Felix Rosenqvist scored the pole for Sunday’s NTT IndyCar Series race at Texas Motor Speedway Photo: Penske Entertainment/Chris Jones
Felix Rosenqvist again is the master of pure speed at Texas Motor Speedway, winning his second consecutive NTT IndyCar Series pole on Saturday at Texas Motor Speedway.
Rosenqvist turned a two-lap average speed of 220.264 mph on the 1.5-mile oval to earn his fourth career series pole and first top spot this season in the No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. His pole speed last year was 221.110.
With air and track temperatures climbing as the session progressed, Rosenqvist admitted that being the 10th of 28 drivers on track in the qualifying order helped him find more speed.
“I think we just built on last year,” Rosenqvist said. “Maybe it was a good thing to start early. The track kind of warmed up. We’ll take it. We’ve always been good here, but this is a whole different confidence level compared to last year. Let’s try to wrap it up tomorrow.”
Scott Dixon will join Rosenqvist on the front row after a run of 219.972 mph. Dixon has five career victories at Texas, including winning four of the last nine races on the high-banked, high-speed oval. He also earned his 10th career front-row start at Texas.
Alexander Rossi continued his strong start to the season with his new team, Arrow McLaren, by qualifying third at 219.960. Defending race winner Josef Newgarden qualified fourth at 219.801.
Pato O’Ward qualified fifth at 219.619 to complete a power play for Arrow McLaren, which put all three of its cars in the first three rows of the starting grid. Two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Takuma Sato qualified sixth at 219.508 in his first start of the season.
Benjamin Pedersen was the fastest rookie in qualifying, earning the 13th spot at 219.100 in the No. 55 AJ Foyt Racing/Sexton Properties Chevrolet owned by four-time Indianapolis 500 winner and Lone Star legend A.J. Foyt.
Scott McLaughlin led practice Saturday morning at 223.747 mph but dropped to 15th in qualifying at 218.765. Series points leader Marcus Ericsson qualified 16th at 218.698.
The 250-lap race – the first oval event of the season – starts at noon (ET) Sunday. NBC, Peacock and the INDYCAR Radio Network will provide live coverage.
NTT IndyCar Series
Texas Motor Speedway – Fort Worth, TX
PPG 375 – April 1, 2023
Saturday’s Qualifying Results
1. Felix Rosenqvist
2. Scott Dixon
3. Alexander Rossi
4. Josef Newgarden
5. Pato O’Ward
6. Takuma Sato
7. Alex Palou
8. Will Power
9. David Malukas
10. Colton Herta
11. Romain Grosjean
12. Devlin DeFrancesco
13. Benjamin Pedersen
14. Santino Ferrucci
15. Scott McLaughlin
16. Marcus Ericsson
17. Callum Ilott
18. Ed Carpenter
19. Agustin Canapino
20. Kyle Kirkwood
21. Helio Castroneves
22. Simon Pagenaud
23. Sting Ray Robb
24. Graham Rahal
25. Conor Daly
26. Rinus Veekay
27. Christian Lundgaard
28. Jack Harvey
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