Rahal awarded P1 after six years for INDYCAR Gallagher GP

Graham Rahal, of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, secured the NTT P1 Award to go into pole position for the first time in six years for the INDYCAR Gallagher Grand Prix.

Group 1

When the qualifying session went into green conditions, the first group quickly peeled out of their pit boxes and onto the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.

In the first group, it consisted of;

• Arrow McLaren’s Alexander Rossi, Pato O’Ward and Felix Rosenqvist
• Team Penske’s Will Power, Scott McLaughlin and Josef Newgarden
• Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Jack Harvey
• Andretti Autosport’s Devlin Defrancesco, Kyle Kirkwood and Colton Herta
• Dale Coyne Racing’s David Malukas and Sting Ray Robb
• Santino Ferrucci, AJ Foyt Enterprises

At the halfway mark of the first group, many drivers pitted for tyre changes and free space to get a clean qualifying run. Of the first 13 drivers, Rossi headed the field ahead of Defrancesco and Harvey who occupied the top three. O’Ward, Power and Herta rounded out the top six, in provisional position to advance to the fast 12.

By the end of the first qualifying run, Defrancesco was the fastest driver out on the track, of the first group, ahead of Harvey, O’Ward, McLaughlin, Rossi and Rosenqvist respectively. The first qualifying eliminations were Herta, Kirkwood, Power, Newgarden, Ferrucci, Malukas, and Sting Ray Robb.

Group two

Similarly to the first group, the halved field of drivers quickly peeled off their pit boxes and filtered into the fast lane in unison.

Drivers in the second group:

• Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Graham Rahal and Christian Lungaard
• Juncos’ Callum Ilott and Agustin Canapino
• Ed Carpenter’s Rinus Veekay and Ryan Hunter-Reay
• Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou, Marcus Ericsson,  Scott Dixon and Marcus Armstrong
• Andretti Autosport’s Romain Grosjean
• Benjamin Pedersen, AJ Foyt Enterprises
• Meyer Shank Racing’s Helio Castroneves and Linus Lundqvist

After six minutes, Palou led the group with a 1:10.7532 lap time on the board ahead of Lundgaard, Castroneves, Dixon, Grosjean and Armstrong who occupied the top six. At the same time, all of the drivers returned to the pit lane to swap over their primary tyres for the red-walled alternates.

In the halfway break, Rahal was heard on the team radio with a complaint about his brakes. Despite this, the American driver was quickly sent back out on track.

At the end of Group 2 qualifying, Lundgaard topped the timing board with a 1:10.003 lap time on the leaderboard as Rahal, Grosjean, Castroneves, Palou and Armstrong rounded out the top six. In turn, Lundqvist, Dixon, Ericsson, Veekay, Hunter-Reay, Canapino and Ilott saw their qualifying session come to a premature end.

Following the completion of the group qualifying stages, it meant; Defrancesco, Harvey, O’Ward, McLaughlin, Rossi, Rosenqvist, Lundgaard, Rahal, Grosjean, Castroneves, Palou and Armstrong all progressed onto the fast 12.

Fast 12

When the third quarter of qualifying got underway, it was McLaughlin who got the timer set underway and naturally the first lap time on the board. After the banker laps, McLaughlin tumbled down the order.

In the first lap times on the board, Grosjean took a visit across the grass. Despite this, the French ex-F1 driver was able to continue without issue.

As the field pitted and returned to the circuit, equipped with the red-wall alternates, the lap times continued to tumble. In the end, Rahal was the fastest driver to lead the ‘fast six’ drivers into the Firestone Fast Six. Armstrong, Harvey, Palou, Rosenqvist, McLaughlin and Castroneves were all eliminated from qualifying for the Gallagher Grand Prix.

At the end of the fast 12, Lungaard, Rossi, Grosjean, O’Ward and Defrancesco all followed Rahal into the fast six to fight for the NTT P1 Award.

Fast Six

Equipped with the used sets of alternates, all of the drivers completed their banker laps. Of the fast six, Lungaard held onto the provisional P1 position with a lap time of 1:10.585, ahead of Defrancesco and Grosjean who rounded out the top three.

However, Rossi was yet to put a lap time on the board as the American McLaren driver seemed to have mechanical problems with his IndyCar Dallara machinery. However, the McLaren driver was quickly put out on track for the last timed laps.

On his final lap, Lungaard topped the timing boards to go into P1 and it looked certain that the Danish driver would obtain his career-first NTT P1 Award. However, it was not meant to be as Rahal put in the fastest lap to lock out the front row for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.

Top six: 

1. Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
2. Christian Lungaard, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
3. Alexander Rossi, McLaren
4. Pato O’Ward, Arrow McLaren
5. Devlin Defrancesco, Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport
6. Romain Grosjean, Andretti Autosport 

That’s all for the article; Rahal awarded P1 after six years for INDYCAR Gallagher GP!

Kamron Kent

Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.

I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.

Kamron Kent

Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.