The fight for pole came down to the very final corner of the 15-turn Barber Motorsports Park, with Scott McLaughlin just taking the top spot away from this team-mate.
Will Power looked like he had pole secured, but McLaughlin saves his best lap to the end and crossed the line with a time of 1:05.9490, just 0.097 seconds faster than Power.
Christian Lundgaard rounded out the top three, with Pato O’Ward and Felix Rosenqvist taking the fourth and fifth starting spots respectively. Marcus Armstrong advanced to his first Fast Six session, but was not able to improve from sixth.
READ MORE: IndyCar Barber – Full Qualifying Report
Graham Rahal was visibly upset at his crew when he climbed from his car, telling them he could have advanced to the Fast Six if communication had been better during the session. He earned the seventh starting position.
The Children’s of Alabama Grand Prix takes place Sunday afternoon at 12:30 central time, promising a demanding race around sweeping turns that will challenge the entire 27-car field.
| # | Driver | Time | Gap | Avg. Speed (MPH) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Scott McLaughlin | 01:05.9490 | – | 125.552 |
| 2 | Will Power | 01:06.0460 | 0.097 | 125.367 |
| 3 | Christian Lundgaard | 01:06.0818 | 0.1328 | 125.299 |
| 4 | Pato O’Ward | 01:06.2940 | 0.345 | 124.898 |
| 5 | Felix Rosenqvist | 01:06.4524 | 0.5034 | 124.6 |
| 6 | Marcus Armstrong | 01:06.9022 | 0.9532 | 123.763 |
| 7 | Graham Rahal | 01:06.0942 | – | 125.276 |
| 8 | Josef Newgarden | 01:06.2908 | – | 124.904 |
| 9 | Kyle Kirkwood | 01:06.2959 | – | 124.895 |
| 10 | Alex Palou | 01:06.3013 | – | 124.884 |
| 11 | Romain Grosjean | 01:06.3526 | – | 124.788 |
| 12 | Tom Blomqvist | 01:06.3871 | – | 124.723 |
| 13 | Scott Dixon | 01:06.1425 | – | 125.184 |
| 14 | Christian Rasmussen | 01:06.4803 | – | 124.548 |
| 15 | Colton Herta | 01:06.1481 | – | 125.174 |
| 16 | Alexander Rossi | 01:06.5054 | – | 124.501 |
| 17 | Santino Ferrucci | 01:06.2751 | – | 124.934 |
| 18 | Marcus Ericsson | 01:06.5846 | – | 124.353 |
| 19 | Linus Lundqvist | 01:06.2825 | – | 124.92 |
| 20 | Agustin Canapino | 01:06.6706 | – | 124.193 |
| 21 | Luca Ghiotto | 01:06.4788 | – | 124.551 |
| 22 | Jack Harvey | 01:06.7969 | – | 123.958 |
| 23 | Kyffin Simpson | 01:06.5267 | – | 124.461 |
| 24 | Theo Pourchaire | 01:06.9052 | – | 123.757 |
| 25 | Sting Ray Robb | 01:06.8404 | – | 123.877 |
| 26 | Pietro Fittipaldi | 01:07.4920 | – | 122.681 |
| 27 | Rinus VeeKay | 01:07.7392 | – | 122.234 |
