IndyCar
Robert Shwartzman and PREMA Racing win pole position for 109th Indianapolis 500
SPEEDWAY, IN (May 18, 2025) – Robert Shwartzman, a rookie driver, and PREMA Racing, a first-year NTT INDYCAR SERIES team are on the pole position for the 109th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge.
“Honestly it’s unbelievable,” said Shwartzman, from Tel Aviv, Israel. “I was just thinking in my dreams fantasizing, How will it feel to take pole position in Indy 500? How is the vibe? Then I was, like, Yeah, Robert, get back to reality. You have a new car, new team, you are a rookie. How can you expect to be in this position? It’s just in your dreams.”
The dream came true when Shwartzman ripped off a four-lap average speed of 232.790 mph in the No. 83 PREMA Racing Chevrolet during the Firestone Fast Six. PREMA, which joined the NTT INDYCAR SERIES this season after years of success in European racing, became the first team to claim the “500” pole in its first attempt since Mayer Motor Racing put Tom Sneva on the pole in 1984.
Two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Takuma Sato will start second after a four-lap average of 232.478 in the No. 75 AMADA Honda of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.
“I’m very happy for the team who put my car, the 75 car, on the front row, which is amazing result because I think we were kind of a roller coaster situation,” said Sato. “Not just today, but through yesterday and probably the last two weeks. As everybody knows that the team has to build brand new car after we had a moment in open test.”
Pato O’Ward will join Shwartzman and Sato on the front row after turning a 232.098 four-lap average in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet.
“Super stoked to have my first front row start here at the 500,” said O’Ward. “Definitely was pushing for that pole. This is obviously the first time that I’ve had a true shot to compete for pole, but also compete to be one of the best three. We’ve got the best view going into turn one.”
Scott Dixon, the 2008 Indianapolis 500 winner, will start fourth after a four lap average of 232.052 in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.
“Definitely a roller coaster throughout qualifying, especially on the second day,” said Dixon. “Huge thanks to everybody on the No. 9 PNC Bank team. There’s so much effort that goes into this, I can’t thank everybody enough. P4 definitely a spot we can win from an that is the goal.”
Dixon, a six-time Series Champion who has won the Indianapolis 500 pole position five times, was surprised to see who ended up on the pole.
“Rookie on the pole with Shwartzman, how wild is that,” asked Dixon. “New team, I didn’t see that coming at all.”
Felix Rosenqvist qualified fifth at 231.987 in the No. 60 SiriusXM Honda of Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb-Agajanian.
Dixon’s CGR teammate three-time series Champion and current points leader Alex Palou, who has won four of the first five races this season, qualified sixth at 231.378 in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.
Marco Andretti, Marcus Armstrong and Rinus VeeKay earned the final three spots in the field in Last Chance Qualifying. Andretti, grandson of 1969 Indianapolis 500 winner Mario Andretti, will start 31st in the No. 98 MAPEI/Curb Honda of Andretti Herta w/Marco & Curb-Agajanian.
Armstrong rebounded from a vicious crash Saturday to qualify 32nd at 229.091 in the No. 66 SiriusXM/Root Insurance Honda of Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb-Agajanian.
VeeKay was the last driver to earn a spot in the 33-car lineup, qualifying 33rd at 226.913 in the No. 18 askROI Honda of Dale Coyne Racing and hanging on to hope while his rookie teammate, Jacob Abel, fell short of making the field in the last run of the LCQ session. Abel’s last-ditch attempt reached 226.394 in the No. 75 Miller High Life Honda.
Noticeably absent from the run for the pole position was Team Penske. Two Penske drivers, Josef Newgarden and Will Power, didn’t make their respective one attempt after violating INDYCAR Rule 14.7.8.16, an unapproved body fit on the rear attenuator of the car. Scott McLaughlin crashed the No. 3 Pennzoil Chevrolet in the morning practice and will be forced to go to a backup car.
“The rule is pretty black and white,” said O’Ward, when asked about the Penske rule violation. “Those cars should have been in the last chance qualifier. Like, those cars should have never — obviously they didn’t do anything in the Fast 12, but they should have been brought into the LCQ because they had that yesterday, I guarantee you.”
Up next is a practice session from 1-3 p.m. ET Monday (FS1, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network).
DETROIT, MI (June 1, 2025) – Kyle Kirkwood is the winner of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix. The win was Kirkwood’s second of the season and fourth of his career.
Kirkwood started third on the grid and moved up to second early in the race and took advantage to grab the lead from teammate Colton Herta who finished third.
“This AWS Honda was on rails all weekend long,” said Kirkwood. “There were some challenges out there, that’s for sure. We had to pass our way back through a handful of times, and it was definitely not a walk in the park.”
This 100-lap race on the notoriously bumpy and tight nine-turn, 1.645-mile circuit on the streets of downtown Detroit came down to strategy and survival.
The 27-car field divided into two strategic camps at the start, with 12 cars beginning the race on Firestone’s grippier but less durable Firehawk alternate tires and 15 on the slower but more durable primary tires. The top nine starters, which included pole sitter Herta and teammate Kirkwood, opted to start on the softer alternate tire and shed it as soon as possible for the durability of the harder tire. INDYCAR rules require that all drivers must use both tire compounds for at least two laps per race.
That divided the field into separate pit cycles, with drivers on both strategies being forced to fight their way through the field after each stop while waiting for drivers on alternative tactics to pit.
The win has Honda Racing’s seventh of the season, continuing a season-long lockout of victories among engine manufacturers and gave Honda a weekend sweep after their Acura brand won the IMSA race on Saturday in the Motor City.
“ Amazing weekend for Honda, HRC, and also Acura,” said Kevin Fu, Vice President, Honda Racing Corporation USA. “Between our IndyCar and IMSA programs we got two poles and two wins in Detroit, and our seventh victory in a row in IndyCar. This is unprecedented start to the season for us. As always, thanks to the teams and all the folks back at HRC in Santa Clarita for all their continuous hard work, and the work they’ve done off season to get us to this point.”
The win moved Kirkwood up to second in the Championship points standings, 78-points behind leader Alex Palou, who was taken out by David Malukas going into Turn 1 on a restart.
AJ Foyt Racing’s Santino Ferrucci came home second for his best career finish and the team’s best finish of the season and best road or street course finish in a decade.
“It feels great,” said Ferrucci. “Honestly, the strategy plays into everything that we do, especially at road and street courses it’s very tough, and I can’t thank the team enough. This is more deserving of them than it is even of me. We probably drove to 11th minus the strategy just running our race.”
Team Penske’s Will Power finished fourth in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet followed by Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kyffin Simpson in fifth. The fifth place finish was a career best for Simpson, the second-year driver from the Cayman Islands.
“It was a great, great race for us in the #8 Ridgeline Honda,” said Simpson. “I think we had a lot of pace, especially when running on the green tires, and we were able to really make strong gains through the field on that strategy.”
The next NTT INDYCAR SERIES event is the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 presented by Axalta and Valvoline on Sunday evening, June 15 at World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Illinois, just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis.
DETROIT, MI (June 1, 2025) Alex Palou’s race on the streets of Detroit is over early after contact on a restart from David Malkus sent the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda into the tire barriers at the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix.
The Indianapolis 500 winner was running fourth on Lap 72 when the race restarted following a caution and entering Turn 1, Malukas came in too fast, made contact with Palou ending his day and his almost perfect season.
Palou came into the race with five wins in six event with a worst finish of second at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. Detroit ended that streak and Palou was credited with a 25th place finish.
“We were just biding our time there in fourth,” explained Palou. “Hoping to sneak onto the podium there at the end but we were hit from behind. Not much we could do there.”
Palou came into the race with a 112-point lead in the season long Championship over Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward.
DETROIT, MI (May 31, 2025) – Andretti Global’s Colton Herta is on the pole position for Sunday’s Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix, the 1.645-mile, nine-turn temporary street course run on the streets of downtown Detroit.
Herta’s fast lap of 1 minute, .4779 of a second in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda was good enough to claim his first pole of 2025 and 15th of his NTT INDYCAR SERIES career.
“I was happy with it,” said Herta. “Friday was pretty bad from us as far as what we’re used to on street courses, just the feel of the race car. So it kind of — Friday night to go over everything and turn everything around. The engineering group did a great job.”
David Malukas, coming off a strong finish at the Indy 500, continued the momentum grabbing the second starting spot at 1:00.6492 in the No. 4 Clarience Technologies Chevrolet for A.J. Foyt Enterprises.
“Everything just clicked,” said Malukas. “We kept our heads down and just committed. I thought we had a good car, and clearly it went out and showed that.”
Herta’s teammate Kyle Kirkwood lines up third after a fast lap of 1:00.7312 in the No. 27 Siemens AWS Honda. Kirkwood led practice Friday, while Herta paced the Saturday morning practice session.
Arrow McLaren’s Christian Lundgaard will start beside Kirkwood in the fourth position after a quick lap of 1:00.8938 in the No. 7 Chevrolet.
Rahal Letterman Laningan Racing’s Graham Rahal will start fifth after posting a 1:01.0651 in the No. 15 JJ Curran Crane Company Honda.
Lining up beside Rahal will be Championship points leader and 109th Indianapolis 500 winner Alex Palou who put up a 1:01.4680 in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. Palou, who’s won five of the six races this year, holds a 112-point lead over Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward, who will start 18th after failing to advance out of the first round of knockout-style qualifying.
Palou’s CGR teammate Scott Dixon qualified 10th in the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda after turning a 1:01:1595.
Dixon and Rahal however will have those qualifying efforts nullified after being penalized for unapproved engine changes prior to the Sunday, May 25 race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Rahal and Dixon will receive a six-position starting grid penalty for violating the INDYCAR rule. Rahal now rolls off 11th and Dixon 16th.
The 100-lap race starts Sunday at 12:30 p.m. ET (FOX, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network).
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