INDIANAPOLIS, IN (May 10, 2024) Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou is on the pole position for Saturday’s Sonsio Grand Prix on the road course at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Palou’s fast lap of 1 minute, 9.0004 seconds in the No. 10 DHL Honda during final round of knockout-style qualifying was 0.168-seconds faster than second-place qualifier Christian Lundgaard of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.

“We’ve normally struggled quite a lot on qualifying, so it feels special,” said Palou.  “On top of that, today we started a bit slow, struggling a little bit with the car balance in both practices. Yeah, kind of surprised that we are here, but at the same time, we are enjoying the moment and looking forward to tomorrow starting on pole.”

Palou won this race last Spring, which kicked off a string of four wins in five races propelling him to the 2023 series Championship.

“We just had an amazing amount of work by the whole team that allowed me to have the best car every single weekend last year so much in a row and we executed,” said Palou. “We were lucky at some moments, and we took advantage of it. But it helps. Momentum always helps.”

Lundgaard’s fast lap of 1:09:0921 in the No. 45 HyVee Honda gave him three-consecutive front row starts on the 14-turn, 2.439-mile IMS road course.  Lundgaard won the pole for this event last May and started second in the Gallagher Grand Prix last August.

“I must say I’m a little disappointed,” said Lundgaard.  “There was only one more guy to beat. We’ve done it before. We’ve been on the pole here. We’ve also started second. That will now be the second time in a row that I’ll do that.  But I think as a team, we need to be proud of always knocking on the door when we’re here. We’re always competitive, and yet we’re still trying to find different things and make different things work, which was an approach we took for this weekend because we knew we had a place to fall back to.”

Two-time series champion Will Power will start third after his top qualifying lap of 1:09.1636 in the No. 12 Verizon Business Team Penske Chevrolet. Teammate Josef Newgarden will join Power in the second row of the starting grid after qualifying fourth at 1:09.2528 in the No. 2 Snap-on Team Penske Chevrolet.

“Happy to start in that second row,” said Newgarden.  “I think we have something to fight with, which is great for the whole team. We’ve struggled from the first outing. Actually one of my best runs — best laps was my third lap out, and then we just went backwards from there, and then we clawed our way back into qualifying.”

Pato O’Ward will start fifth after his best lap of 1:09.3320 in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. Six-time series champion Scott Dixon rounded out the Firestone Fast Six at 1:09.5270 in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.

Sonsio GP IndyCar Qualifying

INDIANAPOLIS, IN (May 7, 2024) – Chip Ganassi Racing rookie Linus Lundqvist is looking to build on his career best finish last weekend at Barber as the NTT INDYCAR SERIES take to the road course at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for this Saturday’s Sonsio Indy Grand Prix.

Lundqvist and the No. 8 American Legion Honda finished third at Barber Motorsports Park and feel that was just the beginning of things to come for the squad.

“Happy to see all the 8 crew getting together and getting a little bit of success,” said Lundqvist. “Obviously happy for the whole team. Obviously I wouldn’t say it was a regular occurrence the last couple years, but they’ve been up there multiple times. Now the next step is to try to bring them back to the top step.”

Lundqvist heads into this Saturday’s Sonsio Grand Prix having already raced on the road course at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway so the learning curve is not as steep as previous weekends.

“I think it’s just general comfort going back to a place where firstly I’ve had some history racing there in Indy Lights, did pretty well,” explains Lundqvist. “More so having an INDYCAR race under your belt on that track, you kind of know what to expect.”

Lundqvist realizes he is on a team deep with resources and talent but knows he doesn’t need to push the envelope so to speak.

“I’m still working through different setups for me to be 100% comfortable in,” said Lundqvist. “Right now, even if the car theoretically should be the fastest, I’m not really yet at the comfort level to drive it that way. You lose more out of the driver that you would potentially gain from the car, if you know what I mean. It’s about finding that sweet spot. As my confidence grows in the car, what I’m asking for, they can kind of follow along and hopefully spice things up.”

Lundqvist said his Ganassi team is not putting any extra pressure on him despite the success of that car the last few year when it was piloted by Marcus Ericsson.

“It’s a process,” said Lundqvist. “It’s a process that neither me or the team want to rush through. We’re not driving around at 90%, but it’s still not something that we’re overly stressed about. We know once everything clicks, we’ll be right up there.”

Part of the process is learning from those around him like his teammates, six-time series Champion Scott Dixon and two-time series Champion Alex Palou.

“The things I can learn from them is too long to touch on here,” said a smiling Lundqvist. “They have had tremendous success. I think they won both races here last year, with Alex in the spring, Scott at the second race. They know how to win around that place. Then obviously the data and the video. We’re going to chat to them and see what they did.”

A native of Sweden, Lundqvist is honored to be carrying the colors of the American Legion and promoting their message to ‘Be The One’ to help end Veteran suicide.

“I’m extremely proud to be representing the American Legion,” said Lundqvist. “It kind of comes from two aspects. Firstly, the American Legion livery, even though its short history in INDYCAR, has had tremendous success, won races, won championships. It’s very cool as a racing driver to kind of bring that forward.”

“Secondly, the mission,” explained Lundqvist. “Everything that American Legion works for, especially the mission ‘Be the One’, it’s something bigger than racing. At the end of the day you’re saving lives. I think that’s one of the greatest honors that one can have.”

Practice for the Sonsio Grand Prix takes place Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. with a second practice from 1:10 p.m. to 2:10 p.m. followed by three-rounds of knockout-style Qualifying for the NTT P1 Award at 4:20 p.m.

Saturday’s schedule features a morning warm-up from 11:15 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. followed by the Sonsio Grand Prix at 3 p.m.  The race will be televised by NBC and can be heard on the INDYCAR Radio Network.

MOORESVILLE, NC (May 7, 2024) Team Penske has suspended four members involved in the push-to-pass cheating scandal including team President Tim Cindric.

Managing Director Ron Ruzewski, No. 2 Race Engineer Luke Mason and Senior Data Engineer Robbie Atkinson join Cindric on the sidelines for the next two NTT INDYCAR SERIES races, this weekend’s Sonsio Grand Prix on the road course at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indianapolis 500.

The NTT INDYCAR SERIES discovered that Team Penske installed software that bypassed the push-to-pass system at the season opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg and stripped race-winner Josef Newgarden of the victory and third-place winner Scott McLaughlin of his podium finish.  The Series said the software was discovered prior to the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.

INDYCAR’s subsequent investigation and penalties were announced prior to last week’s race at Barber Motorsports Park and the series said it was over and done with, but not for Penske.

Team Owner Roger Penske, who also owns the series and Indianapolis Motor Speedway, met with several team owners and team principals at Barber but apparently felt he needed to take further action.

“After a full and comprehensive analysis of the information, Team Penske has determined that there were significant failures in our processes and internal communications,” Team Penske said in a statement.

“I recognize the magnitude of whaat occurred and the impact it continues to have on the sport to which I’ve dedicated so many decades,” said Team Owner Roger Penske in the same statement.  “Everyone at Team Penske along with our fans and business partners should know that I apologize for the errors that were made and I deeply regret them.”