Palou Pounces at Last Second To Cruise to Sonsio Grand Prix Pole
By: NTT INDYCAR SERIES (Photo Courtesy INDYCAR)
INDIANAPOLIS (Friday, May 9, 2025) – The Alex Palou Show continued Friday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, as the dominant leader of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES standings used deft tire strategy and a fast car to run away with the NTT P1 Award for the Sonsio Grand Prix.
Palou, who 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 in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. He saved a set of new Firestone Firehawk alternate tires for his last run in the Firestone Fast Six and took the top spot with his final lap of 1 minute, 9.3417 seconds.
SEE: Qualifying Results
“We had a bit of an advantage there with a set of new soft tires,” Palou said. “I think some people used them in Q1 (first round of qualifying), and we didn’t. Maybe that’s where the time comes.
“But that No. 10 DHL car was amazing. Super-fast. It’s been super-fast all season, honestly, but today it’s been on fire.”
It was the eighth career pole for Palou, whose gap to No. 2 qualifier Graham Rahal was a whopping .4099 of a second. Rahal’s best lap was 1:09.7516 in the No. 15 Fifth Third Bank Honda of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.
Rahal led a historic day for RLL, which put three drivers into the Firestone Fast Six for the first time. Rookie Louis Foster qualified a season-best third in the No. 45 Mi-Jack Honda of RLL at 1:09.8801. His previous best was 10th in March at The Thermal Club.
Devlin DeFrancesco kept the good times rolling for RLL by qualifying fifth at 1:09.9432 in the No. 30 EVTEC Honda, tying his career best set in August 2023 on this circuit when he drove for Andretti Global.
“It feels so good,” Rahal said. “What a lap. The balance was really consistent and matched my best of the whole day. It feels great for this entire team. We needed this. We expect to be good at Indy road course, but to see it come together and have three cars in the top five is amazing.”
Scott McLaughlin will start fourth in the 85-lap race Saturday (4:30 p.m. ET, FOX, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network) after his best lap of 1:09.8910 in the No. 3 Sonsio Vehicle Protection Chevrolet fielded by Team Penske.
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.
Five-time IMS road course winner Will Power just missed putting three Team Penske cars into the Firestone Fast Six for the first time this season, as he ended up seventh at 1:09.9973 in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet.
Second-year driver Kyffin Simpson continued to show his increasing pace in the No. 8 Journie Rewards Chip Ganassi Racing Honda by qualifying 10th, tying his career-best starting spot from the race last weekend at Barber Motorsports Park.
Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach winner Kyle Kirkwood, the only driver besides Palou to win this season, qualified a disappointing 21st in the No. 27 PreFab Honda fielded by Andretti Global.
A 25-minute warmup session at 11:30 a.m. Saturday (FS1, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network) will precede the race.
