After the two practice sessions on Friday and earlier on Saturday, IndyCar started the first round of qualifying. The qualifying sessions at Barber Motorsports Park have finished, thus setting the starting grid for tomorrow’s race.
Track conditions were better from what they were during today’s practice session with drivers not having to run on wet tires. For the first time in 2025 all three Penskes made it into the Fast 12 with Newgarden driving well but not well enough to make it into the Fast 6. Report and results of each round and group are below.
Round 1, Group 1
The first group started with seasoned veterans such as Graham Rahal and Will Power, and the younger crowd such as Nolan Siegel and Jacob Abel, who rose through Indy NXT.
Eyes were on Scott McLaughlin, winner of last year’s race here, to see if he could finally give Penske the lap they needed to climb back to the top.
Marcus Ericsson was also looking for a good lap but had to settle with placing 12th. This knocked him out of getting a chance at the Fast 12. Ferrucci was not able to get his tires in properly and finished 7th.
Results
- Palou
- McLaughlin
- Armstrong
- O’Ward
- Siegel
- Power
- Ferrucci
- Rossi
- Rasmussen
- Daly
- Rahal
- Ericsson
- Abel
Round 1, Group 2
Kyle Kirkwood near the start put in a great lap time of 1:10.904 but was unable to convert that into a place in the Fast 12 in the second round.
Dixon suffered a small mistake which cost him the rest of qualifying. The veteran driver will be starting 26th for Sunday’s race.
Kyffin Simpson impressed with a time 1:07.508 which entered him into the Fast 12.
Results
- Herta
- Newgarden
- Lundgaard
- Simpson
- Veekay
- Foster
- Rosenqvist
- Ilott
- Kirkwood
- Malukas
- Robb
- Shwartzman
- Dixon
- DeFrancesco
Fast 12
The next round saw three McLarens, three Penskes, and two Andrettis out on track. Nolan Siegel snagged 6th place, pushing out teammate Lundgaard with a time of 1:07.616.
Championship leader, Alex Palou finished the round tailing right behind Will Power. Rinks VeeKay put it all out on track and advanced into the Fast 6.
Marcus Armstrong was chasing Pato O’Ward around the last few corners but fell to 11th place with the Mexican finishing 8th.
Results
- Power
- Palou
- Herta
- McLaughlin
- Veekay
- Siegel
- Lundgaard
- O’Ward
- Newgarden
- Simpson
- Armstrong
- Foster
Fast 6
McLaughlin made good use of his last time out on track before Sunday’s race but not good enough to snag pole position. He missed out by only about one tenths of a second and Palou stormed ahead to gain his first P1 award of the season.
Nolan Siegel lay into the power of the No. 6 car and made good use of his used soft tires, working the steering wheel with small micro movements around the corners.
Although McLaughin had enough time for two laps, he was not able to beat out Palou for the pole position. The Fast 6 ended qualifying with an exciting grid set for Sunday.
Result
- Palou
- McLaughlin
- Herta
- Power
- Veekay
- Siegel
Here are the overall qualifying results:
