IndyCar St Louis: McLaughlin sets pole but starts 10th due to penalty

McLaughlin topped the qualifying session around the 1.25-mile oval, which was delayed by rain yesterday, with a two-lap average of 49.1936s, a speed of 182.951mph.

But before qualifying, IndyCar officials announced nine-position starting grid penalties for McLaughlin, Alex Palou, Scott Dixon and Takuma Sato (Chip Ganassi Racing), Kyle Kirkwood (Andretti Autosport) and Agustin Canapino (Juncos Hollinger Racing) for unapproved engine changes (ie: taking a fifth powerplant) since the last round on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.

So that promotes second-fastest qualifier, McLaughlin’s Penske team-mate Josef Newgarden, to the top spot. McLaughlin will start 10^th.

In single-car qualifying, with an average taken across two laps, Andretti Autosport’s Colton Herta was P1 with 10 cars remaining with an average time of 49.4651s, a speed of 181.946mph. “We did well for the conditions,” he said. “Because of the rain overnight, I was happy with the run and the car felt good.”

McLaughlin took P1 away from Herta with 49.1936s, good for 182.951mph (his second lap a massive 183.395mph). But his nine-place penalty means he’ll start 10^th.

Oval dominator Newgarden couldn’t beat him, setting 49.3448s at 182.390mph, but will inherit the pole position starting spot anyway, ahead of Herta.

Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward will start third, after a 181.722mph effort beat his team-mate Felix Rosenqvist. Series dominator Palou qualified fifth, but will drop nine spots, as does Dixon from seventh and Sato from eighth.

Andretti’s Romain Grosjean and David Malukas (Dale Coyne Racing) were the chief beneficiaries from the penalties, as four of the top eight will shift back.

Ganassi’s Marcus Ericsson, who was driving Palou’s spare car after his wreck with Power in practice yesterday, appeared to suffer an engine issue and was 18th fastest. “The car was just not pulling and misfiring,” he admitted. “The car was good to drive.”

AJ Foyt Racing’s Santino Ferrucci almost wrecked after a big moment at Turn 3 and could only manage 27^th.

The race starts at 3:30pm ET today.

Starting grid:

Cla	Nº	Driver	Car / Engine	Time	Delay
1	2	Josef Newgarden	Dallara/Chevrolet	49.3448	-
2	26	Colton Herta	Dallara/Honda	49.4651	0.1203
3	5	Patricio O'Ward	Dallara/Chevrolet	49.5263	0.1815
4	6	Felix Rosenqvist	Dallara/Chevrolet	49.5711	0.2263
5	28	Romain Grosjean	Dallara/Honda	49.6076	0.2628
6	18	David Malukas	Dallara/Honda	49.6987	0.3539
7	7	Alexander Rossi	Dallara/Chevrolet	49.7305	0.3857
8	12	Will Power	Dallara/Chevrolet	49.7385	0.3937
9	77	Callum Ilott	Dallara/Chevrolet	49.9423	0.5975
10	3	Scott McLaughlin	Dallara/Chevrolet	49.1936	-0.1512
		9-place penalty for unapproved engine change
11	30	Conor Daly	Dallara/Honda	50.0200	0.6752
12	60	Linus Lundqvist	Dallara/Honda	50.0550	0.7102
13	06	H.Castroneves	Dallara/Honda	50.1373	0.7925
14	10	Alex Palou	Dallara/Honda	49.5597	0.2149
		9-place penalty for unapproved engine change
15	8	Marcus Ericsson	Dallara/Honda	50.3071	0.9623
16	9	Scott Dixon	Dallara/Honda	49.6025	0.2577
		9-place penalty for unapproved engine change
17	11	Takuma Sato	Dallara/Honda	49.6068	0.2620
		9-place penalty for unapproved engine change
18	29	D.Defrancesco	Dallara/Honda	50.3185	0.9737
19	45	C.Lundgaard	Dallara/Honda	50.3259	0.9811
20	21	R.van Kalmthout	Dallara/Chevrolet	50.4528	1.1080
21	15	Graham Rahal	Dallara/Honda	50.4598	1.1150
22	27	Kyle Kirkwood	Dallara/Honda	49.8361	0.4913
		9-place penalty for unapproved engine change
23	20	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Dallara/Chevrolet	50.5217	1.1769
24	51	Sting Ray Robb	Dallara/Honda	50.6210	1.2762
25	55	B.Pedersen	Dallara/Chevrolet	50.9207	1.5759
26	14	Santino Ferrucci	Dallara/Chevrolet	50.9860	1.6412
27	33	Ed Carpenter	Dallara/Chevrolet	51.5839	2.2391
28	78	Agustín Canapino	Dallara/Chevrolet	50.4231	1.0783
		9-place penalty for unapproved engine change