Alex Palou will lead the field to green for the third race in a row Sunday after claiming pole position for the Detroit Grand Prix on a downtown street circuit where Honda has won every race since the series moved to the location in 2023.
Palou ran a lap of 1 minute 01.9017 seconds in the #10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda to take the top qualifying spot. Will Power put the #26 Andretti Global Honda second, giving Honda both front-row positions. The all-Honda front row is Power’s best starting position since his offseason switch to Andretti Global from Team Penske.
The pole is Palou’s third consecutive after starting first at both the Sonsio Grand Prix and the Indianapolis 500 earlier this month. He leads the championship by 37 points with three wins this season at St. Petersburg, Barber Motorsports Park, and Long Beach. Saturday’s pole puts him in position to extend that margin on a circuit that has favored Honda power since the series returned to Detroit’s downtown streets.
Honda has won all Detroit races since the 2023 switch to the downtown circuit and holds 19 total victories at Detroit across both the current layout and the previous Belle Isle course. Felix Rosenqvist delivered Honda’s 17th Indianapolis 500 victory last weekend in the closest finish in the race’s history, momentum the manufacturer carried into Saturday’s qualifying session.
Palou will run Sunday’s race in an HRC livery on the #10 car, the red-white-and-blue scheme he last used at Barber Motorsports Park in 2025 where he started on pole and led 81 of 90 laps. The livery promotes HRC US business ventures including a performance parts division that will sell genuine HRC components for Honda and Acura road cars.
Scott Dixon qualified the #9 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda fourth. Kyle Kirkwood put the #27 Andretti Global Honda sixth to complete the Firestone Fast Six for Honda-powered entries. Marcus Armstrong finished eighth, Marcus Ericsson 10th, Louis Foster 11th, and Graham Rahal 12th to give Honda eight of the 12 positions in the final two qualifying rounds. All five Honda-powered teams advanced at least one car into the top 12.
Power, who holds the all-time IndyCar pole record, praised the package in his post-qualifying debrief. “The Honda is very good and I’ve been really enjoying running with Honda power all year,” he said. “I definitely feel like we have the advantage and we will have great fuel mileage for the race too.”
The Fast Six qualifying format awards each driver one timed lap on cold tires. Palou acknowledged the difficulty. “The tires were not up to temperature, but this #10 Honda car was on rails,” he said. “We’re starting from the best position on the grid but we still have lots of work ahead.”
Whether Palou converts pole into a fourth win Sunday depends on whether the car holds the same edge over a full fuel stint that it showed over one qualifying lap. Power is the immediate threat directly behind him. Dixon starts fourth with championship implications of his own. The race broadcasts at 12:30 PM ET on Fox.
Source: Honda. Images courtesy of Honda.
