Christian Lundgaard put Arrow McLaren on pole for Sunday’s Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio, edging Pato O’Ward as Alex Palou’s five-race NTT P1 Award streak ended in eighth.
The Dane delivered a 1m04.8396s lap in qualifying at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, giving him the fourth pole of his IndyCar career and setting up a front-row lockout for Arrow McLaren. O’Ward was close behind on 1m04.8649s, while Will Power, David Malukas, Christian Rasmussen and Rinus VeeKay completed the Firestone Fast Six.
The result matters because Palou had arrived in Lexington chasing a sixth straight pole and carrying a commanding championship lead. Instead, the Chip Ganassi Racing driver failed to progress beyond the second phase and will start eighth, with INDYCAR noting that his five-pole run now sits level with Mario Andretti and Danny Sullivan for the fourth-longest streak in series history.
Lundgaard’s title chance gets a cleaner launch
Lundgaard is still 77 points behind Palou, but this is exactly the sort of Sunday platform he needed. He has already won twice on road courses this season and now starts ahead of every realistic title rival on a track where track position and team depth usually bite hard.
There is another layer, too: Scott Dixon, a seven-time Mid-Ohio winner, will start 23rd after an interference penalty in qualifying. That leaves Lundgaard and O’Ward with the cleanest route into Turn 1, and Palou with rare work to do from row four. INDYCAR’s official qualifying report confirmed Lundgaard’s pole lap and the Arrow McLaren sweep.
