Rosenqvist secures pole position for Texas Motor Speedway IndyCar race

Arrow McLaren’s Felix Rosenqvist secures pole position for Texas Motor Speedway IndyCar race, leading Scott Dixon and Josef Newgarden.

Felix Rosenqvist, the Arrow McLaren driver, has once again secured pole position for the 2023 IndyCar race at the Texas Motor Speedway, just like he did in 2022.

He managed to maintain a lead over his teammates, Scott Dixon and Josef Newgarden, who won the Texas race last year. Rosenqvist completed a two-lap average of 220.264mph, and it could be argued that his early qualifying time helped him since the conditions became hotter later in the session.

During the qualifying runs, there were instances where Alexander Rossi and Pato O’Ward seemed capable of securing front-row positions, which would have given McLaren a clean sweep at the top.

However, their runs eventually faltered, allowing Scott Dixon to secure the second spot on the grid alongside Rosenqvist. Meanwhile, Josef Newgarden of Penske took fourth place, and O’Ward had to settle for fifth. O’Ward attributed his lower-than-expected performance to preparation issues with his car, with McLaren stating that it was unable to accomplish everything it had intended to between practice and qualifying.

Takuma Sato made an impressive debut in the Ganassi team, securing the sixth position on the grid for the race. He will be sharing the car with Marcus Armstrong this season.

Alex Palou, another driver for Ganassi, was also among the top drivers and qualified in seventh place. However, the early championship leader and winner of the St. Petersburg race, Marcus Ericsson, could only manage to secure the 16th position on the grid.

Scott McLaughlin, who narrowly missed out on victory to Josef Newgarden in the previous year’s race, also struggled during qualifying and will share row eight with Marcus Ericsson. Reigning champion Will Power from Penske was disappointed with his performance and blamed his gearing for hitting the rev limiter, but still managed to qualify in eighth place.

David Malukas from Dale Coyne Racing secured ninth place, while Colton Herta, driving for Andretti Autosport, completed the top 10.

During the qualifying session, McLaren, Ganassi, and Penske demonstrated their superiority on the high-banked oval. However, other teams struggled to keep up with the pace. Ed Carpenter was the best performer among his team’s three entries, qualifying in 18th place.

The Meyer Shank duo of Helio Castroneves and Simon Pagenaud were left puzzled after securing the 21st and 22nd positions, respectively. Meanwhile, Rahal Letterman Lanigan’s cars suffered from understeer, with Graham Rahal qualifying in the 24th position.

Teams have already started preparing for the race with two additional practice sessions, including one specifically reserved for running on the high line. The goal is to lay more rubber on the higher parts of the track, which is part of a range of measures being introduced to improve overtaking opportunities during the race.

The complete qualifying results from Texas Motor Speedway, which saw Felix Rosenqvist secure the pole position.

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