CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
THE THERMAL CLUB INDYCAR GRAND PRIX
THE THERMAL CLUB
THERMAL, CALIFORNIA
TEAM CHEVY RACE QUALIFYING RECAP
MARCH 22, 2025
ARROW MCLAREN WITH CHEVROLET POWER SCORES FRONT ROW LOCK-OUT AT THE THERMAL CLUB
PATO O’WARD WINS POLE WITH TEAMMATE CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD ALONG SIDE
· Pato O’Ward blasted to his first NTT INDYCAR SERIES pole since Mid-Ohio in 2022
o It is O’Ward’s sixth career NTT Pole Award, all behind the wheel of an Arrow McLaren Chevy
· It is the second consecutive pole for Chevrolet in 2025
o Scott McLaughlin won the pole for the Streets of St. Petersburg
· Today’s second place qualifying result for Christian Lundgaard is his fifth career front row start, and his first with Chevrolet power
· Alexander Rossi in only his second race in the No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet was the third member of Team Chevy in the Firestone Fast Six
o Rossi will roll off sixth on Sunday
· Santino Ferrucci, No. 14 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet, missed the Fast 12 by only two-thousandths of a second
· Chevrolet has 137 earned poles since 2012. Chevrolet holds 141 pole awards in total, with five recorded based on points for weather.
The Thermal Club INDYCAR Grand Prix Sunday race day opens with a warm-up session on FS1 at 11 a.m. ET. The 65-lap, 199.36-mile main event takes the green flag live with new NTT INDYCAR SERIES partner FOX on Sunday live at 3 p.m. ET. All practice and qualifying sessions broadcast with INDYCAR
Radio and SiriusXM Channel 218.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING:
Josef Newgarden, No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet, Qualified 17th:
“We just weren’t quick. All of us didn’t look fantastic in our group. I mean I think if you’re saying you need three-, four-tenths, I think we could’ve put that together on the red tire. I had some traffic at the end of my run. I don’t know who it was, I think it was probably (Rinus) VeeKay. It was probably a tenth or two in that final sector. And then dropped a little time personally in turn nine. I think I could see getting a transfer spot out of that, just maybe losing sort of the major speed that we’re going to need. I felt really good going into qualifying. I thought our car was in a good window. Obviously, we’re going to have to find some speed for tomorrow now, but we can always make something happen. I always feel good with Team Penske. Always lookout for the PPG Chevy, we can go to the front.”
Scott McLaughlin, No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet, Qualified, 25th:
“Honestly, I felt like the car was okay. It was just hard to get a read without doing that first run. That’s pretty much on me. Obviously, the whole team is struggling a little bit. It’s surprising because we actually felt pretty good. We’ll fight any way we’ve got and the XPEL Chevy will be at the front tomorrow.”
David Malukas, No. 4 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet, Qualified, 12th:
“It was good run for us. I mean, we were struggling in the practice sessions to find the setup where we wanted to be but we did a really good job estimating on what it needed for the alternates. Obviously, we committed to just go alternates and use both of them in that first round because the pace didn’t really seem there. It all worked out because the second set, somebody dropped a wheel and ruined everybody’s lap, so we still got that first lap in. So, let’s just say it’s a good day from what has been a tough weekend for us trying to find the setup. The race is going to be a primary tire race, so we need to make sure that we can get the No. 4 Chevrolet where it needs to be for the primaries.”
Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, Qualified POLE:
“Just seeing where we were here last year, the team has done a great job with bringing a car that’s more consistent, faster, and we’ve definitely brought some performance. So, super stoked to see it. We’ve locked our front row so great job to Christian (Lundgaard) as well. He’s been quick, so we’ll see what tomorrow holds. It’ll be a hectic race with the tires deg and I think we’re going to be thanking our strategy if we have a good race. We weren’t so happy with the overnight changes so we kind of fell back to where we started the weekend. The car is in the window for sure. Maybe not for Q1 so much, but we dialed it in and we got it done.”
Nolan Siegel, No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, Qualified, 16th:
“Honestly, I feel like all weekend the execution has been alright on all of our laps and all of our runs. Just been lacking a bit, so I don’t really know. I felt like it was a pretty solid run and a solid lap, and it felt good enough that if you told me we were up at the top, I would believe you. So, a little confused, but I think our race pace will be better. We could be worse, we certainly hoped we’d be better but this is where we’re at.”
Christian Lundgaard, No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, Qualified 2nd:
“Throughout qualifying, I think I”m pretty happy. Obviously bummed to get second over first. I think we had a car to be on pole. I think we proved that as a team. Front row lockout, we’re just apparently copy and paste what the F1 team is doing.”
Will Power, No. 12 Team Penske Chevrolet, Qualified, 21st:
“We had been quick in every single session until that red tire run then. Just didn’t start the first lap on them well so I aborted it. Then, you’ve used them a little bit and there’s only one lap you’ve got. I was, man, surprised. I mean, I gave up three-tenths on the first corner of the start of the lap, so that is on me there. It’s the not the seconds we’re looking for like (Alex) Palou did. It’s not even fathomable for us to get to that lap time, but the top-six maybe if we’re lucky.”
Santino Ferrucci, No. 14 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet, Qualified, 14th:
“It was a solid run. I think we did a really good job as a team. I just had a couple mistakes in the lap, which add up to a little bit, so we should have advanced but it was a good learning curve. Feel good about the Sexton Properties Chevrolet going into tomorrow. Good to pass some people and come home with a top five.”
Alexander Rossi, No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet, Qualified :
“It was a good session for the No. 20 Java House Chevrolet. It’s been a struggle throughout the weekend. We had delays with getting laps in because of some hybrid issues, but we finally had a smooth session and were able to qualify in the Fast 6. That’s the potential we have had, but there is still work to do as we switch into race mode. It’s a good start to what will hopefully be a strong Sunday for us tomorrow!”
Christian Rasmussen, No. 21 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet, Qualified 19th:
“That was not the qualifying we were hoping for. We are starting the weekends super well, but are struggling to level up as much as we need to session to session. We will see what happens, it’s a long race tomorrow and tire deg is going to be a huge thing. If we can manage that, we have a good chance for a decent result. I would just love to start farther up, especially after a couple of practice sessions where we had good pace. Just a little frustrated!”
Conor Daly, No. 76 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet, Qualified, 15th :
“Really happy with the progress we made today. I think we had almost nailed the perfect lap, and the tires might’ve just fallen out of the window on the last corner and I made a small mistake which cost us the transfer. Tough. My bad on that one for sure, but the team gave me a great car to fight for the transfer spot. To start P15 here at a track I haven’t been at in a long time, it feels really good. It’s going to be a tough race, but thankful for the progress we made and we’ll see what happens tomorrow.”
Sting Ray, No. 77 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet, Qualified 24th:
“Qualifying was fairly disappointing. I think we had a lot more ability than what we showed. Unfortunately didn’t put a lap together and just missed it. It’s a really tight field, so that means little mistakes take care of a lot of positions. Unfortunately we’ll start from the back. I think we’ve got a decent car on reds, We’ll race forward and I think that we will do well.”
Robert Shwartzman, No. 83 PREMA Chevrolet, Qualified 27th:
“This weekend so far has been extremely bad as we did not complete any laps in Free Practice. The team did an incredible effort overnight to build a new car but with the very limited running it was very unbalanced as a result. For my first push lap, it felt okay until Turn Four but then, I just locked up and the tires were already gone. I thought with the second set I could try to improve something to try to change the car balance a bit, but then I had a drive-through, so I didn’t manage to put in a final lap. It is unbelievable how unlucky we have been so far this season.”
Callum Ilott, No. 90 PREMA Chevrolet, Qualified, 22nd:
It was not the not the best session. We weren’t in the right balance when I was out on the Primaries and tried to make it better for the Alternates, but it wasn’t perfect and just couldn’t quite get it together. We still have a lot to learn from everything so far this weekend. It’s very hot and it doesn’t make it easy for us, but this race with the heat and tire degradation there’s probably quite a lot of room to move forwards. But we will have to work overnight and see on race day.”