Andretti’s Marcus Ericsson with his first Career IndyCar Pole in Arlington
Marcus Ericsson earned his first career NTT Pole Position award for the Java House Grand Prix of Arlington.
Ericsson, driver of the No. 28 Andretti Global car, finished his single-car, single-lap in the Fast Six with a time of 1:34:3562. The reverse order of the cars in that last round of qualifying worked to the Swedish driver’s advantage as he was able to get the car out first and keep his tires hot.
“I think there was like more than 20 minutes between my last lap in Fast 12 until my out lap in Fast Six,” said Alex Palou, who went out last in the Fast Six, and will start second in tomorrow’s race. “Only having an out lap just doesn’t allow you to warm up the brakes or the tires or anything. I was slower than I was on old tires in the previous sessions. I think tire temp made a difference.”
The tires weren’t the only thing working for Ericsson in qualifying; the track itself worked for him, too. Previous to the first practice session, Ericsson had stated that he felt the track had a lot of similarities to the Nashville street circuit that he had won back in 2021.
Following qualifying, he reiterated that this street course felt good to him.
“I think it’s a fantastic track to drive because it’s very technical,” Ericsson said. “It’s very tricky. It’s bumpy, but it’s bumpy in that sort of characteristic way, which I think really is IndyCar racing for me. It’s supposed to be bumpy and have different concrete, asphalt, and different surfaces through the corner phases. There were bricks in some places where you lose grip. It was very difficult, and that for me is really in IndyCar’s DNA.
We need more tracks like this, I think. I think it really raises the standard of INDYCAR racing. I think the race tomorrow is going to be fantastic. I really believe it’s going to be a good show.”
During the qualifying session, teams had some issues with how quickly the red, alternate tires seemed to be falling off. In St. Pete, the first street course of this season, those softer tires appeared to be the tire for the race, but here in Arlington, the streets seem to prefer the harder, primary tires.
“I think the alternates seem to fall off a lot more compared to St. Pete,” said the pole winner. “I think we’re going to see more degradation because I think the track is still very slippery. Even after day two, today is still a very slippery surface. I think it eats tires a little bit more.”
“The alternates are faster, but it seems to be that they’re having a lot more degradation than what we saw in St. Pete,” stated Palou. “It’ll be interesting because everybody has to run two sets of alternates. Let’s see how many cautions we get. I feel like it’s going to be a ton. Let’s see what the strategy is, how it shakes out.”
Due to heavy forecasted wind, the green flag for IndyCar will now wave at 12:00 pm ET (11:00 am local time) to start the race on the streets of Arlington.