Palou takes third in Thermal Club qualifying, Honda locks out second row

March 22, 2025 - THERMAL, CA

• Alex Palou leads Honda drivers in NTT INDYCAR SERIES qualifying from The Thermal Club with third-place result
• Colton Herta qualifies P4, locking out the second row for Honda
• Eight Hondas qualify in the top 12

Race winner last time out and reigning NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Alex Palou led the way for Honda in qualifying for the Thermal Club IndyCar Grand Prix, putting his #10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda third on the grid for tomorrow's race.

Palou's third-place time was just 0.088 ahead of Colton Herta, who makes it an all-Honda second row on the grid. Herta's Andretti Global teammate Marcus Ericsson rounds out the top five.

Honda transferred eight cars into the Fast Twelve round of qualifying, with Marcus Armstrong (P7), Kyle Kirkwood (P8), Felix Rosenqvist (P9) and Scott Dixon (P11) all making it through to the second round. Also advancing was rookie Louis Foster in his second-ever NTT INDYCAR SERIES race. The 2024 INDY NXT champion will roll off an impressive 10th tomorrow for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.

The Thermal Club IndyCar Grand Prix Honda Qualifying Results

R - Rookie

Quotes

Alex Palou (#10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) qualified third: "Our #10 DHL Honda car has been amazing all weekend, honestly. We were super fast in the practices, Q1 and Q2-and even in the Firestone Fast Six. We just missed the front row by a little bit. Those McLaren cars were really fast on used alternate tires and that's where we lacked a little bit. But, I'm super happy. It's my first Fast Six of the season. I felt that we also had a fast car at St. Pete, we just didn't capitalize on qualifying, but here we did. Good starting position and hopefully we can win from there."

Colton Herta (#26 Andretti Global Honda) qualified fourth: "I'm really happy with today's result, P4 is really good for us. Our Gainbridge Honda was really fast. It's a spot where we can race from! We really want to get poles, but if you can't do that, you really want to make it into the Fast Six and that's what we did today. We have a long race tomorrow of tire saving and we're going to try and see what we can do, but I'm confident."

Marcus Ericsson (#28 Andretti Global Honda) qualified fifth: "It's going to be an interesting day tomorrow, for sure, with the California sun out and really hot temperatures. It's going to be a day of managing stint lengths and having good fuel mileage-I'm happy to be in a Honda because of that!  The #28 Bryant car has been really good all weekend, we've been fast every session, but it's going to be an interesting race. We have only been here for testing and the exhibition race-but that was heat racing without any live pit stops or full stint lengths. So, tomorrow will be very interesting and I'm glad we've put ourselves in a good spot."

Honda at The Thermal Club

• Last year's $1 Million Challenge at Thermal was the first racing action held at Thermal by the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, following a pre-season test at the track in 2023.
• Honda driver Alex Palou won the race in his #10 Chip Ganassi Racing machine, taking home a check for $500,000 in the non-points event while Felix Rosenqvist finished third for Meyer Shank Racing.

Where to Watch

• Television coverage of Sunday's The Thermal Club IndyCar Grand Prix starts at 3:00 p.m. ET on Fox. Complete, flag-to-flag race coverage also will be available on the INDYCAR Radio Network, and SiriusXM INDYCAR Nation (Channel 160).

HRC US social media content and video links can be found on:

# # #

Back to Top

Download Photos Add Photos to Basket