Palou Powers Honda to Pole at Laguna Seca

• Defending Series Champion Alex Palou takes his second pole of 2024, fifth of season for Honda for Sunday's Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey
• Kyle Kirkwood, Felix Rosenqvist and Colton Herta complete all-Honda 1-4 qualifying sweep at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca
• Palou completes sweep of qualifying poles this weekend for HRC-US drivers
  

For the second race in a row, it was all Hondas at the front of the field in NTT INDYCAR SERIES qualifying for Sunday's Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey, as defending series champion Alex Palou led a Honda 1-2-3-4 sweep at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

Today's qualifying results echoed qualifying for the XPEL Grand Prix at Road America two weeks ago, where it was Palou's Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Linus Lundqvist heading a Honda 1-2-3-4 qualifying result.

It also completed a sweep of qualifying poles this weekend for Honda Racing Corporation USA drivers and teams, with Louis Deletraz piloting his Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06 to the pole for Sunday's IMSA Sahlen's Six Hours of the Glen; while Louis Montour claimed the class pole for the supporting Michelin Pilot Challenge round in his Montreal Motorsports Group Honda Civic Type R TCR.

Today's qualifying run by Palou was the career 5th INDYCAR pole for the two-time series champion, and the fifth of the season for Honda, including the non-championship round at The Thermal Club in April.

Andretti Global's Kyle Kirkwood recorded his first front-row INDYCAR start of 2024 with the second-fastest time in Firestone Fast Six final qualifying; with Felix Rosenqvist from Meyer Shank Racing and Andretti Global's Colton Herta completing the second row. Christian Lundgaard rounds out the top six in his Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda.

R – Rookie

Quotes
Alex Palou (#10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) pole qualifier, 2nd pole of 2024, 5th career INDYCAR pole: "It was really tight today, really tough all through qualifying. It was really tricky with the track conditions with some wind out there, you could really feel it move the car around. But the #10 DHL Honda was on rails today – and now we've got the best starting position for the race tomorrow. It's always good to be starting up front, but especially so here this weekend."

Kyle Kirkwood (#27 Andretti Global Honda) will start on the outside of the front row, second: "Really happy to be on the front row. Starting position is so important here, as running in clean air is everything. Honda power was great today, five out of the top six have got Honda power, so proud to be powered by Honda. Just a brilliant day. The entire team executed well. Of course, you want to be two-hundredths quicker and get the pole, but I'm extremely happy to be on the front row. I think this may be physically the hardest track on the schedule now with the repave. It's a lot warmer than predicted, too. If that continues tomorrow I think you'll not only see tire deg, I think you may see some bodies ‘deg' as well!"

Fast Facts

• Honda comes to the WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca seeking a fifth-consecutive NTT INDYCAR SERIES victory since the championship returned to the Monterey Peninsula in 2019.
• Honda's first win at Laguna Seca came in 1996 with the famous pass in the "Corkscrew" corner by Alex Zanardi on future Honda IndyCar driver/team owner Bryan Herta.  Zanardi's Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Jimmy Vasser claimed the win in 1997.  Helio Castroneves led another 1-2-3 Honda sweep at Laguna Seca in 2000.

Where to Watch
Television coverage of Sunday's Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey starts at 6 p.m. ET on the USA Network. Complete, flag-to-flag race coverage also will be available on NBC Peacock, the INDYCAR Radio Network, and SiriusXM INDYCAR Nation (Channel 160).

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