Pacesetter from practice Alexander Rossi initially grabbed provisional pole in the top six shootout with a 1m10.6775s, but Rosenqvist, who only did a sighting lap on his first run, then sat in the pits until the final three minutes of the session to pick his opportunity.
He emerged on the softest compound tyre to produce a 1m10.2265s lap, over a quarter second better than his closest opposition Rossi, and 0.38s faster than team-mate Pato O’Ward.
Will Power led the Penske charge in fourth, just 0.0744s ahead of the returning Josef Newgarden who was cleared to race in the Indy Grand Prix after being checked over by the IndyCar medical team after collapsing after the Iowa race weekend, as Christian Lundgaard completed the top six for Rahal Letterman Lanigan.
Disaster struck championship leader Marcus Ericsson in the first round of qualifying in group two, when he was asked by his engineer to shut down his car as they saw data that they didn’t like during his out-lap.
That brought out the red flag, and under IndyCar qualifying rules it triggered the cancellation of his two best laps, and consigned him to the back of the grid.
Felix Rosenqvist, Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet, Marcus Ericsson, Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
Photo by: Phillip Abbott / Motorsport Images
Drama followed in Q2 of qualifying when Alex Palou, who faces a lawsuit from his own Chip Ganassi Racing squad in the fallout from agreeing to sign for McLaren Racing in 2023, missed out on making the top six by 0.027s, meaning he will line up in seventh place.
Rinus VeeKay also just missed out in Q2 and will start in eighth place for Ed Carpenter Racing, ahead of Andretti’s Colton Herta, as Conor Daly rounded out the top 10 for the sister Ed Carpenter entry. David Malukas (Dale Coyne Racing) and Simon Pagenaud (Meyer Shank Racing) will start in 11th and 12th respectively.
Another title contender in Scott Dixon also struggled in qualifying, as he failed to find a clean lap in the same Q1 group as Ericsson, and dropped out in 10th place in that stage of qualifying. The Chip Ganassi driver will line up on the grid in 20th place.