During the first leg of qualifying, the #3 Team Penske driver spun at the last turn on his first flying lap. He then made the switch from the hard compound tyre to the soft compound.
He wasn’t able to set a competitive time to get through to the second round of qualifying and ultimately settled for 25th.
Teammates Josef Newgarden and Will Power didn’t fare much better. Newgarden was only 17th while Power was 21st.
It marked the first time since the 2021 race at Portland that no Team Penske driver failed to make it to the second phase of qualifying.
“Sorry to my guys on the Xpel Chevy,” said McLaughlin.
“I made that mistake on the black (hard compound) tyre and saved it but it’s hard to get a read of the track conditions after that.
“The red (soft compound) tyre, I felt like we were going to be pretty good because we were out of sync.
“We weren’t using this number one pit stall that well. I’ve come around the corner at Turn 1 and there was just dirt everywhere from whoever was in front of me before.
“I just had no grip whatsoever. Who knows if we would have advanced, but I think we would have been a lot better than what we are right now.
“Payday is tomorrow. I’ve got the best team on pit road to get me going in this Xpel Chevy. I’m bummed, disappointed in myself and we’ll work on that and get better tomorrow.”
Qualifying was topped by McLaren duo Pato O’Ward and Christian Lundgaard, the latter who made the move from Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing in between seasons.
“I knew if we could get the car to my liking, I would get it done,” O’Ward said.
“I’ve got to thank the guys. We turned it around. We dialled it in after Q1 because I was somewhat happy with it but not perfect.
“Just made a little bit of an adjustment and as soon as we went out in Q2, I said, ‘I’ve got this’.”
Just got that one a bit wrong today. Sorry to the boys, we’ve got a good car and tomorrow’s going to be a tricky one so let’s see if we can’t make a little magic happen.#Thirsty3s #INDYCAR pic.twitter.com/RHVbdmWiKq
— Scott McLaughlin (@smclaughlin93) March 22, 2025
Three-time IndyCar champion Alex Palou was third for Chip Ganassi Racing ahead of Andretti Global’s Colton Herta.
Marcus Ericsson, Alexander Rossi, Marcus Armstrong, Kyle Kirkwood, Felix Rosenqvist, and top rookie Louis Foster rounded out the top 10.
The 65-lap race at The Thermal Club gets underway at 6am AEDT on Monday.
Results: IndyCar Series The Thermal Club IndyCar Grand Prix, Qualifying
| Pos | Num | Driver | Lap | Diff | Gap |
| 1 | 5 | Pato O’Ward | 01:39.9567 | ||
| 2 | 7 | Christian Lundgaard | 01:40.1245 | 0.1678 | 0.1678 |
| 3 | 10 | Alex Palou | 01:40.3092 | 0.3525 | 0.1847 |
| 4 | 26 | Colton Herta | 01:40.3978 | 0.4411 | 0.0886 |
| 5 | 28 | Marcus Ericsson | 01:40.7435 | 0.7868 | 0.3457 |
| 6 | 20 | Alexander Rossi | 01:41.0359 | 1.0792 | 0.2924 |
| 7 | 66 | Marcus Armstrong | 01:40.6824 | 1.0306 | 0.0728 |
| 8 | 27 | Kyle Kirkwood | 01:40.7306 | 1.0788 | 0.0482 |
| 9 | 60 | Felix Rosenqvist | 01:40.9824 | 1.3306 | 0.2518 |
| 10 | 45 | Louis Foster | 01:41.2256 | 1.5738 | 0.2432 |
| 11 | 9 | Scott Dixon | 01:41.2319 | 1.5801 | 0.0063 |
| 12 | 4 | David Malukas | 01:41.2997 | 1.6479 | 0.0678 |
| 13 | 18 | Rinus VeeKay | 01:40.6490 | 1.0557 | 0.0838 |
| 14 | 14 | Santino Ferrucci | 01:40.6658 | 0.7045 | 0.0023 |
| 15 | 76 | Conor Daly | 01:40.6592 | 1.0659 | 0.0102 |
| 16 | 6 | Nolan Siegel | 01:40.7040 | 0.7427 | 0.0382 |
| 17 | 2 | Josef Newgarden | 01:40.6956 | 1.1023 | 0.0364 |
| 18 | 15 | Graham Rahal | 01:40.8433 | 0.882 | 0.1393 |
| 19 | 21 | Christian Rasmussen | 01:40.8884 | 1.2951 | 0.1928 |
| 20 | 8 | Kyffin Simpson | 01:41.1684 | 1.2071 | 0.3251 |
| 21 | 12 | Will Power | 01:40.9750 | 1.3817 | 0.0866 |
| 22 | 90 | Callum Ilott | 01:41.2929 | 1.3316 | 0.1245 |
| 23 | 51 | Jacob Abel | 01:41.1118 | 1.5185 | 0.1368 |
| 24 | 77 | Sting Ray Robb | 01:41.3356 | 1.3743 | 0.0427 |
| 25 | 3 | Scott McLaughlin | 01:41.5133 | 1.92 | 0.4015 |
| 26 | 30 | Devlin DeFrancesco | 01:41.3664 | 1.4051 | 0.0308 |
| 27 | 83 | Robert Shwartzman | 01:43.0781 | 3.1168 | 1.7117 |
