McLaughlin on pole days after cheating scandal
Kiwi Scott McLaughlin has delivered the perfect response to the IndyCar cheating scandal, and taken pole position for this morning’s Alabama Grand Prix.
The 30-year-old will start at the front of the grid, as he and teammate Will Power locked out the front row for Team Penske. McLaughlin put in a best time of 1m 05.949s, narrowly ahead of Power’s 1m 06.046s.
“It’s been tough,” McLaughlin said. “This means a lot. We’ve just got to keep focusing like this for the rest of the season and keep working hard.
“Any time you get a chance to get a Team Penske front row, that’s the main thing. I’m very proud of everyone.
“Ultimately very proud of Team Penske. One-two is tough to come by in any series, let alone IndyCar. Obviously after the week we’ve all had, it’s a nice little reward.”
The result is McLaughlin’s first pole of the season and sixth of his IndyCar career. He returns to Alabama with history on his side, after winning the same race last season.
McLaughlin last week had his podium finish at the season-opening St Petersburg Grand Prix stripped, as he and his Penske teammates were found to have breached IndyCar’s push-to-pass regulations.
Push-to-pass enables drivers to temporarily boost their car’s power but only during certain times in a race. McLaughlin’s teammate Josef Newgarden was stripped of his victory, while Power was handed a 10-point penalty.
While accepting responsibility, McLaughlin also defended himself by pointing out he gained no advantage for the period in which he exploited the push-to-pass rules.
Newgarden also took responsibility for his role and will start today’s race eighth on the grid.
That successful qualifying came shortly after series and team owner Roger Penske summoned his fellow owners for a meeting to apologise.
The scandal has seen McLaughlin fall to the bottom of the IndyCar championship standings, with just five points from the opening three races of the season.
However, McLaughlin did finish second at IndyCar’s $1 million challenge, albeit for no points given the cash prize on offer instead.
Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon won’t start near the front at a track where he has routinely made the podium. He just missed making it out of the first round of qualifying, finishing seventh in his session and qualifying 13th.
The points leader hasn’t won at Barber despite being a regular on the podium. Dixon has six runner-up finishes there and been third twice.
Dixon picked up career win No 57 with a victory at Long Beach last week, 10 shy of AJ Foyt’s IndyCar record 67 during a 369-race career that stretched from 1957 to 1992.
“It’s frustrating to just miss, but as a group, we’ve been a little off this weekend,” Dixon said.
Fellow Kiwi Marcus Armstrong will start sixth on the grid, after he came away with a best time of 1m 06.9022s in the fast six shootout.