IndyCar Portland

Ferrucci claims maiden IndyCar pole at Portland

The AJ Foyt Racing driver grabbed the team’s first IndyCar pole in over a decade

Joey Barnes

Edited: Aug 25, 2024, 12:10 AM

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Santino Ferrucci, A.J. Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet celebrates winning the NTT PP1 Award for taking the pole

Photo by: Phillip Abbott / Motorsport Images

Santino Ferrucci delivered an electrifying run at the end of IndyCar qualifying to claim pole for Sunday’s Grand Prix of Portland.

The 26-year-old Connecticut native who now resides in Dallas, Texas, Ferrucci wheeled the No. 14 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet to a quick lap of 58.2046s at the 12-turn, 1.964-mile natural terrain road course known as Portland International Raceway to earn the first pole of his IndyCar Series career. It is also the first pole for AJ Foyt Racing since the second race of the doubleheader at Belle Isle in 2014, with Takuma Sato behind the wheel.

“Man, I think it’s no secret how hard we’ve been working this year, how hard I’ve been working, Larry (Foyt, team president), our entire staff,” Ferrucci said.

“I mean, my first pole in IndyCar and I’m not known for being a very good qualifier. Today, we just felt it. We rolled off the truck amazing. I mean, it’s been a year of hard work and progression, and we’ve shown some real speed at certain times and feels great to put it together, man.”

Fast Six qualifying

Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou set the early mark of 58.6216s, while No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda of Graham Rahal was the only driver to try and maximize his chance for pole on a set of primary (black sidewall) tires. He hit a mark of 58.6332s and sat second with a minute left in the segment.

Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda

Photo by: Phillip Abbott / Motorsport Images

However, it was a flying lap of 58.3042 by Ferrucci with 30s left that vaulted him to the top spot. Despite his best shot, Team Penske’s Will Power was unable to knock him off the perch. Ferrucci’s ultimate lap went even faster as his 58.2046s ended up 0.1074s ahead of Power.

Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou, the reigning and two-time IndyCar Series champion, was third at 0.2270s off the top mark.

The No. 45 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda of Christian Lundgaard was fourth, ahead of Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood in fifth.

Rahal’s run on the primaries slotted him sixth, 0.4286s off the fast time.

Cla Driver # Laps Time Interval Mph 1 S. FerrucciA.J. Foyt Enterprises 14 3

58.2046

121.475 2 W. PowerTeam Penske 12 5

+0.1074

58.3120

0.1074 121.251 3 A. PalouChip Ganassi Racing 10 6

+0.2270

58.4316

0.1196 121.003 4 C. LundgaardRahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 45 6

+0.3763

58.5809

0.1493 120.695 5 K. KirkwoodAndretti Global 27 3

+0.3914

58.5960

0.0151 120.664 6 G. RahalRahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 15 5

+0.4286

58.6332

0.0372 120.587

Top 12 qualifying

Power was quickest after setting a fast lap of 58.1196s with less than a minute to go in the segment. The lap by Power was 0.2295s better than Kirkwood in second.

Palou ended up 0.2600s off of Power in third, with Lundgaard in fourth.

Ferrucci was fifth, ahead of Rahal in sixth. Team Penske’s Newgarden was the first driver to miss the transfer spot, ending up 0.0097s behind Rahal in seventh.

Although Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Romain Grosjean was quickest with one minute left, he fell to eighth, with Chip Ganassi Racing’s Marcus Armstrong in ninth.

Colton Herta, Andretti Global w/ Curb-Agajanian Honda

Photo by: Phil Sedgwick / Motorsport Images

Andretti Global’s Colton Herta was 10th, ahead of the No. 9 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda of six-time series champion Scott Dixon. Marcus Ericsson put his No. 28 Andretti Global Honda in 12th.

It was a close moment for Palou, who set the best lap at the time just three minutes into the segment with a 58.9251s lap before going off in the final corner. He was able to continue on, though, but lost the quick lap due to causing a local yellow flag.

Cla Driver # Laps Time Interval Mph 1 W. PowerTeam Penske 12 9

58.1196

121.653 2 K. KirkwoodAndretti Global 27 9

+0.2295

58.3491

0.2295 121.174 3 A. PalouChip Ganassi Racing 10 9

+0.2600

58.3796

0.0305 121.111 4 C. LundgaardRahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 45 9

+0.2721

58.3917

0.0121 121.086 5 S. FerrucciA.J. Foyt Enterprises 14 9

+0.2786

58.3982

0.0065 121.072 6 G. RahalRahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 15 9

+0.2870

58.4066

0.0084 121.055 7 J. NewgardenTeam Penske 2 9

+0.2967

58.4163

0.0097 121.035 8 R. GrosjeanJuncos Hollinger Racing 77 9

+0.3298

58.4494

0.0331 120.966 9 M. ArmstrongChip Ganassi Racing 11 9

+0.3322

58.4518

0.0024 120.961 10 C. HertaAndretti Global with Curb-Agajanian 26 9

+0.3397

58.4593

0.0075 120.946 11 S. DixonChip Ganassi Racing 9 9

+0.3576

58.4772

0.0179 120.909 12 M. EricssonAndretti Global 28 9

+0.3848

58.5044

0.0272 120.852

Group Stage qualifying

In Group 1, it was Lundgaard pulling out the late run to secure the top spot at 58.2063s. He was followed closely by Kirkwood, who was just 0.0400s behind.

Ferrucci, Herta and Rahal also managed to advance, claiming third through fifth. The sixth and final transfer position went to Dixon, who went through by just 0.0182s ahead of Rahal Letterman Lanigan’s Pietro Fittipaldi in seventh.

The Ed Carpenter Racing duo of Rinus VeeKay and rookie Chistian Rasmussen were eighth and ninth. David Malukas also missed the cut, finishing up in 10th in the group after running 0.4236 off the mark set by Lundgaard.

Dale Coyne Racing rookie Toby Sowery was 11th. The surprise of the session was undoubtedly Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward unable to advance in 12th despite strong pace in second practice earlier in the day.

Sting Ray Robb put his No. 41 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet in 13th, with the No. 78 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet of Conor Daly finishing up 14th as the last car in the group.

Cla Driver # Laps Time Interval Mph 1 C. LundgaardRahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 45 9

58.2063

121.471 2 K. KirkwoodAndretti Global 27 9

+0.0400

58.2463

0.0400 121.388 3 S. FerrucciA.J. Foyt Enterprises 14 8

+0.0652

58.2715

0.0252 121.335 4 C. HertaAndretti Global with Curb-Agajanian 26 9

+0.1237

58.3300

0.0585 121.214 5 G. RahalRahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 15 9

+0.2054

58.4117

0.0817 121.044 6 S. DixonChip Ganassi Racing 9 9

+0.2710

58.4773

0.0656 120.908 7 P. FittipaldiRahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 30 8

+0.2892

58.4955

0.0182 120.871 8 R. van KalmthoutEd Carpenter Racing 21 8

+0.3011

58.5074

0.0119 120.846 9

C. RasmussenEd Carpenter Racing

20 9

+0.3430

58.5493

0.0419 120.760 10 D. MalukasMeyer Shank Racing 66 9

+0.4236

58.6299

0.0806 120.594 11 T. SoweryDale Coyne Racing 51 9

+0.5141

58.7204

0.0905 120.408 12 P. O'WardArrow McLaren 5 9

+0.5840

58.7903

0.0699 120.265 13

R. RobbA.J. Foyt Enterprises

41 8

+0.6624

58.8687

0.0784 120.105 14 C. DalyJuncos Hollinger Racing 78 9

+0.7658

58.9721

0.1034 119.894

In Group 2, Palou held firm at the top of the leaderboard for the majority of the segment while knocking his quickest lap time down to a 58.2459s lap. The second position rotated between several drivers before Power seized it at just 0.0093s behind Palou.

Armstrong snatched third from Ericsson, who fell to fourth. Grosjean established a fast lap of 58.3713s to take fifth, ahead of Newgarden in sixth.

Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin was the first driver on the outside looking in from transferring, falling short by 0.0413s behind teammate Newgarden.

Juri Vips, making his first start of the season in a fourth entry with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, was seventh.

The woes continued for Arrow McLaren in qualifying as Alexander Rossi and Nolan Siegel also missed the cut, with the two ending up eighth and 12th, respectively, in the segment.

Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist was 10th, with Chip Ganassi Racing rookie Linus Lundqvist taking 11th.

Kyffin Simpson, the other rookie at Chip Ganassi Racing, was 13th. Dale Coyne Racing’s Jack Harvey took the final spot in 14th.

Cla Driver # Laps Time Interval Mph 1 A. PalouChip Ganassi Racing 10 8

58.2459

121.389 2 W. PowerTeam Penske 12 9

+0.0093

58.2552

0.0093 121.369 3 M. ArmstrongChip Ganassi Racing 11 9

+0.0948

58.3407

0.0855 121.192 4 M. EricssonAndretti Global 28 9

+0.1192

58.3651

0.0244 121.141 5 R. GrosjeanJuncos Hollinger Racing 77 9

+0.1254

58.3713

0.0062 121.128 6 J. NewgardenTeam Penske 2 9

+0.1617

58.4076

0.0363 121.053 7 S. McLaughlinTeam Penske 3 9

+0.2030

58.4489

0.0413 120.967 8 J. VipsRahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 75 9

+0.3750

58.6209

0.1720 120.612 9 A. RossiArrow McLaren 7 9

+0.4363

58.6822

0.0613 120.486 10 F. RosenqvistMeyer Shank Racing 60 9

+0.4720

58.7179

0.0357 120.413 11 L. LundqvistChip Ganassi Racing 8 9

+0.5267

58.7726

0.0547 120.301 12

N. SiegelArrow McLaren

6 9

+0.5746

58.8205

0.0479 120.203 13 K. SimpsonChip Ganassi Racing 4 9

+0.6066

58.8525

0.0320 120.138 14 J. HarveyDale Coyne Racing 18 9

+0.9328

59.1787

0.3262 119.475

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