Scott McLaughlin delivered his fourth IndyCar pole position and his first on an oval, but after an engine penalty it will be his Penske team-mate Josef Newgarden leading the field in Sunday’s Gateway race.

Qualifying wasn’t even supposed to take place today hours before the race, but was delayed from Saturday due to heavy rain in the area – forcing a short practice session to take place in the dark under the lights.

.@12WillPower and @Ericsson_Marcus have been seen and released after this incident in practice 1. 
 #INDYCAR // #Bommarito500 pic.twitter.com/5qmlcpzneF

— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) August 27, 2023

In that practice, reigning champion Will Power crashed avoiding McLaughlin – who spun out of pitlane – and then collected Marcus Ericsson, leaving plenty of repairs for both and a hybrid livery for Ericsson, who is now in a car formed from Alex Palou’s back-up tub. Power called McLaughlin a “dumbass” for his role in the incident.

More pictures of Marcus Ericsson’s Frankencar.#Bommarito500 #IndyCar pic.twitter.com/vJnyDjn4wi

— Christopher DeHarde (@CDeHarde) August 27, 2023

If that wasn’t enough drama, the drivers first, second and fourth in the championship will all serve nine-place grid penalties for taking a fifth engine of the year.

Palou, Scott Dixon and McLaughlin are joined by Kyle Kirkwood and Agustin Canapino in dropping nine places tomorrow.

The qualifying order was decided on a two-lap run, with the average time forming the grid. The cars went in reverse order of points scored this season.

---

Expected starting grid after penalties

1 Josef Newgarden
2 Colton Herta
3 Pato O’Ward
4 Felix Rosenqvist
5 Romain Grosjean
6 David Malukas
7 Alexander Rossi
8 Will Power
9 Callum Ilott
10 Scott McLaughlin
11 Conor Daly
12 Linus Lundqvist
13 Helio Castroneves
14 Alex Palou
15 Marcus Ericsson
16 Scott Dixon
17 Takuma Sato
18 Devlin DeFrancesco
19 Christian Lundgaard
20 Rinus VeeKay
21 Graham Rahal
22 Kyle Kirkwood
23 Ryan Hunter-Reay
24 Sting Ray Robb
25 Benjamin Pedersen
26 Santino Ferrucci
27 Ed Carpenter
28 Agustin Canapino

---

Despite the spin in practice, which he apologised for, McLaughlin delivered the first 183mph lap on his second effort to deliver an average speed of 182.951mph to claim the top spot.

He’ll still get the point for fastest lap in qualifying, key as he trails Palou by 143 now in the championship with a very unlikely path to the title at this stage.

Newgarden will now start from the pole in today’s race, and is aiming to win his sixth consecutive oval race in a run which started with this Gateway race last year.

Colton Herta was the top Honda-powered car qualifying third, making the most of a recent Andretti Autosport test at Gateway to put himself on the front row for today’s race.

Pato O’Ward has finished third, second, second and fourth in his four starts at Gateway and was the top McLaren, qualifying in fourth, ahead of Palou, who can seal the championship this weekend by extending his championship lead by eight points.

Palou will start 14th after his penalty, the second-best of those penalised.

Felix Rosenqvist joined team-mate O’Ward in the top 10 in seventh with the help of the day’s first 182mph lap, ahead of Palou’s closest challenger Dixon, who will actually start 16th.

Romain Grosjean, with his seat under threat at Andretti, beat the driver most likely to take that seat, last year’s Gateway runner-up David Malulas, to round out the top 10, which turned into fifth on the grid.

Outside of the top 10, Callum Ilott bagged his best qualifying of the year in 14th – he’s the ninth-best driver on ovals this year in terms of average finish.

Conor Daly outqualified his Rahal Letterman Lanigan team-mates on his first start for the team, replacing the ousted Jack Harvey, while Linus Lundqvist outpaced his four-time Indy 500 winning team-mate Helio Castroneves on his oval debut.

Ericsson – confirmed at Andretti earlier this week – complained of a misfiring engine and will start 15th.

The race takes place at 1430 local time (2030 UK).

Qualifying Results