“I’ve seen plenty of the hate, plenty of the can’t do it, can’t compete with the kids, can’t whatever.”
That was one of the first sentences out of the mouth of Graham Rahal after he clinched the pole for Saturday’s Gallagher Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. His first since 2017 and the fourth of his career, this pole marks a big comeback for the Ohio native after he was the sole driver bumped during qualifying for the Indy 500 in May.
Backing up Rahal on the front row is RLL teammate Christian Lundgaard, down one spot from the GMR Grand Prix in May where he grabbed his first career pole. Fellow Rahal driver Jack Harvey completed an impressive outing for the Ohio-based outfit, missing out on the top five by just a few tenths by qualifying in eighth. Speaking on his team’s positive performance, Lundgaard said “Every time we come to this racetrack, we know we’ll be able to fight for a win. Now we’ve just given ourselves two chances.”
Arrow McLaren and Andretti Autosport showed out during qualifying as well, with Alexander Rossi and Pato O’Ward putting their papaya orange cars in third and fourth for the McLaren outfit, and Devlin DeFrancesco flying to a career-best qualifying spot in fifth, followed by Andretti teammate Romain Grosjean.
Championship leader Alex Palou is set to roll off in ninth on Saturday afternoon, his third-lowest (or highest, whatever way you look at it) qualifying position of the season. His closest rival, Josef Newgarden had a rough practice in the morning and arguably a worse qualifying session, condemning the two-time series champion to 19th.
| PLACE | DRIVER | NUMBER | TEAM | LAP TIME |
| 1 | Graham Rahal | 15 | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | 1:10.1132 |
| 2 | Christian Lundgaard | 45 | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | 1:10.2286 |
| 3 | Alexander Rossi | 7 | Arrow McLaren | 1:10.2932 |
| 4 | Pato O’Ward | 5 | Arrow McLaren | 1:10.3453 |
| 5 | Devlin DeFrancesco | 29 | Andretti Autosport | 1:10.3938 |
| 6 | Romain Grosjean | 28 | Andretti Autosport | 1:10.4021 |
| 7 | Marcus Armstrong | 11 | Chip Ganassi Racing | 1:10.2106 |
| 8 | Jack Harvey | 30 | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | 1:10.2228 |
| 9 | Alex Palou | 10 | Chip Ganassi Racing | 1:10.2974 |
| 10 | Felix Rosenqvist | 6 | Arrow McLaren | 1:10.4389 |
| 11 | Scott McLaughlin | 3 | Team Penske | 1:10.4782 |
| 12 | Helio Castroneves | 06 | Meyer Shank Racing | 1:10.5207 |
| 13 | Colton Herta | 26 | Andretti Autosport | 1:10.4398 |
| 14 | Linus Lundqvist | 60 | Meyer Shank Racing | 1:10.4570 |
| 15 | Kyle Kirkwood | 27 | Andretti Autosport | 1:10.4869 |
| 16 | Scott Dixon | 9 | Chip Ganassi Racing | 1:10.5006 |
| 17 | Will Power | 12 | Team Penske | 1:10.5237 |
| 18 | Marcus Ericsson | 8 | Chip Ganassi Racing | 1:10.6348 |
| 19 | Josef Newgarden | 2 | Team Penske | 1:10.6150 |
| 20 | Rinus VeeKay | 21 | Ed Carpenter Racing | 1:10.7249 |
| 21 | Santino Ferrucci | 14 | A.J. Foyt Racing | 1:10.6461 |
| 22 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | 20 | Ed Carpenter Racing | 1:11.0083 |
| 23 | David Malukas | 18 | Dale Coyne Racing | 1:10.8867 |
| 24 | Agustin Canapino | 78 | Juncos Hollinger Racing | 1:11.0611 |
| 25 | Sting Ray Robb | 51 | Dale Coyne Racing | 1:11.5658 |
| 26 | Callum Ilott | 77 | Juncos Hollinger Racing | 1:11.1027 |
| 27 | Benjamin Pedersen | 55 | A.J. Foyt Racing | 1:11.2971 |
