FORT WORTH, Texas – When Felix Rosenqvist won his first pole in the NTT IndyCar Series back in 2019, the driver from Sweden had tremendous confidence and expectations that he was going to be a big winner in IndyCar, especially at Chip Ganassi Racing.
Times have changed.
On Saturday, Rosenqvist won his second career NTT IndyCar Series pole at Texas Motor Speedway. He joined Arrow McLaren SP Racing for the 2021 season and Rosenqvist still has burning determination to be a winner, but with just one victory coming at Road America in 2020, he is attempting to live up to his potential.
Driving the No. 7 Vuse Honda at Arrow McLaren SP, Rosenqvist won the pole for Sunday’s XPEL 375 with a two-lap average of 221.110 miles per hour.
Rosenqvist went out early in the session and had to withstand an onslaught of IndyCar drivers making their two-lap qualification attempt. Scott McLaughlin, the winner of the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on February 27, was the last driver to make a qualification attempt.
McLaughlin’s first lap was faster than Rosenqvist’s, but the Team Penske driver could not maintain the advantage on his second lap and that dropped his two-lap average to 221.096 mph.
That gave the pole to Rosenqvist, who hopes to get his promising IndyCar Series career back in a positive direction.
“It’s been needed for a while,” Rosenqvist said. “Coming into this week, we always know we have a good car here and I felt confident. There was no reason we shouldn’t be strong here.
“Getting that run that early is just killing you,” Rosenqvist said. “There are so many guys here close. I had a couple of guys within thousandths. I just have to thank Arrow McLaren SP, Chevy, and Vuse. The car felt so good, and I knew that lap was pretty much as good as I could have made it. It was just so hard to wait for so long to get it.
“This is huge for the team and for me as far as a big confidence boost. Big comeback after some tough times. I am really pleased for everyone on my team to get this result. It’s awesome. So now we will just switch focus to the race and see what we can do.”
It was in the season-opening race at Texas Motor Speedway in 2020 when Rosenqvist was closing in on the leader, his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Scott Dixon, in a mad dash to the finish before he crashed in Turn 1 with 10 laps remaining. Dixon went on to win the race and Rosenqvist finished 20th.
“At this race so many times we have been close, at the front and fighting for wins,” Rosenqvist explained. “For whatever reason it hasn’t happened, but I feel this time we have a better chance than ever. It’s nice to start up front and I think we have every reason to be good. We just need to keep executing the pit stops, the restarts and just take it one lap at a time.”
Rosenqvist and McLaughlin will start on Row 1 as the Team Penske driver hopes to go for his second-straight win from the outside of the front row.
“I know very well how much momentum is helpful towards a championship charge, and it’s all about consistency,” McLaughlin said. “I said to you guys at St. Pete that a top seven every race is really our goal. I think it’s going to be good for our points and everything like that but knowing that we had a great car coming here, I knew that we could keep that momentum, so it helps coming to track set.
“Now I know how we’re going to react. Look, the points are tomorrow, so we have to make sure we have a clean race and be solid. I feel like we’ve got a race car that can compete for the race tomorrow.”
Takuma Sato’s two-lap average of 221.094 mph in the No. 51 Dale Coyne Racing Honda was third with Team Penske’s Will Power fourth with a two-lap average of 221.016 mph in the Team Penske Verizon Chevrolet.
Six-time Texas winner Scott Dixon was fifth in the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda with two laps at 221.011 mph alongside four-time Texas Motor Speedway winner Helio Castroneves, who qualified sixth with a two-lap average at 220.768 mph in the NO. 06 Honda at Meyer-Shank Racing.
Twenty-seven cars will take the green flag at 12:45 p.m. ET Sunday with the NBC telecast beginning at 12:30 p.m. ET.
Seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson, making his first IndyCar start on an oval, qualified 18th with a two-lap average of 219.865 mph in the No. 48 Carvana/American Legion Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing. That’s nine positions better than 27th-place qualifier Graham Rahal.
Rosenqvist was injured in a crash in the first race at the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix last June and that forced him to the sidelines until he recovered nearly two months later.
The popular driver from Sweden is hopeful his path to rejuvenation begins with Saturday’s pole at Texas Motor Speedway.
“For sure,” Rosenqvist said. “It was a definite struggle for me in the beginning. It was my weakest point. My first year I was actually one of the better runners on the road courses, but my oval performance was really, and I think last year was pretty much opposite, and hopefully this year it will be a mix of both.
“When we have days like this, and it’s fantastic, but when you have a rough day on Texas Motor Speedway, it’s not fun. That’s when you really see the true champions, I think, come out.”