Reigning IndyCar champion Alex Palou has taken pole position for the Snap-on Milwaukee Mile 250 in dominant fashion. As the last driver to make his qualifying run, he crushed the competition and ended up 0.7 mph faster than the rest of the field. David Malukas surprised with the second-fastest time, ahead of Pato O’Ward.

As usual on the ovals – unlike the Indy 500 – qualifying for the Snap-on Milwaukee Mile 250 was run over two qualifying laps. The qualifying order was determined based on reverse entrant points, which this year almost exactly matches the overall championship standings.

Josef Newgarden strikes first blow

After several runs from slower drivers, Conor Daly delivered the first truly quick attempt. The Juncos Hollinger Racing driver was the first to average over 160 mph across his two qualifying laps. Shortly afterward Josef Newgarden took to the track, going another 0.15 mph faster, ending Daly’s hopes for pole position.

Newgarden’s first lap was far from ideal, however. The Penske driver was even faster on his second lap, showing that opportunities were there for the competition. The first challenge came from Graham Rahal, who was 0.4 mph faster than Newgarden on his opening lap but lost a lot of ground on his second. Rasmussen was also quicker on his first lap, but likewise faded on his second.

McLaughlin and then Malukas go faster

Newgarden held the top spot for the time being, until teammate Scott McLaughlin hit the track. On his opening lap McLaughlin went a full 2 mph faster than Newgarden, followed by another strong second lap. In the end, the New Zealander was four-tenths of a second quicker than Newgarden after two laps. But the pace quickly went up again: David Malukas – also running a Penske setup – went another 0.5 mph faster.

Problems for Colton Herta and Felix Rosenqvist

From there most runs went by without major issues – aside from a bit of oversteer here and there – until the top ten in the standings took to the track. The first real trouble came for Colton Herta. On his opening lap he encountered too much oversteer in Turn 2. Although he initially seemed to catch the car, he still spun. The Andretti Global driver managed to keep the car out of both the outside and inside walls and was even able to complete his run, but a good starting position was out of reach.

Not long after came the only crash of qualifying. Felix Rosenqvist lost control of his Meyer Shank Racing machine midway through Turns 3/4 and slid backward into the wall. Damage to the #60 car appeared limited to a broken rear wing, damaged rear suspension and a faulty alternator. As a result, the team was expected to still be able to take part in the warm-up later today.

Fast qualifying runs in closing stages

After the crash several big names still had to run, including the last driver with a Penske setup: Will Power. The winner of the previous IndyCar race hit the rev limiter during his qualifying run and could do no better than third.

Christian Lundgaard and Scott Dixon couldn’t get close to Malukas’ benchmark, but Pato O’Ward was even faster on his first qualifying lap. On his second, however, the championship runner-up came up just short, leaving him with the provisional second spot.

At that point only one man remained: reigning champion Alex Palou. True to the style of his season so far, the Ganassi Racing driver opened with a lap that blew away the competition, followed by a solid second lap. That secured him his sixth pole position of the season in commanding fashion!

Full results of the 1st qualifying session on Milwaukee Mile