Scott McLaughlin McLaughlin earned the 11th pole of his career during Firestone Fast Six qualifying Saturday, turning a top lap of 59.4624 seconds in the No. 3 DEX Imaging Team Penske Chevrolet. Photo by Chris Owens

By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio

Scott McLaughlin and Team Penske rallied from a disastrous start to the 2025 NTT IndyCar Series season Saturday by qualifying on-pole for today’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding.

Call it an example, McLaughlin said, of “immaculate vibes.”

McLaughlin’s No. 3 DEX Imaging Chevrolet was parked in the paddock Friday afternoon, its front end in tatters after he had crashed in Turn 3 during Practice 1 on the Streets of St. Pete. “It was a little bit of a mistake on my part, unfortunately,” McLaughlin said after the session. “It’s a bit of a bummer, the mistake, but you’d rather have it happen now and just get on with the weekend.”

Indeed, McLaughlin went on to wheel his repaired race car to the 11th pole of his INDYCAR career during Firestone Fast Six qualifying Saturday, turning a hot lap of 59.4624-seconds/108.976 mph. “Scotty Mac” won this race from P1 in 2022 _ the first victory and pole of his domestic open-wheel career. McLaughlin transitioned to INDYCAR fulltime in 2021 as a three-time champion of the Australian V8 Supercars series for DJR Team Penske.

Saturday’s pole in Florida marked Team Penske’s 699th across all motorsport series and the 70th pole for McLaughlin across his career with the organization founded and led by Roger S. Penske.

“Huge amount of respect; we have so much trust in each other and they trusted I could do the job,” said McLaughlin, a 31-year-old native of New Zealand. “The guys and girls on this team, they’re stars. I had to repay them. I made a little silly mistake there, and I was glad to come back with them.

“I just wanted to get pole first race of the year. Good vibes. It’s just great vibes _ immaculate vibes, we like to say. I’m very excited.”

Coverage of the 100-lap/180-mile race is scheduled to start at noon (EST) today from the 1.8-mile/14-turn temporary circuit running through downtown, including a runway of Albert Whitted Airport (FOX, FOX Deportes, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network, SiriusXM Radio Channel 218).

Colton Herta, winner of this event in 2021, will share the front row with McLaughlin after qualifying second at 59.6393-seconds/108.653 mph in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda of Andretti Global.

Meanwhile, Meyer Shank Racing produced one of its best qualifying efforts, locking-out Row 2 as the only team to place two drivers in the Firestone Fast Six. Sweden’s Felix Rosenqvist qualified third at 59.6989-seconds/108.545 mph in the No. 60 SiriusXM Honda, followed by new teammate Marcus Armstrong of New Zealand at 59.8278-seconds/108.311 mph in the No. 66 SiriusXM/Root Insurance Honda.

“Great qualifying for us, P3,” Rosenqvist said. “I don’t know if I could have gotten the pole, but it’s a really exciting day for Meyer Shank Racing with us qualifying P3 and P4. We have Shinedown on the car this weekend, which was one of my favorite bands growing up. But it was a hell of a start to the season for us.”

Armstrong said qualifying left him eager to strategically “fight for it” from P6. “The alternate (Firestone Firehawk) tire is extremely soft,” Amrstrong said. “It looks like it could be around five laps and you might start thinking about changing them straight-away. We will see how it goes, but we will be pushing.”

Christian Lundgaard of Denmark got off to a solid start with his new team, qualifying fifth at 59.8663-seconds/108.241 mph in the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. Six-time series champion Scott Dixon of New Zealand completed the Firestone Fast Six at 59.9216-seconds/108.141 mph in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.

The Fast Six session saw P1 exchange hands twice during the last minute. Rosenqvist was on-pole with one minute to go before Herta grabbed the spot with 30 seconds remaining. McLaughlin then put together his pole-clinching run on his final lap with seconds to spare.

The first two rounds of qualifying also proved dramatic, as a number of high-profile drivers failed to advance. Two-time St. Petersburg winner Josef Newgarden was eliminated in the Round of 12 and will start 10th in his No. 2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet.

“You know, 10th isn’t bad; it’s not great,” said Newgarden, a two-time series champion. “Even though we don’t have a good starting spot, I know our car is good. I just want to have a clean race. Of course, I want to be up-front and I want to win the thing. But we need to get points on the board. We need to have a good, clean day. I think we can do that.”

Recall that Newgarden initially won this event last year from pole, but was disqualified by INDYCAR officials six weeks later after a post-race inquiry determined his car _ as well as McLaughlin’s No. 3 entry _ had illegally gained a competitive advantage by using push-to-pass on restarts. Race runnerup Pato O’Ward of Arrow McLaren subsequently was awarded the victory.

Three-time/reigning series champion Alex Palou of Spain also was ousted in Round 2 Saturday and will start eighth after a lap in 1:00.0363-seconds/107.935 mph in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.

Eliminated during Round 1 were two-time series champion and native Australian Will Power _ who won the pole nine times in the last 15 years at this race _ and O’Ward. Power will start 13th in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet after lapping at 59.8752-seconds/108.225 mph.

O’Ward will take the green flag from the 23rd spot in the 27-car field after a best lap of 1:00.3671-seconds/107.343 mph in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet.

“I just couldn’t get the Firestone alternates switched on,” said O’Ward, a native of Mexico with family ties to San Antonio. “We had two opportunities and I don’t have an explanation, really. It was just a really tough lap to get together, and it is obviously not ideal. We’ll have our work cut out for us, but I think we can make our way forward and score some solid points.”

Louis Foster will start 16^th as the highest-placing rookie after lapping at 1:00.2365-seconds/107.576 mph in the No. 45 Mi-Jack Honda fielded by Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.

“It was a decent session,” said Foster, a 21-year-old native of Great Britain. “I think there was a bit more left on the table that we didn’t quite accomplish but, all things considered, for my first time qualifying an Indy-car, I’ll take a P8 in our group. I think we definitely had the potential to advance but some things happen out of your control. I’m looking forward to going racing.” 

Foster won eight races en route to the 2024 INDY NXT by Firestone championship and his seat with the team founded-and-fronted by 1986 Indy 500 champ Bobby Rahal.

Foster out-qualified A.J Foyt Racing’s revised lineup of David Malukas and Santino Ferruci. Malukas marked his debut in Foyt’s No. 4 Chevrolet by placing 17^th at 1:00.0128-seconds/107.977 mph.

“Looking at qualifying from a positive standpoint, we did a really good job making the car where it needed to be for qualifying,” said Malukas, who started 10 events for Meyer Shank Racing last season. “I think that’s something very hard to do. Looking at it from a team perspective and chemistry, we’ve done a very good job connecting and figuring out what I need from the team and what we need from the car. The car was very strong.

“Now, the things to take away _ I did a really bad job from my side. I think that was one of the worst laps I’ve done. I think I just asked too much out of myself to not do any laps on the alternates and kind of just guessed going into qualifying there. It’s the first race of the season so a lot to take from it, and it’s not over yet.” 

Ferrucci placed 19^th after his best lap of 1:00.0141-seconds/107.975 mph amid a glitch in the No. 14 Sexton Properties Chevrolet.

“Honestly, I’m really proud of our engineering team to give me a car that was capable today,” Ferrucci said. “It was just unfortunate circumstances, but I got into the wall a little bit coming on the frontstretch and going down the front straight the car got stuck in sixth gear starting what would have been my fast lap. The lap before was really good but it was in my head that was my banker lap so it just shows we have pace and we’ll just see what we can do.” 

Native Norwegian Dennis Hauger continued his impressive initial INDY NXT by Firestone weekend, winning pole position for the season-opening Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Saturday with a track-record lap for INDYCAR’s developmental series.

Dennis Hauger – INDY NXT By Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. (Photo by Travis Hinkle | IMS Photo)

Hauger turned a top lap of 1-minute, 3.8801-seconds/101.440 mph in the No. 28 Rental Group car fielded by Andretti Global to earn P1 in his series debut. The 45-lap/81-mile/55-minute event on the 1.8-mile/14-turn temporary street circuit was scheduled to start today at 10 a.m. (EST, FS1, the FOX Sports app and INDYCAR Radio Network).

“The team did a great job getting a good car for qualifying,” said Hauger, a 21-year-old native of Oslo, Norway. “We did the job. I’ll take that. Overall, I think there was a bit more in there for me, but it’s the first race weekend. We’re getting up to speed. Happy overall.”

Hauger’s top lap in the first of two qualifying groups broke the INDY NXT track record of 1:04.5759 set by native Californian Nolan Siegel last year before he graduated to the NTT IndyCar Series with Arrow McLaren. Hauger, one of eight series rookies competing this season, also led practice Friday and was second in the pre-qualifying session Saturday morning.

Landing a fulltime ride in the NTT IndyCar Series is Hauger’s career goal. Hauger transitioned to INDY NXT after winning the FIA Formula 3 Championship in 2021 and earning five wins and 13 podiums in FIA Formula 2 _ final official ladder step before Formula One _ in the last three seasons.

Australian Lochie Hughes, the 2024 USF Pro 2000 champion, locked-out the front row for Andretti Global by qualifying second at 1:04.0209-seconds/101.217 mph in his series debut in the No. 26 McGinley Clinic/USF Pro Championship entry.

Brazil’s Caio Collet, the series’ top returning driver, qualified third at 1:04.3851-seconds/100.644 mph in the No. 76 HMD Motorsports car. Fellow-series veteran Myles Rowe, a 24-year-old native of Georgia, joined Collet in Row 2 after qualifying fourth at 1:04.2053-seconds/100.926 mph in the No. 99 Abel Motorsports/Force Indy car.

Rookie Liam Sceats, a 19-year-old native of New Zealand, qualified fifth at 1:04.5451-seconds/100.395 mph in the No. 30 HMD Motorsports car.

Jack William Miller will start sixth in the No. 40 Abel/Miller/Vinatieri Motorsports car after his best lap of 1:04.3300-seconds/100.731 mph. A 21-year-old native of Indiana, Miller is the son of Dr. Jack Miller, dubbed “The Racing Dentist” during an INDYCAR career that included four starts in the Indianapolis 500 in the 1990s and early 2000s.

FOX SPORTS’ 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES BROADCAST COVERAGE SCHEDULE

Sunday, March 2 _ Streets of St. Petersburg, Fla. (FOX, noon)*

Sunday, March 23 _The Thermal Club, Thermal, Calif.  (FOX, 3 p.m.)

Sunday, April 13 _ Streets of Long Beach, Calif. (FOX, 4:30 p.m.)

Sunday, May 4 _ Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham, Ala. (FOX, 1:30 p.m.)

Saturday, May 10 _ Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road-Course (FOX, 4:30 p.m.)

Sunday, May 25 _ Indianapolis Motor Speedway Oval (FOX, 10 a.m.)

Sunday, June 1 _ Streets of Detroit (FOX, 12:30 p.m.)

Sunday, June 15 _ World Wide Technology Raceway, Madison, Ill. (FOX, 3 p.m.)

Sunday, June 22 _ Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wis. (FOX, 3:30 p.m.)

Sunday, July 6 _ Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington (FOX, 2 p.m.)

Saturday, July 12 _ Iowa Speedway, Newton, Race 1 (FOX, 5 p.m.)

Sunday, July 13 _ Iowa Speedway, Newton, Race 2 (FOX, 2 p.m.)

Sunday, July 20 _ Streets of Toronto, Canada (FOX, 2 p.m.)

Sunday, July 27 _ WeatherTech Raceway, Laguna Seca, Monterey, Calif. (FOX, 3 p.m.)

Sunday, Aug. 10 _ Portland (Ore.) International Raceway (FOX, 3 p.m.)

Sunday, Aug. 24 _ The Milwaukee Mile, West Allis, Wis. (FOX, 2 p.m.)

Sunday, Aug. 31 _ Nashville Superspeedway, Lebanon, Tenn. (2:30 p.m.)

*NOTE _ All times Eastern. Dates and times subject to change.