Álex Palou continued his dominant form during the IndyCar Sonsio GP qualifying, taking pole. Behind him, Graham Rahal and Louis Foster made it an impressive two-three.
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing took a clean sweep in FP2, with Graham Rahal leading his drivers. RLL had seemed rapid throughout the weekend at Barber as well, but when it came to qualifying they missed out and weren’t able to capitalise in the ways they hoped.
Coming into Sonsio they were looking to secure themselves a place further up the grid, and hopefully pole. But trying to best Álex Palou has been a difficult task for any driver in the 2025 season of the NTT IndyCar Series. Palou managing three out of four wins, and looking to make it five.
Sonsio is the final step before the preparation for the Indianapolis 500 begins, the greatest spectacle in racing. Racing inside the famed oval, Sonsio feels akin to a warm-up to the long awaited event. With each driver hoping to put the right foot forward before the chaos begins.
The grid was split into two groups ready for the first part of qualifying around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Group 1
Marcus Armstrong put in the first fast lap of the session with a 1:11.257, but the times tumbled as drivers crossed the line. Louis Foster crossed the line with a 1:10.277. But it was beaten by Kyffin Simpson and then Pato O’ward with a 1:09.790.
The driver dove into the pits, making tyre changes where necessary. Kyffin Simpson darted round the circuit on another push lap for the Ganassi driver, but he wasn’t able to move himself to the front of the pack. O’ward maintained his lead, with Alexander Rossi moving into second place.
Santino Ferrucci slid into third, with Louis Foster, Rosenqvist and Kyffin Simpson finishing off the top six into the final moments.
Marcus Armstrong crossed the line but only made it into seventh, missing out on the top six. The same fate his Colton Herta, who joined his teammate, Kyle Kirkwood. Both Andretti’s falling short of the top six.
Securing their places in the fast 12 were Pato O’ward, Alexander Rossi, Felix Rosenqvist, Santino Ferrucci, Louis Foster and Kyffin Simpson.
Group 2
Josef Newgarden led Group 2 out of pit lane, hoping to find the time to push him through into the fast 12. Newgarden crossed the line with a 1:10.145 on a set of red tyres, but it was passed by his teammate as Power managed a 1:09.951.
Álex Palou was in fifth, on the black marked tyres. A brave decision from the Chip Ganassi team, but Palou managed to keep himself in the top six despite the tyre disadvantage.
If Palou could manage to keep himself in the top six on just one set of red tyres, he would have a massive advantage coming into the fast 12 or six.
With three minutes left in the session, Robert Schwartzman went out on track. The PREMA driver had been unable to have any running so far at the Sonsio GP weekend. However, he managed to be just a second and a half off the pace on a track he had never raced on.
Both RLL machines in the Group 2 were on green laps as Devlin DeFrancesco crossed the line to go fastest with a 1:09.888. However, once again in the 2025 season, Palou took the fastest time with a 1:09.668.
Marcus Ericsson failed to go fast enough to keep himself in the top six, as Lungaard narrowly missed out as well. Landing himself seventh.
Álex Palou led the group, with Devlin De Francesco, Will Power, Graham Rahal, Scott McLaughlin and Josef Newgarden landing themselves in the top 12.
DeFrancesco and Rahal’s performances made it all three RLL cars making it into the fast 12.
Fast 12
Will Power started off the session, crossed the line with a 1:10.397. Behind him, Devlin DeFrancesco managed a 1:10.447, the RLL machinery proving to be rapid around the IMS circuit.
But, once again Palou in the Chip Ganassi managed a two tenth advantage to those behind moving into first with a 1:10.118. Pato O’ward slid himself into fifth, but he was still four tenths off the pace of Palou out in front.
With two minutes left in the session, the field was out on their warm-up laps. As Will Power began his next push lap, he was two tenths up on his previous time, as green lit up the board for most drivers.
Scott McLaughlin took second, but the times were rapidly tumbling as Pato O’ward crossed the line with a 1:10.008.
Newgarden went fastest, then Devlin DeFrancesco moved to the top with a 1:09.880. But within seconds DeFrancesco was beaten by his teammate as Louis Foster took second, only then to be passed by his other teammate Rahal.
The chequered flag was waved as Álex Palou maintained his advantage over the field and secured his place in the fast six. All three RLL’s made it through to the fast six in a shock turn of events, alongside Scott McLaughlin and Josef Newgarden.
Fast Six
Coming into the 2025 season, Álex Palou’s only weakness was his one lap pace. Often finding himself further down the grid than expected. However, since the season began and once again at Sonsio, he had proven his utter dominance which he was looking to turn into another pole position.
However, the RLL cars had been rapid around the IMS circuit, despite usually settling themselves much further down the grid. For the first time in history, all three drivers were through to the fast six, and they were hoping to take pole.
Palou led the field out on track for the final session of qualifying. He started the session on a set of used soft tyres, hoping to maintain as many sets of tyres as possible for the race.
Palou managed to save an extra set of the red walled tyres in the Group stages of qualifying — giving him a set more than most of the field come race day.
Louis Foster crossed the line to take the top spot with a 1:09.880. His teammate DeFrancesco slotting in behind him with a 1:09.943. McLaughlin put himself between the RLL cars as further back Álex Palou locked up, backing out of his push lap.
Foster sat in provisional pole as Graham Rahal crossed the line to take the top spot from his rookie teammate. But the inevitable happened again as Palou crossed the line with a 1:09.341.
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing made it a 2-3 behind the rapid Chip Ganassi driver.
Full Results:
- Álex Palou
- Graham Rahal
- Louis Foster [R]
- Scott McLaughlin
- Devlin DeFrancesco
- Josef Newgarden
- Will Power
- Pato O’ward
- Alexander Rossi
- Kyffin Simpson
- Santino Ferrucci
- Felix Rosenqvist
- Colton Herta
- Christian Lungaard
- Marcus Armstrong
- Scott Dixon
- Sting Ray Robb
- Nolan Siegel
- Christian Rasmussen
- Marcus Ericsson
- Kyle Kirkwood
- Conor Daly
- Callum Illot
- Rinus Veekay
- Jacob Abel [R]
- David Malukas
- Robert Schwartzman [R]
