Scott McLaughlin gave Team Penske exactly the start they needed. After a 2025 season that nearly broke the most famous team in American open-wheel racing, the New Zealander clocked a 1:00.5426 in the No. 3 DEX Chevrolet to claim his 12th career pole and the NTT P1 Award for the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
Key Points – St Petersburg IndyCar Qualifying
- McLaughlin poles in 1:00.5426, his 12th career pole and third at St Pete in the last five years
- Hauger P3 on his series debut, first rookie in the Fast Six since Christian Lundgaard in 2021, both DCR cars in the Fast Six for the first time since 2022
- Marcus Ericsson P2 for Andretti Global, front row in his third season with the team
- Alex Palou P4, defending St. Petersburg winner from last year
- David Malukas P5 on his Penske debut weekend replacing Will Power
- Romain Grosjean P6, back in IndyCar after a year away, back at Dale Coyne where it started
- Scott Dixon out in Round 1, P16, first time at this circuit since 2013
- Josef Newgarden out in Round 1, P23, two-time St. Petersburg winner starting near the back
- Pato O’Ward out in Round 2, P8
- Race: 100 laps, Sunday noon ET, FOX
The Penske Context Matters
This wasn’t just a pole lap. It was a statement.
Three team executives were dismissed last year after an illegal part modification was discovered before the Indianapolis 500. The team won twice all season. McLaughlin didn’t reach Victory Lane once, his first blank season since his 2021 rookie year.
“Everybody knows the slog we went through last year, so to start on this note is fantastic. Bloody good, bloody good,” McLaughlin said after the session.
New engineer Raul Prados delivered a car that worked from the first lap of the Fast Six. The result was pole position on a circuit where McLaughlin has now taken pole three times in the last five years
Hauger Steals the Headline
If McLaughlin gave Penske the story they wanted, Dennis Hauger gave IndyCar one it didn’t expect.
The 2025 INDY NXT champion qualified third for Dale Coyne Racing on his series debut, posting a 1:00.5743 in the No. 19 Ault Block Chain Honda.
The last rookie to make the Firestone Fast Six on debut was Christian Lundgaard in 2021. Hauger matched that. He also led both Dale Coyne Racing entries into the Fast Six, something the team hasn’t achieved since 2022.
Third on the grid. Series debut. Dale Coyne Racing.
That’s a result that deserves its own article.
Ericsson And The Front Row
Marcus Ericsson lines up second with a 1:00.5621 in the No. 28 Delaware Life Honda for Andretti Global.
The 2022 Indianapolis 500 winner has spent two seasons finding his feet after leaving Chip Ganassi Racing, finishing 15th and 20th respectively. A front row start at the season opener is the reset he needed.
The Rest Of The Fast Six
Reigning four-time champion Alex Palou starts fourth. He won here in 2025 and will be hunting the same result from P4 in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Honda.
David Malukas rounds out an unexpectedly strong Penske session in fifth with a 1:00.7638 in the No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet. He replaced two-time champion Will Power this offseason. Starting fifth on his Penske debut weekend is a very good answer to anyone who questioned that call.
Romain Grosjean completes the Fast Six in sixth. His return to IndyCar after a one-year absence, and his return to the same Dale Coyne Racing team that gave him his 2021 series debut, ends with a top-six qualifying slot at 1:01.3462 in the No. 18 BMax Honda.
The Names Who Won’t Thank You For Mentioning This
Scott Dixon is P16.
Six-time champion, eliminated in Round 1 at this circuit for the first time since 2013. That context matters more when you remember he went head-first into the Turn 9 barrier during Friday practice. A damaged car. A disrupted programme. Then a slide at the start of his final qualifying lap in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Honda.
A very tough weekend building for Dixon.
Josef Newgarden is P23. Two-time champion, two-time St. Petersburg winner, out in Round 1. He’ll start from near the back of the 25-car field in the No. 2 Astemo Penske Chevrolet.
Will Power, the man Malukas replaced at Penske, qualifies P13 in the No. 26 Andretti Global Honda. Not the statement start he’d have wanted in his new chapter either.
Pato O’Ward, last year’s championship runner-up, didn’t make the Fast Six either. He starts eighth.
For a full breakdown of what we expected heading into the weekend, read our St Petersburg IndyCar preview here.
Full Qualifying Results – Firestone Grand Prix Of St. Petersburg
Coffee Corner Take
The Hauger story is the one that will define this qualifying session.
Dale Coyne Racing isn’t supposed to put two cars in the Fast Six. A rookie isn’t supposed to qualify third on debut. Both happened in the same session, at the same team.
Arrow McLaren didn’t make the Fast Six with any of their cars. O’Ward out in Round 2. Lundgaard going no further. Siegel qualifying P22. For a team that finished second in the constructors last year, that’s a very difficult Saturday across the board.
Grosjean’s return deserves more than a footnote too. Back in IndyCar. Back at Dale Coyne. Straight into the Fast Six. That made it harder for everyone behind him, including Mick Schumacher, who ends up P21 in his rookie qualifying debut.
No shame in that. But Grosjean occupying that sixth spot makes the grid order a very different conversation.
Penske’s bounce-back matters too, but that’s a story with a long road ahead. One pole position doesn’t erase 2025. What it does is give McLaughlin, Malukas and a restructured team a foundation to build from.
The race is 100 laps. It starts Sunday at noon ET on FOX.
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