IndyCar 2025: Qualifying groups and order for Thermal Club GP

Modified Mar 23, 2025 00:16 IST

INDYCAR Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg - Source: Getty

Practice session two at IndyCar's inaugural Thermal Club GP race weekend has concluded, and it's only a matter of time before the 27 drivers head out to the track again for a rollercoaster of a qualifying session. Arrow McLaren's newest driver, Christian Lundgaard, topped practice 2 with a time of 1:40.642 to snatch Alex Palou's practice 1 crown.

Here's a brief look at how each of the 11 IndyCar teams performed in practice 2:

Arrow McLaren: The team's most experienced driver, Pato O'Ward slotted in P5, eight-tenths off of table-topping teammate Lundgaard. Nolan Siegel was surprisingly off the pace with a 1:42.1079, good enough only for P19.

Chip Ganassi Racing: Defending IndyCar champ Alex Palou was ever-consistent. The Spaniard, who was fastest in practice 1, finished in P2 in practice 2. His six-time champion teammate Scott Dixon was farther back in P12. Kyffin Simpson was equally farther back in P23.

Team Penske: Will Power emerged as the fastest Penske driver in P6. Scott McLaughlin's lap time was good enough for a P10, and Josef Newgarden occupied an uncharacteristic P16.

Meyer Shank Racing: MSR recorded paradoxical results. Marcus Armstrong finished high up in P4 while Felix Rosenqvist couldn't do better than P22.

PREMA Racing: The IndyCar debutants are having a weekend to forget going into qualifying. Rookie Robert Shwartzman didn't complete even one lap in practices 1 and 2. His car caught fire on fire in practice 1 and PREMA had to rebuild the entire car with major components being damaged. Despite nearly pulling an all-nighter, his car couldn't take to the tracks. Teammate Callum Ilott showed promising pace to secure P11.

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing: Devlin DeFrancesco surprised the commentators by going P9. The more experienced Graham Rahal finished in P17, while rookie Louis Foster was in the middle in P13.

Andretti Global: Marcus Ericsson was the quickest Andretti driver, finishing in P3 behind Palou. Colton Herta was similarly impressive with a P7 finish, while Kyle Kirkwood was off the pace in P20.

AJ Foyt Racing: Santino Ferrucci in P15 was the quicker of the team's two drivers, with David Malukas slightly behind in P18.

Ed Carpenter Racing: Alexander Rossi, who joined to team to take it to greater heights, finished in P21, while Christian Rasmussen was considerably quicker, up in P14.

Dale Coyne Racing: Rinus Veekay was impressive yet again, driving the slowest car on paper to P8, while rookie teammate Jacob Abel was the slowest driver of the session in P26, three seconds slower than Lundgaard in P1.

Juncos Hollinger Racing: Conor Daly, who got a new sponsor, and Sting Ray Robb's lap times were good enough for P24 and P25.

Qualifying groups for the 2025 Thermal Club IndyCar GP

The 27 full-time IndyCar drivers from 11 teams will be divided into two groups for Round 1 of the qualifying session at the Thermal Club circuit scheduled for 5:00 pm ET. Drivers who finished in odd positions in practice session 2 i.e. P1, P3, P5, and so on, will be in Group 2, while drivers finishing in even positions i.e. P2, P4, P6, and so on, will go into Group 1.

Here are the two groups for qualifying for the inaugural Thermal Club IndyCar Grand Prix: