IndyCar: Pato O’Ward on pole in heated Thermal Club…

Pato O'Ward spent the St. Petersburg season-opener fighting to recover from a dreadful 23rd-place qualifying effort. Three weeks later, the Mexican star finds himself at the other end of the grid.

O’Ward laid down a flying 1:39.9567s lap in the Fast 6 to claim pole for The Thermal Club IndyCar Grand Prix.

The result is his sixth-career pole and first since IndyCar’s 2022 trip to Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course - a result that O’Ward knew he was capable of, even if it served as a surprise to the rest of the field.

“I knew if we could get the car to my liking I would get it done,” O’Ward said. “I’ve gotta thank the guys. We’ve been working hard coming back here. We haven’t had the best of weekends in the past, but we turned it around. We dialed it in after Q1, because I was somewhat happy with it, but (it was) not perfect.

“We just made a little bit of an adjustment. As soon as we went out in Q2, I said ‘I’ve got this.’”

It’ll be an all-Arrow McLaren front row at the Thermal Club. Christian Lundgaard capped off a strong qualifying session overall with second, coming .1678s short of his teammate in second.

Last year’s $1 Million Challenge race winner, Alex Palou, dominated his preceding qualifying sessions. But the two-time defending champion had to settle for third in the key session with a time of 1:40.3092. Colton Herta, Marcus Ericsson and Alexander Rossi completed the Fast 6.

Colton Herta, Andretti Global (Photo by: Penske Entertainment)

Four organizations saw at least one car advance to the Fast 6, with only Andretti Autosport and Arrow McLaren fielding multiple pole contenders. Palou was well clear of the field advanced comfortably with Lundgaard. O’Ward and Ericsson surged into advancing positions in the final seconds, with Rossi and Herta surviving in the final transfer spots.

Marcus Armstrong and Kyle Kirkwood were knocked out in the session’s waning moments. Also eliminated were Felix Rosenqvist, Louis Foster, Scott Dixon and David Malukas. Foster made the Fast 12 for the first time in his young IndyCar career, a good bounce back after he was knocked out in the opening corners of his St. Pete debut.

Robert Schwartzman was slowest among all competitors for Prema Racing, sitting nearly two seconds further back with a time of 1:43.0781. But his No. 83 was fortunate to see the track. Schwartzman’s Prema team worked into the early morning hours after his car suffered a fire during opening practice, leaving the IndyCar newcomer scrambling to prepare an entry for time trials.

Palou paced the opening group, leading Rosenqvist, Dixon, Armstrong, Malukas and Kirkwood into the Fast 12. Lundgaard went top of the board in the second group, advancing alongside Herta, O’Ward, Rossi, Foster and Ericsson.

Sunday’s race will go live on FOX at 3:00 p.m. ET. Read our story about when and how to watch the race here.