By: Spencer Neff
September 2, 2023
Starting Lineup Qualifying Results
For the second time in the last three races, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Graham Rahal will lead the field to the green flag.
On Saturday afternoon, the No. 15 car posted a best lap of 58.3195 seconds (121.236 mph) to earn pole for Sunday’s 110-lap BitNile.com Grand Prix of Portland.
It is the second pole of 2023 for the New Albany, Ohio native, who snapped a six-year drought by starting on the pole at the Gallagher Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course three weeks ago.
RLLR now has four poles on this season. It is their third pole at Portland but first since 2001 with Max Paris, a race he went on to win.
Rahal now has five career pole positions, while RLLR has their 37th pole as a team. In 2022, Rahal earned a fifth-place effort, his best finish in five starts on the 1.964-mile, 12-turn road course in Oregon.
In 2021, Rahal started fifth and led a race-high 36 laps before finishing 10th.
Round 3-Fast Six
Rahal bested Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin, continuing Honda’s pole streak on permanent road courses to six and nine of ten road and street courses in 2023, McLaughlin’s second-place effort is best among the Chevrolets in the field.
Colton Herta led the way for Andretti Autosport in third with Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon in fourth.
Points leader and Dixon’s teammate Alex Palou qualified fifth as he looks to clinch his second championship in three years. Arrow Mclaren’s Pato O’Ward rolls off sixth for tomorrow’s race.
Round 2-Fast 12
McLaughlin (58.0777-121.740 mph) continued his pace from the morning practice, leading the second round. He advanced to the run for the pole along with Herta, O’Ward, Dixon, Palou and Rahal.
Falling below the cut for the final round were Will Power, Callum Ilott, Alexander Rossi, Marcus Ericsson, Felix Rosenqvist and Josef Newgarden. They will start seventh through 12th.
Just over two minutes into the 10-minute session, Newgarden slid into the tire barriers on the entrance of Turn. 12.
The contact would prompt the first red flag of qualifying and Newgarden would be forced to start 12th, per INDYCAR Rule 8.3.6-“If a Car causes a Red Condition in any segment, the Carās best two (2) timed laps of the segment shall be disallowed, the Car may not continue in the segment, and the Car shall not advance to the next segment.”
Round 1-Group 1
Rosenqvist led the first group, posting a best lap of 57.8967 (122.121 mph). Advancing to the second round with him would be Herta, Newgarden, Rahal, Power and Ilott.
Unable to get past the opening round included Rinus VeeKay, Romain Grosjean, Christian Lundgaard, Ryan Hunter-Reay,Devlin DeFrancesco, Santino Ferrucci and Sting Ray Robb. Those seven drivers will line up on the inside of Rows 7-13.
Round 1-Group 2
Palou (57.9651-121.977 mph) was fastest of the 14 drivers partaking in the second group. Joining him as part of the Top Six would be McLaughlin, O’Ward, Dixon, Rossi and Ericsson.
Missing the second round included Marcus Armstrong, Kyle Kirkwood, Juri Vips, Agustin Canapino, Helio Castroneves, David Malukas, Benjamin Pedersen and Tom Blomqvist. Blomqvist starts in 27th, while the other six will line up on the outside of Rows 7-13.
Up Next
Here is the schedule for the weekend at the BitNile.com Grand Prix of Portland. Stay with IndyCar1909 for the latest on the NTT INDYCAR SERIES.
At-track schedule (all times local):
Saturday, Sept. 2
5:15-5:45 p.m. ā NTT INDYCAR SERIES final practice, Peacock
Sunday, Sept. 3
10:15 a.m. ā INDY NXT by Firestone Grand Prix of Portland āDrivers Start Your Enginesā
10:20 a.m. ā INDY NXT by Firestone Grand Prix of Portland (35 laps / 68.74 miles / 55 minutes), Peacock
Noon ā NBC on air
12:23 p.m. ā āDrivers, start your enginesā
12:30 p.m. ā BITNILE.COM Grand Prix of Portland (110 laps/216.04 miles), NBC (Live)
Header Image By Joe Skibinski/INDYCAR
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