Christian Lundgaard clocked the fastest lap during qualifying for Sunday’s BITNILE Grand Prix of Portland on August 10, posting a time of 58.3939 seconds at an average speed of 121.081 mph on the 1.967-mile, 12-turn road course. However, a six-place grid penalty for an unapproved engine change means the Danish driver will start seventh despite his speed.
Teammate Pato O’Ward, who recorded the second fastest time, will start from pole position due to Lundgaard’s penalty.
Christian Lundgaard lays down the fastest lap in Portland qualifying! He will start P.7 due to a grid penalty (engine change).Pato O’Ward will lead them to green tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/p8Jm26qkGS
— INDYCAR on FOX
Lundgaard expressed some surprise at his performance, stating,
Honestly as I crossed the line I still didn’t really expect it,
and added,
I just felt like I had a big push in turn 5, a big push in turn 6, and I knew I was slower than the Fast 12, so I didn’t really think that was it. But we were discussing this and this was kind of the best case scenario for, us obviously, with the six-place grid penalty. But I’m just proud of this team.
Championship Leader Palou Faces Setbacks in Final Qualifying
Alex Palou, the current championship leader, struggled in the Firestone Fast Six after running off track near the final corner, locking his tires and lightly clipping the tire barrier. This incident triggered a local yellow flag, which resulted in Palou losing his best lap time during the session.
Palou reflected on the mistake, saying,
Just tried a bit too hard,
and acknowledging the difficulty of the session,
We wanted that pole, we knew that it was going to be tight. I think I started locking quite early on, and then I couldn’t really get the car stopped, and glad I didn’t break anything on the car and that I could continue. Sorry if I disturbed somebody on qualifying, I know it’s frustrating.
He added,
Anyway I was trying, I was trying my best, I was trying to go as fast as possible, went a little bit too hard, but happy that we’re in the Fast Six, happy that we’re starting top six tomorrow and yeah, ready to go for it.
Following the lap deletion, Palou made one more attempt but was unable to improve his position and will start fifth on the grid.
Round 2 Qualifying Details and Rossi’s Progress
Alexander Rossi narrowly missed advancing to the Firestone Fast Six after losing time exiting turn 7 late in Round 2 of qualifying. Despite the setback, Rossi viewed the day positively as a fresh beginning after a challenging July.
I think ultimately it was a really good day for us,
Rossi commented.
It was a very trying month of July for a lot of different reasons that we don’t need to get into, so it was good to come out of that week off and reset and roll off the truck strong. So a huge thank you to the [Ed Carpenter Racing] organization for that.
Early Qualifying Sessions Shake Up the Field
Round 1 kicked off with Robert Shwartzman causing a red flag with just over a minute remaining. When qualifying resumed, Alex Palou and Will Power chose to stay in the pits, automatically advancing. Kyffin Simpson squeezed between Palou and Power, while Marcus Armstrong, Alexander Rossi, and David Malukas secured their places in the next stage.
In Round 1 Group 2, Josef Newgarden made a late surge that knocked Devlin DeFrancesco out of contention for the Fast 12. Meanwhile, Colton Herta faced a surprising early exit despite showing strong pace earlier in practice.
Herta commented on his performance difficulties,
The balance felt OK; the lap time just wasn’t coming through the lap,
and explained,
I think we’re just missing a bit of overall grip, because it seemed a lot happier on the blacks this morning, and the time was coming a lot easier. And then going to this session on the reds, we just can’t make the time. Little bit of a weird one.
He added,
That’s really upsetting, though, especially from the pace that we had this morning. Kind of difficult to pass here, so it sucks when you start that far back, but there’s plenty of opportunities in this race, it has huge windows for strategists to do their thing and try to get us in a good spot.
Race Day Schedule and Anticipated Competition
The BITNILE.com Grand Prix of Portland is set to begin at 3 p.m. ET on Sunday, aired live on FOX. The event promises a competitive field with drivers like Lundgaard, O’Ward, Palou, and Rosenqvist all vying for top positions on the 12-turn, natural terrain circuit.
Christian Lundgaard’s fastest lap highlights the potential for strong performance despite penalties, while other contenders will look to capitalize on strategy and track conditions to move up the order during the race.
