 minute, 38.5831 seconds within the No. 60 AutoNation/SiriusXM Honda regardless of issues together with his push-to-pass mechanism throughout testing earlier right now. The Swede certified second and completed seventh within the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg offered by RP Funding within the first points-paying occasion of the season and his first with Meyer Shank Racing.
“We tried to stay calm after the morning; we had kind of a messy session,” Rosenqvist stated. “I simply tried to neglect that session, take a deep breath and do all of it again.
“It’s so tricky out there, man. The wind is changing every lap. There’s dust on the track. I was first out (in qualifying), so I was worried there was going to be poor grip. But I could focus on my tire warmup like we did yesterday, and I felt a bit more confident when I went for the lap. I guess all we had to do is put it together, and the speed is there. Awesome.”
Scott McLaughlin will be a part of Rosenqvist on the entrance row for the primary warmth race after his greatest lap of 1:38.6068 within the No. 3 XPEL Team Penske Chevrolet. Rinus VeeKay can be on the within of Row 2 within the first warmth after his qualifying lap of 1:38.6283 within the No. 21 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet.
Christian Lundgaard, quickest general in two days of testing right here Friday and right now, certified fourth for the primary warmth at 1:38.6394 within the No. 45 Hy-Vee Honda fielded by Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.
Each qualifying group – decided by a blind draw Thursday evening at this non-public automotive membership – had simply eight minutes on monitor. The first group was clear aside from just a few drivers placing a Firestone Firehawk tire broad and kicking sand and filth on the monitor. The second group confronted extra strain when Marcus Ericsson spun off monitor and backed into the tire barrier in Turn 9 within the No. 28 Delaware Life Honda fielded by Andretti Global, spawning a purple flag and freezing the clock with only one minute, 19 seconds left.
That compelled the opposite 12 drivers in Group Two to resolve whether or not they needed to face pat on their current instances or go for broke on one closing journey across the circuit when the session resumed.
Two-time sequence champion Palou determined to take an opportunity in his No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda because the wind picked up and swirled sand and mud across the circuit. Palou, who led each check periods Friday, produced the highest lap of qualifying together with his Group 2-topping run of 1:38.5675 regardless of having solely 14 seconds of push-to-pass left for that lap.
“Looking forward to tomorrow,” Palou stated. “After all that confusion with the purple flag and every thing, we didn’t know if we have been going to have the ability to put a lap collectively. But pleased with that.
“We were using everything (push-to-pass) on that lap before it went red, so happy with that pace. The car is good.”
Palou will begin on the pole for the 20-lap Sprint for the Purse – divided into two-lap segments – if he wins his warmth race as a result of he produced the quickest lap of the 2 qualifying segments.
It can be an all-Chip Ganassi Racing entrance row for the second warmth race as Marcus Armstrong certified second at 1:38.7575 within the No. 11 Ridgeline Lubricants Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.
Graham Rahal, who struggled for tempo right here Friday and right now in testing, discovered grip at simply the fitting time to qualify third at 1:38.9723 within the No. 15 Fifth Third Bank Honda fielded by Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. Rookie Linus Lundqvist accomplished a powerful second qualifying group for CGR and can begin fourth after his greatest lap of 1:39.0685 within the No. 8 American Legion Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.