McLaughlin, coming off a winless season in 2025, won his second straight pole on the streets of St. Pete after narrowly beating out Marcus Ericsson for the top spot.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Scott McLaughlin began his 2026 IndyCar campaign on a high note Saturday after winning the pole position for Sunday’s Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. 

McLaughlin, coming off a winless season in 2025, won his second straight pole on the streets of St. Pete after clocking in a time of 1:00.5426 during the final round of qualifying to narrowly beat out Marcus Ericsson for the top spot. 

“We did this last year, and I proceeded to have the worst year of my life,” McLaughlin said in the post-qualifying press conference. “I’m just focused on execution tomorrow and the rest of the season. This is one little step.”


While McLaughlin lamented his performance last season, he will be joined on the front row by Marcus Ericsson, who, like McLaughlin, also had one of his worst seasons in IndyCar last year. 

“It’s no secret, last year was super disappointing and frustrating and not the way I want to be or we want to be, so worked extremely hard over the winter to come back and be strong and be on the level we should be at,” Ericsson said after qualifying. “All weekend it’s been strong, but to go out in qualifying and do that through all the segments and put it on the front row feels really, really good.”


Arguably the biggest surprise of the session was the impressive pace shown by Dale Coyne Racing teammates Romain Grosjean and rookie Dennis Hauger. 

Grosjean, who was formally announced as DCR’s second driver just weeks prior, attempted to qualify for an IndyCar race for the first time since the 2024 season finale in Nashville after being unable to find a full-time ride in 2025 and having to settle for a reserve role with the upstart PREMA Racing. 


However, perhaps even more impressive was Grosjean’s new teammate, reigning Indy NXT champion and IndyCar rookie Dennis Hauger. 

Hauger not only outqualified his more experienced teammate, but he also outqualified reigning IndyCar champion Alex Palou by about a full tenth of a second. The Norwegian driver will roll off third for Sunday’s race, next to Palou and ahead of David Malukas and teammate Grosjean. 


Speaking of David Malukas, the 24-year-old Chicago native looked impressive in his first qualifying attempt for Team Penske. Not only did he make it into the “Fast Six,” but he also set times not far off from his teammate McLaughlin. He will roll off the grid in fifth on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Will Power, who was replaced by Malukas in the No. 12 Team Penske Chevrolet during the offseason, turned some of his first competitive laps for Andretti Global. Power just barely missed out on advancing to the second round of qualifying, but did manage to set a quicker time than teammate Kyle Kirkwood. 

Power will start 13th on Sunday. It will be his first IndyCar race since 2008 in which he is not driving for Team Penske.


Further back in the starting grid, Mick Schumacher, the 2020 Formula 2 champion and son of seven-time Formula 1 World Champion Michael Schumacher, qualified 21st for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.

Schumacher joined RLL in the offseason after leaving a factory drive with Alpine in the World Endurance Championship for a return to open wheelers. 

He joins Ericsson, Grosjean and Alexander Rossi as former F1 drivers in the field. 


Josef Newgarden, who won the most recent IndyCar race at his home track, Nashville Superspeedway, qualified a dismal 23rd and will start alongside AJ Foyt Racing rookie and 2025 Indy NXT runner-up Caio Collet in the final full row on the grid. 

Alexander Rossi will start shotgun on the field in 25th after PREMA Racing was left off the entry list amid reported financial difficulties.

Click here to view the complete starting lineup.