Photos from this morning’;s warmup, taken from the inside of the lead up to mthe Corvette bridga at turn 6.
Tire selections:
Interesting near 50/50 split on strategy. A mid tire stint caution would be most welcome to make this race interesting.
Warmup Results
Marcus Armstrong, Caio Collet, and Nolan Siegel continue their consistent strong weekends.
Good morning from what is for now a fairly quiet Road America. The USF 2000 race has just started, and a full morning of on track action will culminate with the IndyCar XPEL Grand Prix.
Today is a picture perfect day for racing with high temperature of 71 degrees under sunny skies. The temperature is predicted to drop during the race.
Today’s schedule: Central times
Anyone in the top five starting spots has a chance today. We could see another Alex Palou beatdown of the field, or we could see a career first time IndyCar vwinner, either David Malukas or Marcus Armstrong.
Malukas has improved on road courses this season. He said in the post qualifying press conference that he worked hard over the winter on sims and video study to get better on non ovals. The work seems to be paying off.
Armstrong has been close to securing his first win.He wa strong if Friday’s practice, and with a couple of breaks, he could get Meyer Shank’s second win of the year.
Pato O’Ward has been pretty upbeat this weekend, which usually means he thinks he has something. It is going to be difficult to move forward from ninth, however.
Is this the weekend Nolan Siegel breaks through with a top 10 result? The McLaren driver has had one of his best weekends in his career so far. he has been near the top in every session and starts seventh today.
Marcus Ericsson has been having a much better season than he did in 2025, and I look for him to earn a podium today.
Kyle Kirkwood starts 18th today. He came into the weekend trailing Palou by 49 points. He has already lost another point to the points leader, and will probably lose one more should Palou lead a lap. Kirkwood needs to move up to as high as possible min the top 10, or any remote hope of catching Palou may evaporate.
Kirkwood is also in a tight battle for second place with Malukas, who could move into the runner-up spot after today. I hope we don’t see another second half fade from him as we saw last season.
Tire strategy will be key today. The cooler temperatures may lessen tire falloff, and if the race is caution free, pit stop timing could determine the final outcome.
While Palou is heavily favored, keep in mind that he has won just once from the pole in this five pole streak. I look for David Malukas to get his first win at the neendd of the day.
I’ll be back with warm up results and starting tire selections around 11:30. Enjoy the race.
There is now a third certainty in life. In addition to dea and taxes, add Ale Palou on pole for an IndyCar race. Alex Palou won his fifth straight pole for 2026 and joins an elite list of consecutive pole winners:
1. Bobby Unser 8 (1971-72)
2. Mario Andretti 7 (1965-66)
3. Alex Zanardi 6 (1996-97
4. Mario Andretti 5 (1984) 4T. Danny Sullivan 5 (1988), Palou
Incredibly, all-time pole winner Will Power never won five consecutive poles. Palou was just sixth fastest in practice this morning, but the team returned to yesterday’s settings to allow the points leader to stay at the front. David Malukas starts second for the second race in a row.
Palou’s lap of 1:43.6615 beat Malukas by 0.29 seconds.
Marcus Armstrong was the favorite going into qualifying, but he ended the session third, just ahead of teammate Felix Rosenqvist. Marcus Ericsson and Scott McLaughlin complete the Fast Six.
“It’s incredible, five in a row this year,” Palou said. “This team, man. This team and everyone on it is giving me the best car, all the power we needed. We suffered quite a lot there in Q2. Couldn’t really get the lap we wanted, but the car was super rapid.”
Road America’s IndyCar weekend is looking a lot like the Sebring 12 Hour race. While roaming the track this morning, I saw more campers, cars, and golf carts than I have ever seen here. The last two years that I attended Sebring I had the same feeling of an event that was bulging at the seams with vehicles are shoehorned into the place, and I trust management here has a plan to prevent that from happening.
Weird thought- How many pounds over minimum weight would the 10 car be if IndyCar implemented Balance of Performance?
Today’s crowd was massive. I have never seen the grandstands so filled for qualify and practice. Tomorrow’s attendance may shatter the record for IndyCar here.
Note Santino Ferrucci and Alexander Rossi will be assessed six grid positions each. Official starting lineup will post tomorrow morning.
Pato O’Ward led Practice 2 for the EXPEL Grand Prix at Road America in a disjointed session interrupted twice for incidents. Friday’s leader, Marcus Armstrong, was just a tenth of a second behind O’Ward’s 1:44.0029 lap.
Will Power went off course and had a long ATV excursion, taking out a sign and causing bthe first red flag of the session. Later, Louis Foster’s car slowed and pulled off course, stopping the action a second time.
\David Malukas and Caio Collet traded the top spot several times before O’Ward took the fast lap. Maluks finished fourth and Collet was just behind in fifth.
Points leader Alex Palou ended practice in sixth, while Felix Rosenqvist, who was second on Friday, fell to 20th this morning
Scott McLaughlin improved the most between the two rounds, from 18th yesterday to third today.
WE qualify in about 30 minutes. Marcus Armstrong is my pick for pole.
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Today’s schedule: Central times
Friday practice results:
Yesterday’s practice saw most cars sitting on pitlane for almost 10 minutes after an installation lap when the green flag waved. Was the wait to save tires? Fans didn’t pay to watch cars sit on pit lane.
Maybe The series should allow everyone an extra set of tires for practice or shorten the session length. Because of the length of the track, Friday’s practice was a straight session with no group running the final m30m minutes.
Personally, I thin Friday should have 2 45 minutes sessions with alternate tires allowed in the second session only.
The No. 5 (O’Ward), No. 6 (Siegel), No. 14 (Ferrucci) and No. 20 (Rossi) have undergone precautionary engine changes after Friday’s practice due to the same supplier quality issue experienced at the Detroit event. (From InydCar media)
The 14 and the 20 will serve grid penalties this weekend.
Some photos from yesterday in turn 5.
From IndyCar Officiating:
Marcus Armstrong had the fastest lap in IndyCar’s opening practice for the XPEL Grand Prix this afternoon. Armstrong’s lap of 1:44.2714 edge his teammate , Felix Rosenqvist, by 0.0787 seconds.
Pato O’Warsd led the first part of the session before points leader Alwx Palou took the top spot. Arnstrong had been in the top five the entire session and turned his fastest lap late in practice after switching to the alternate tires.
Practice ran under overcast skies and cool, windy conditions. Rain is expec ted overnight but is not expected to be an issue during tomorrow’s activities.
Sting Ray Robb had the only incident of the session, spinning on the exit of turn 14 with about 28 minutes left.
I spent the afternoon driving around to various points on the track. I spent the IndyNXT practice mainly in Canada Corner. I then discovered a new to me spot called the bluffs on the inside of the track. It overlooks the straight between turns 9 and 10. It was fun looking through the trees to watch the cars. It was not a great phot spot, however.
I ended That practice in the carousel. This area used to be pretty empty, but it is now filled with campers. Urban development has come to Road America. Kind sad, but I get that the track needs more space.
One thing I did like was at the top of the turn 5 hill, golf cart parking has been restricted to the outer edge of the area. The place used to be a tangled jungle of lawn chairs, golf carts, even an occasional larger vehicle.
I will work pon getting some photos posted tomorrow. Thanks for following along today.
Good afternoon from a breezy, cool Road America. The IndyCar and Indy NXT schedule for Friday:
Indy NXT Practice 1 3 pm Eastern
IndyCar Practice 1 4 pm Eastern
Both sessions are on FS2.
In USF 2000 qualifying this morning, Sebastian Wheldon qualified third, the only rookie in the top eight qualifiers.
As usual, the fans have turned out for the weekend. There was already a line at the gate when I arrived a little before 9 am this morning.
Silly season rumors are swirling through the paddock today after an article by Marshall Pruett. A recent Indianapolis 500 winner is at the center of the storm. 2027 might be a season of learning which driver is in which car.
Right now, I am moire anxious to see the 2028 car and to see it undergo an on-track test. It may happen during Mid Ohio weekend, simply because I will not be there.
I’ll be back after IndyCar practice with results.
Here are a couple of pics from the USF 200 qualifying session.
The Pit Window by Mike Silver 