IndyCar
Alex Palou wins NTT INDYCAR SERIES Sonsio Grand Prix Pole
INDIANAPOLIS, IN (May 9, 2025) Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou is continuing his impressive 2025 by winning 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, 9.3417 seconds in the No. 10 DHL Honda on the last lap of the Firestone Fast Six spoiled Graham Rahal’s bid for the Top spot.
“The car has been really, really fast all day, but especially qualifying,” said Palou. “Qualifying was really, really good. I had a couple of moments there locking a couple of tires, especially on Fast Six. That was big.”
Palou has won three of the first four races this season, earned his second straight pole of the year and his second in a row for this race carrying quite the momentum into the month of May at the Speedway.
“You can see in the team, myself, my confidence, and it just feels amazing to be in this position,” said Palou. “We want to win every single race, which is really tough, but whenever we have a chance of having a lot of confidence on driving a really fast car like what we have here, it’s up to us to try and execute.”
Execute is exactly what Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing is doing at the Speedway this weekend, leading the second practice session and putting all three team cars into the Firestone Fast Six for the first time.
Graham Rahal will start second in the No. 15 Fifth Third Bank Honda with a best lap was 1:09.7516 – .4099 of a second behind Palou.
“It’s a huge day for us,” said Rahal. “Really happy for everybody in our organization. It’s been a lot of hard work. I think coming into this weekend we expected to be good here.”
Rahal led a historic day for RLL. Rookie Louis Foster qualified a season-best third in the No. 45 Mi-Jack Honda of RLL at 1:09.8801 and Devlin DeFrancesco kept the good times rolling for RLL by qualifying fifth at 1:09.9432 in the No. 30 EVTEC Honda.
“This is the first track I’ve come to in INDYCAR that I’ve actually won in a junior category,” said Foster. “The previous rounds, two of them I had never raced at and the other two I had never won at. Honestly, at the end of the day all the credit is to the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing crew and the engineers.”
Scott McLaughlin will start fourth in the No. 3 Sonsio Vehicle Protection Team Penske Chevrolet after his best lap of 1:09.8910
Two-time series champion and two-time reigning Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge winner Josef Newgarden rounded out the Firestone Fast Six with his best lap of 1:09.9829 in the No. 2 Astemo Team Penske Chevrolet.
Saturday’s schedule starts with a 25-minute warmup session at 11:30 a.m. followed by the 85-lap race later in the day at 4:30 p.m.
MARKHAM, ONTARIO (August 15, 2026) – The NTT IndyCar Series is making it’s first visit to a new street circuit in Markham, Ontario but a familiar face topped the speed charts after the first practice.
Four-time Series Champion Alex Palou turned the fastest lap around the 12-turn, 2.19-mile temporary street course, a 1-minute, 14.9915-seconds (100.811 mph) lap in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.
A.J. Foyt Racing rookie Caio Collett was second quick with a 1-minute, 15.0454-seconds (100.739) in the No. 4 Chevrolet.
Louis Foster was third quick in the No. 45 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda at 1:15.0278 (100.702) followed by Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin 1:15.2981 (100.401). Will Power rounded out the Top 5 at 1:15.3152 (100.378).
Palou’s Chip Ganassi Racing teammates were not as strong. Six-time Series Champion Scott Dixon was 20th at 1:16.4583 (98.877) in the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda. Kyffin Simpson was 24th at 1.17.3893 (97.688) in the No. 8 Sunoco Honda. Simpson made contact with the wall at Turn 6, causing damage to the rear suspension. Simpson limped to pits for repair and returned to action later in the session.
Practice 2 is set for 2:30 p.m. as delayed track construction forced officials to cancel Friday’s activities and condense Saturday’s schedule. NTT P1 Pole Qualifying is set for 6:30 p.m. ET
MARKHAM, ONTARIO (August 14, 2026) – Issues with the completion of the temporary street circuit in Markham Ontario has forced the NTT INDYCAR SERIES first practice to be moved to Saturday as all of Friday’s on-track activity had to be scrubbed from the schedule.
“INDYCAR is incredibly disappointed that our promoter was not able to complete the track build on time, despite significant support from our team on site,” INDYCAR President J. Douglas Boles said. “Ontario has always been a magnificent market for our sport and the number of spectators that attended today is a shining example of that. New events can always pose logistical challenges and we join in the frustration of our loyal fans and apologize.”
Green Savoree Promotions also issued a statement.
“Ensuring the safety of the drivers and the completion of the certification process of competing on a brand-new racetrack delayed all on-track activities today. Today’s sessions have been rescheduled to Saturday, August 15, to allow for further track preparations.”
“We greatly appreciate all the fans who made it out to the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Markham today and chose to spend the day with us. The attendance and support were overwhelming.”
The revamped schedule calls for the first practice to take place at 10:00 a.m. followed by a second practice at 2:30 p.m. and P1 Pole Qualifying at 6:30 p.m.
PORTLAND, OR (August 9, 2026) – Alex Palou and Chip Ganassi Racing are closing in on another NTT IndyCar Series Championship after winning Sunday’s Only Bulls Portland Grand Prix.
Palou started second and passed Felix Rosenqvist during the first round of pit stops by staying out an extra lap and using the ‘overcut’ to get the lead and then dominated, leading 60 of 110-laps to grab his sixth victory of 2026.
“Everybody at CGR and Honda did an incredible job,” said Palou, who started second. “I had an absolute rocket ship today. It was very, very nice to drive every single lap.”
“We had to do something different than Felix,” said Barry Wanser, team manager for the No. 10 Honda. “We had to go longer than him. It takes a lot of performance by Alex and certainly the Honda engine to give us the fuel mileage to jump in one more and do the overcut. That helped us. We had a pretty smooth pit stop and got the jump there.”
Rosenqvist, who started on the pole in the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Grateful Dead Honda, closed to within a second late but couldn’t get back to the front.
“He got us in a sequence,” said Rosenqvist, the 2026 Indianapolis 500 winner. “I got kind of twisted up leaving my box because I was so close to the Schumacher crew. I think between the overcut and that, we kind of lost the position. From there on we just sat in second.”
Andretti Global’s Will Power finished third in the No. 26 TWG Honda to lockout the podium for the manufacturer.
“Great day for us,” said Power. “Great day for Andretti. Didn’t quite have the pace I think the top two guys. Probably about a tenth off. Just seriously fast pace all day. Qualifying laps, really good quality. Such a quality field now.”
The victory for Palou increased his Championship lead to 110 points over Kyle Kirkwood of Andretti Global, a gap of more than two races with just five races remaining this season.
“Chip puts the best guys around me, but then also everybody is just executing,” said Palou. “That car is a rocket ship, and I’m just lucky enough to drive it.”
The next NTT IndyCar Series race is the inaugural Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Markham on Sunday, Aug. 16 on the streets of Markham, Ontario.
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