Scott McLaughlin "locked in" for Thermal Club GP comeback after apologizing to Team Penske for qualifying disaster

Scott McLaughlin shockingly suffered a round 1 exit during the qualifying session on Saturday for the inaugural Thermal Club Grand Prix. It was a dismal day for Team Penske as its other two drivers, Josef Newgarden and Will Power, met with the same fate.

Of the 13 drivers in Group 1 for Round 1 of qualifying, only six advanced to Round 2. Newgarden was Team Penske's best performer, but his lap time of 1:40.6956 was only good enough for P9, while Power finished in P11 and McLaughlin dead last in P13.

After the disappointing session, Scott McLaughlin apologized to his No. 3 team in an X post as he wrote:

"Just got that one a bit wrong today. Sorry to the boys, we’ve got a good car and tomorrow’s going to be a tricky one, so let’s see if we can’t make a little magic happen."

The Team Penske drivers' P9, P11 and P13 in Group 1 translates to P17, P21 and P25 on the starting grid for the Thermal Club IndyCar GP. With McLaughlin's work cut out for a grueling 65-lap race in the California heat, he shared a message of intent on X.

"Locked in and ready to push forward. It’s #Thirsty3’s Sunday, let’s have a day. 3pm ET on FOX, get amongst it," he wrote.

McLaughlin's Round 1 knockout wasn't on any analyst's prediction because he won pole position at IndyCar's 2025 season opener at St. Petersburg. However, the low-grip Thermal Club circuit threw a spanner in the works.

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Scott McLaughlin explained how a 360-degree spin in qualifying dampened his confidence

Scott McLaughlin's No. 3 Team Penske Chevy at IndyCar's Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg - Source: Getty

Scott McLaughlin suffered an early 360-degree spin during his first lap on the new black Firestone tires in Round 1 of qualifying. The Thermal Club circuit has lower grip compared to the other older IndyCar circuits, which combined with the desert heat, cause the tires to degrade quicker.

In addition to the low grip, McLaughlin revealed that there was dirt on the part of the track where he lost his car, presumably because the driver in front of him made a mistake and went off track and onto the sand. Talking about his spin after getting knocked out of Round 1, he said on the live broadcast:

"I made that mistake on the black tire and saved it, but it's hard to get a read of the track conditions after that. And the red tire, I felt that we are going to be pretty good because we are out of sync, we weren't using this No. 1 pit [box] very well and I came around the corner at turn 1, and it was just dirt everywhere from whoever was in front of me before, and I had no grip whatsoever."

Scott McLaughlin was the second-best performer when IndyCar visited the Thermal Club in 2024 for a non-championship race, the $1 million challenge. He finished runner-up to Alex Palou in the final 20-lap All-Star race to win $350,000.

However, today's inaugural full-length race is expected to pose a big strategic challenge for all teams. The conditions during the race will be radically different from what drivers encountered during the Sunday morning warmup and most of the weekend. The temperature will be over 30 degrees higher than the warmup slot.