IndyCar Qualifying Results: Pato O'Ward secures stunning pole as McLaren dominate at Thermal

Pato O'Ward, McLaren, United States, 2024 — Photo: © IMAGO

IndyCar

IndyCar Qualifying Results: Pato O'Ward secures stunning pole as McLaren dominate at Thermal

The full starting order for the IndyCar Thermal Club Grand Prix is in after qualifying on Saturday

Simmey Hannifin Donaldson

Sunday 23 March 2025 00:46 Updated: 15:01

Pato O'Ward has wrapped up pole position ahead of the Thermal Club INDYCAR Grand Prix in a dominant qualifying session for McLaren.

O'Ward suffered a torrid time in the season opener at St. Pete but bounced back on Saturday, setting a fastest lap time of 1:39.9567secs to ensure he started out front on Sunday. The Mexican star just edged his McLaren team-mate Christian Lundgaard, meaning McLaren locked out the front row, showing serious speed around the California track.

Elsewhere, three-time IndyCar champion Alex Palou had to make do with third in qualifying. The Spaniard got his title defense off to an excellent start at St. Pete last time out, but couldn't secure pole ahead of Sunday's race.

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Colton Herta starts alongside Palou on the second row, with Marcus Ericsson rounding out the top five.

With all that said, let's take a look at the results in full below.

IndyCar Thermal Club qualifying results and starting lineup

Position	Driver	Team	Fast Six Lap Time
1	Pato O’Ward	Arrow McLaren	01:39.9567
2	Christian Lundgaard	Arrow McLaren	01:40.1245
3	Alex Palou	Chip Ganassi Racing	01:40.3092
4	Colton Herta	Andretti Global	01:40.3978
5	Marcus Ericsson	Andretti Global	01:40.7435
6	Alexander Rossi	Ed Carpenter Racing	01:41.0359
7	Marcus Armstrong	Meyer Shank Racing	N/A
8	Kyle Kirkwood	Andretti Global	N/A
9	Felix Rosenqvist	Meyer Shank Racing	N/A
10	Louis Foster	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	N/A
11	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing	N/A
12	David Malukas	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	N/A
13	Rinus VeeKay	Dale Coyne Racing	N/A
14	Santino Ferrucci	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	N/A
15	Conor Daly	Juncos Hollinger Racing	N/A
16	Nolan Siegel	Arrow McLaren	N/A
17	Josef Newgarden	Team Penske	N/A
18	Graham Rahal	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	N/A
19	Christian Rasmussen	Ed Carpenter Racing	N/A
20	Kyffin Simpson	Chip Ganassi Racing	N/A
21	Will Power	Team Penske	N/A
22	Callum Ilott	Prema Racing	N/A
23	Jacob Abel	Dale Coyne Racing	N/A
24	Sting Ray Robb	Juncos Hollinger Racing	N/A
25	Scott McLaughlin	Team Penske	N/A
26	Devlin DeFrancesco	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	N/A
27	Robert Shwartzman	Prema Racing	N/A