McLaughlin takes pole ahead of IndyCar season opener

By Teagan Crump

Scott McLaughlin has taken P1 for the opening round of the 2026 IndyCar season in St. Petersburg, Florida. This becomes his elevnth IndyCar pole position, the first since the 2025 Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

📸: Joe Skibinski

Since the start of the race weekend, McLaughlin has established himself as an early contender, with him setting the fastest time in Practice 1. He also set the fastest time in Qualifying Round Two before securing the pole.

Round One, Group One

The first group to emerge onto the track had 12 drivers in, the 12 featured were: Marcus Ericsson, Pato O'Ward, Romain Grosjean, Louis Foster, Scott McLaughlin, Felix Rosenqvist, Will Power, Kyle Kirkwood, Santino Ferrucci, Mick Schumacher, Josef Newgarden and Rinus VeeKay

The session was relatively uneventful, but one stand out was Mick Schumacher running on the soft tyres. This alternate strategy allowed for the rookie to become more aware of the differences between tyres and how IndyCar works.

The drivers who advanced:

1. Marcus Ericsson (01:00.8257)

2. Pato O'Ward (01:00.9405)

3. Romain Grosjean (01:01.0324)

4. Louis Foster (01:01.0525)

5. Scott McLaughlin (01:01.0575)

6. Felix Rosenqvist (01:01.1240)

Round One, Group Two

Due to the fact that the IndyCar grid has 25 drivers, there was an additional racer in the second group. The 13 drivers were: David Malukas, Álex Palou, Marcus Armstrong, Dennis Hauger, Christian Lundgaard, Kyffin Simpson, Christian Rasmussen, Scott Dixon, Graham Rahal, Sting Ray Robb, Nolan Siegel, Caio Collet and Alexander Rossi.

Once again, the session was uneventful, apart from Dixon and Malukas having slight moments and both sliding.

The drivers who advanced:

1. David Malukas (01:00.5799)

2. Álex Palou (01:00.6142)

3. Marcus Armstrong (01:00.7559)

4. Dennis Hauger (01:00.8814)

5. Christian Lundgaard (01:01.0716)

6. Kyffin Simpson (01:01.0716)

Round Two

The top 12 drivers now had to battle it out for a place in the Fast 6. One of the standout drivers in Round 2 was rookie Dennis Hauger, who impressed when he set a lap time which was just 0.0967s slower than the fastest time. This meant Hauger was able to progress to the Fast 6 in his maiden IndyCar qualifying session, the only rookie driver to do so.

The drivers who advanced:

1. Scott McLaughlin (01:00.5434)

2. Álex Palou (01:00.5807)

3. Marcus Ericsson (01:00.6237)

4. Dennis Hauger (01:00.6401)

5. David Malukas (01:00.6481)

6. Romain Grosjean (01:00.7452)

Fast 6

One of the first drivers to stand out in the Fast 6 was eventual pole winner Scott McLaughlin. Dennis Hauger also continued to show his pace in the final session.

The top 6:

1. Scott McLaughlin (01:00.5426)

2. Marcus Ericsson (01:00.5621)

3. Dennis Hauger (01:00.5742)

4. Álex Palou (01:00.6842)

5. David Malukas (01:00.7638)

6. Romain Grosjean (01:00.3462)

📸: James Black

Qualifying final standings:

	Driver	Time	Top speed	Difference	Gap
1	Scott McLaughlin	01:00.5426	107.032	--.----	--.----
2	Marcus Ericsson	01:00.5621	106.998	0.0195	0.0195
3	Dennis Hauger	01:00.5743	106.976	0.0317	0.0122
4	Alex Palou	01:00.6842	106.782	0.1416	0.1099
5	David Malukas	01:00.7638	106.642	0.2212	0.0796
6	Romain Grosjean	01:01.3462	105.63	0.8036	0.5824
7	Marcus Armstrong	01:00.7820	106.611	0.2386	0.0368
8	Pato O'Ward	01:00.8863	106.428	0.3429	0.1043
9	Louis Foster	01:00.9472	106.322	0.4038	0.0609
10	Kyffin Simpson	01:00.9811	106.262	0.4377	0.0339
11	Felix Rosenqvist	01:00.9840	106.257	0.4406	0.0029
12	Christian Lundgaard	01:00.9842	106.257	0.4408	0.0002
13	Will Power	01:01.1936	105.893	0.3679	0.0696
14	Christian Rasmussen	01:01.1835	105.911	0.6036	0.0129
15	Kyle Kirkwood	01:01.2308	105.829	0.4051	0.0372
16	Scott Dixon	01:01.2109	105.863	0.6310	0.0274
17	Santino Ferrucci	01:01.2630	105.773	0.4373	0.0322
18	Graham Rahal	01:01.2257	105.838	0.6458	0.0148
19	Rinus VeeKay	01:01.3719	105.586	0.5462	0.1089
20	Sting Ray Robb	01:01.3666	105.595	0.7867	0.1409
21	Mick Schumacher	01:01.3983	105.54	0.5726	0.0264
22	Nolan Siegel	01:01.4498	105.452	0.8699	0.0832
23	Josef Newgarden	01:01.4174	105.508	0.5917	0.0191
24	Caio Collet	01:01.5719	105.243	0.9920	0.1221
25	Alexander Rossi	01:01.6031	105.19	1.0232	0.0312

The IndyCar Grand Prix of St. Petersburg will take place on Sunday, March 1st at 12pm ET (5PM GMT).