Palou to start GMR Grand Prix 3rd in American Legion Honda

Led by Alex Palou in the No. 10 American Legion Honda, four Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR) cars will start in the top 11 in Saturday’s NTT INDYCAR SERIES GMR Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. All four delivered strong efforts during qualifications on Friday, May 12.

Palou, with the Legion’s “Be the One” initiative displayed on his livery, will start the Grand Prix in the third spot after a fast time of 1:09.3780. Palou and his car were exceptional throughout the day, running third in the first practice session and then topping the second session. He finished third in the second round of qualifying, then posted the fastest time to earn a spot in the Firestone Fast 6.

Two other CGR drivers with American Legion branding also enjoyed strong qualifying efforts. NTT INDYCAR SERIES points leader Marcus Ericsson delivered the sixth-fastest time in his qualifying group to move into the second round, but he narrowly missed advancing to the Firestone Fast 6, locking in the seventh starting spot.

And INDYCAR rookie Marcus Armstrong had the fourth-fastest time in Practice 2 and then did the same in his qualifying group to advance to Round 2, where his  effort ended at the No. 11 spot in Saturday’s starting field.

Fellow CGR driver Scott Dixon qualified ninth. Christian Lundgaard won the pole, while Felix Rosenqvist qualified second.

In INDY NXT by Firestone Grand Prix qualifications, CGR developmental driver Kyffin Simpson topped Friday’s practice session and then qualified fourth for Saturday’s race. Simpson also is featuring American Legion branding in the 2023 INDY NXT season.

Saturday’s INDY NXT race will be broadcast beginning at 1 p.m. on Peacock. The INDYCAR SERIES race will follow at 3:30 p.m. on both NBC and Peacock.