Alex Palou has secured pole position for the Honda Indy 200 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. In the Firestone Fast 6, the Spaniard was one of three drivers utilizing a fresh set of alternate tires and he comfortably set the fastest time. Christian Lundgaard qualified second, ahead of a surprising Kyffin Simpson and Nolan Siegel, who will start from the second row.

Of the two qualifying groups, the second appeared to be significantly stronger, featuring drivers like Alex Palou, Scott Dixon, Kyle Kirkwood, Louis Foster, both Meyer Shank Racing entries, David Malukas and the Penske duo of Josef Newgarden and Will Power.

In Group 1, Christian Lundgaard was by far the fastest driver, ahead of a surprising Marcus Ericsson —who received a new race engineer this weekend and promptly made his first Fast 12 appearance of the season. Colton Herta set the third-fastest time, followed by a surprising Nolan Siegel, Christian Rasmussen, and Kyffin Simpson. While his teammates advanced, Pato O’Ward was a surprise elimination, as was Scott McLaughlin, who will start the race from 21st!

The troubles for Team Penske didn’t stop there: in the second group, both Will Power and Josef Newgarden failed to advance. The latter, in fact, was the top-placed Penske driver in only 18th (!). Palou, on the other hand, was flying —he posted the fastest time of the group, ahead of a strong performance by Louis Foster, followed by Scott Dixon, Kyle Kirkwood, Marcus Armstrong and Alexander Rossi.

In Segment 2, Foster went two-tenths quicker than Palou’s best time from Segment 1, making the Brit the fastest driver in that round. Lundgaard finished second, followed by Palou, Herta, and Siegel. Kirkwood looked poised to advance to the Fast 6 as well, but was bumped out at the last moment by Simpson.

Heading into the Fast 6, Foster had no fresh alternate tires remaining, while Simpson and Siegel opted to save a set for the race. This left the fight for pole likely to come down to Palou, Lundgaard and Herta. However, Herta disappointed in his run on new tires and managed only the fifth-fastest time. That couldn’t be said for Palou, who laid down the fastest lap of the entire weekend. Lundgaard came up just two-tenths short, allowing Palou to claim his third pole position of the season.

Full results of the qualifying session at Mid-Ohio