IndyCar Portland qualifying winners and losers: McLaren’s no good, terrible, awful day

IndyCar is back in Portland this weekend for its final road course race of 2024, and qualifying has already shown that we’ll be in for a compelling race.

With Santino Ferrucci on pole position and Arrow McLaren struggling to find speed, we have some obvious winners and losers after qualifying. But for our full list, read on.

IndyCar Portland qualifying winners and losers

Winner: Santino Ferrucci

Santino Ferrucci put his No. 14 A. J. Foyt Racing machine into the Fast Six — the first time his team has made the Fast Six since Sebastien Bourdais pulled off the same feat back in 2021. It was also Ferrucci’s first-ever Fast Six entry.

His timing tracker may not have been working, but Ferrucci put together an incredible set of laps to secure pole position, even having locked up coming into the final corner. Again — the first pole for A. J. Foyt Racing in a decade .

For the 25-year-old driver still seeking a drive in 2025, Ferrucci’s pole position will set him up well, not just for Sunday’s race, but for the conclusion of silly season.

Oh, and the first driver to congratulate the American driver? Will Power of Team Penske. With Foyt being a Penske satellite team, could this signal a future under the Captain for Ferrucci?

Loser: McLaren

The No. 6 Arrow McLaren crew simply got it wrong during qualifying, and Pato O’Ward took the brunt of the unfortunate strategy call in Group 1 in qualifying.

After climbing out of the car, O’Ward lamented that his Chevy had “no pace in it at all.

“It’s a bummer because I thought we had a chance for at least the Fast Six, but we just couldn’t get the car to switch on on the reds.”

O’Ward is referring to the series’ red tires; the red Firestones denote that the tire is the alternate tire, which is generally a softer tire than the primary blacks. It took the Mexican racer too long to get his tires up to temperature; by the time he felt the tires were ready for a flying lap, he was out of fuel, and there was no time for a top-up and second shot.

It’ll be a brutal race for the driver, who is still technically in contention for the championship — and his teammates fared no better. Neither Nolan Siegel nor Alexander Rossi could find the speed to climb into the Fast 12. It’s a shocking result for three drivers, considering McLaren has been otherwise impressive all season long.

Winner: Alex Palou

Name any other IndyCar driver that could kiss the barrier in qualifying, then get back on the race track to secure a third-place start heading into Portland. Maybe you could argue Scott Dixon could make it happen — but this weekend, Alex Palou was that driver.

Palou is the current IndyCar championship leader, but his title could still be in doubt. The Spaniard has never won on an oval race, and after Portland, oval races are all that remain to bring the 2024 IndyCar season to its conclusion. A strong result in Portland will help insulate Palou, just in case that maiden oval victory doesn’t happen quite yet.

And a strong starting position is critical for a strong race finish. Palou’s impressive handling kept his No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda out of the wall and in the running for his third title.

Loser: Scott McLaughlin

Scott McLaughlin has been one of the most impressive drivers in qualifying all season long. He led in practice and looked set to be a dominant force in qualifying at Portland… but it wasn’t to be. The Group 2 qualifying driver failed to make it through to the Fast 12, which will leave him starting tomorrow’s race at the back of the grid.

“I have a car good enough for pole,” McLaughlin told NBC after he exited qualifying. “We’ll have to do [this race] the hard way.”

The ultra-short track in Portland produces a sub-60 second lap in qualifying, which means a good qualifying result depends in part on where you blend out onto the track and what kind of gap you can pull the cars ahead of you.

Unfortunately, McLaughlin was one of those drivers caught up in traffic. Without a gap to really push his No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet to its max, McLaughlin set a slow lap.

Dig deeper into F1 vs. IndyCar

👉 Explained: How McLaren expanded its F1 operation to include IndyCar program

👉 Formula 1 v IndyCar: How open-wheel racing’s hybrid powertrains compare

Winner: Romain Grosjean

Former Formula 1 driver Romain Grosjean really seems to be coming to grips with this IndyCar thing. Though he didn’t make the Fast Six in qualifying for Portland, his ability to sneak into the Fast 12 while his more experienced (in IndyCar, at least) teammate Conor Daly struggled to get anywhere near at close.

It’s also a critical performance. Though Juncos Hollinger Racing would love Romain Grosjean to remain with the team, the racer hasn’t signed any contracts just yet — perhaps because he’s waiting out a more reliable option than the slowly developing JHR.

Grosjean’s swap to IndyCar hasn’t always been fruitful, but this could be the turning point he needs to find his footing in the future.

Loser: Colton Herta

Colton Herta has often been his own worst enemy, and he was certainly that in Portland qualifying. The No. 26 Andretti Global driver had four laps to bump his car from the Fast 12 to the Fast Six — but on lap three, Herta’s Honda rode a little too high off the curb and took a run through the dirt.

Whether or not that lap would have been what Herta needed to earn a shot at being in the top six on the starting grid is impossible to say — but it certainly didn’t hurt.

“I just made a small mistake on my third lap,” Herta said of his session, “so we didn’t get [in]. The fourth lap was decent and I felt good with it, but just not enough

“You just can’t make mistakes like that here.”

But make that mistake he did.

Herta also struggled in qualifying for Gateway thanks to a nasty crash.

Winner: Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

Two cars in the Fast Six is a frankly stunning result for the RLL team — even if Graham Rahal himself will have a six-place grid penalty to contend with.

Christian Lundgaard will start fourth, while Graham Rahal qualified in sixth place but will drop back further down the field. Those two haven’t been strangers to the first three rows of the grid in 2024, but the problem has largely come when it’s time to secure a strong finish. A third place for Lundgaard is the best the team has managed thus far in 2024 — but perhaps Portland could be different.

Loser: Honda engines (again)

It’s been another difficult week to be a Honda driver in the NTT IndyCar Series. As at Gateway, several Honda drivers have earned six-place grid penalties for Graham Rahal (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing), Kyle Kirkwood (Andretti Global), and David Malukas (Meyer Shank Racing). Those three drivers will be dropped six places on the starting grid due to unapproved engine changes.

The Japanese automaker has unfortunately struggled with reliability all season long in IndyCar, and it’s coming into play yet again in Portland.

Read next: Loud engines, South American races: How Pato O’Ward believes IndyCar can challenge Formula 1