- Romain Grosjean scores his second NTT INDYCAR SERIES pole of 2023 in qualifying for Sundays Childrens of Alabama Indy Grand Prix
- 2021 race winner Alex Palou completes front row sweep for Honda
- Honda drivers claim four of the top-six qualifying positions
Romain Grosjean prevailed in an extremely tight final qualifying round Saturday at Barber Motorsports Park to claim his second NTT INDYCAR SERIES pole of the 2023 season, and third in four races for his Andretti Autosport Honda team.
Meanwhile, 2021 Barber race winner Alex Palou qualified second-fastest in his Chip Ganassi Racing entry to make it an all-Honda front row for Sundays Childrens of Alabama Indy Grand Prix.
The third row of the 27-car starting field will also be all-Honda, with Chip Ganassi Racings Scott Dixon starting fifth; and Christian Lundgaard rounding out the top six for Rahal Letterman Lanigan in his best qualifying performance of 2023.
Childrens of Alabama Indy Grand Prix Honda Qualifying Results
- 1st Romain Grosjean Andretti Autosport Honda
- 2nd Alex Palou Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
- 5th Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
- 6th Christian Lundgaard Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
- 12th Kyle Kirkwood Andretti Autosport Honda
- 13th Marcus Ericsson Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
- 14th Colton Herta Andretti Autosport Honda
- 16th Simon Pagenaud Meyer Shank Racing Honda
- 17th David Malukas Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Honda
- 18th Devlin DeFrancesco Andretti Autosport Honda
- 19th Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
- 21st Helio Castroneves Meyer Shank Racing Honda
- 23rd Sting Ray Robb-R Dale Coyne Racing with RWR Honda
- 24th Jack Harvey Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
- 26th Marcus Armstrong-R Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
R – Rookie
Quotes
Romain Grosjean (#28 Andretti Autosport Honda) pole qualifier: “Missing practice yesterday [due to a mechanical issue] is never ideal, but it shows the strengths we have at Andretti Autosport as a team. Weve got a very good baseline [chassis setup] and the car works well everywhere, weve been working with Honda to optimize our performance at each race. So we have nice driveability and great feedback from all our [Andretti Autosport] drivers. Quite excited to have an all-Honda front row for tomorrow!”
Alex Palou (#10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) qualified second, has finished first and second in his two previous starts at Barber Motorsports Park: "Its great! HPD and Honda locking down the front row is super good. Honestly, we started really good [in practice] yesterday. We were able to test here [earlier this year] which always helps. We just missed [pole] by a little bit, and you need to be perfect to nail a pole in Indy car qualifying. So, happy with the front row [starting position], but hopefully we can find a little bit more in warmup and go for the win in the race. Its going to take a perfect day [to win], well need to be really good on both the primary and alternate tires, and perfect on the strategy calls. Nowdays, if you just have a slight ‘moment during the race, youre gone from the fight for the win. So hopefully its going to be a perfect day for us tomorrow.”
Fast Facts
- This is Hondas third pole in four rounds of the 2023 NTT INDYCAR SERIES. Romain Grosjean qualified first at both the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg and today at Barber; while his Andretti Autosport teammate, Kyle Kirkwood, claimed the pole at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach enroute to his first win in the series.
- Honda holds the early-season lead in the 2023 NTT INDYCAR SERIES Manufacturers Championship, with two victories and three poles so far this season. Honda comes to Barber Motorsports Park with a 32-point advantage (254-222) over rival Chevrolet. The company is seeking its fifth NTT INDYCAR SERIES Manufacturers Championship in the last six years in 2023.
- With a win at the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, Chip Ganassi Racings Marcus Ericsson comes to Barber Motorsports Park leading the Drivers Championship points standings, with 15-point lead (110-95) over Pato OWard.
Where to Watch
Television coverage of the Childrens of Alabama Indy Grand Prix starts at 3 p.m. EDT Sunday on NBC. Complete, flag-to-flag race coverage also will be available on NBC Peacock, the INDYCAR Radio Network, and SiriusXM INDYCAR Nation (Channel 160).
Honda Racing social media content and video links can be found on:
Instagram (www.instagram.com/hondaracing_hpd)
TikTok (www.tiktok.com/hondaracing_hpd)
Twitter (www.twitter.com/HondaRacing_HPD)
Facebook (www.facebook.com/HondaRacingHPD)
YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/HondaRacingHPDTV)
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