Power second, McLaughlin third in Detroit IndyCar qualifying

Series leader Alex Palou took pole position for Chip Ganassi Racing, his third straight after back-to-back efforts at Indianapolis.

Palou clocked a 1:01.9017s to end up 0.2232s clear of Power, who achieved his season-best qualifying result.

“I felt really good with my lap,” Palou said after his 16th career pole position.

“I thought there was not much more margin from my side, so I just tried to put everything together.

“So happy to make it to the pole, and we stayed there. Good stint, but the big day is tomorrow.”

Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin was third and 0.5542s off the pace while Palou’s teammate Scott Dixon was fourth and 0.7068s in arrears

McLaughlin had been the man to beat, having posted the fastest time in the second round of qualifying. However, in the one-lap shootout, it was Palou who ultimately prevailed.

Christian Lundgaard (McLaren) and Kyle Kirkwood (Andretti) rounded out the Fast Six runners..

Marcus Armstrong, New Zealand’s other interest, was eighth for Meyer Shank Racing.

“Pretty happy with that,” said Power.

“I was close to pole, man. Damn. Just that one guy all the time. I don’t know. I don’t know. Keep doing things that suit him, like one-lap qualifying.”

Qualifying featured two incidents, the first for Rahal Letterman Lanigan driver Mick Schumacher and the second for Team Penske’s David Malukas.

Both drivers were uninjured in their respective crashes.

“I clipped the wall in [Turn] 6 and that pushed me wide into [Turn] 7 and then clipped the wall there and that ultimately then put me off into the wall,” said Schumacher, who was 23rd.

“That lap didn’t seem too bad. We were on the back foot all day yesterday, all day today.

“This track is obviously very different to anything I’ve ever driven so far in terms of how different the grip is, corner to corner, but also it’s a high-commitment track for sure.

“Definitely, this morning was weird how the tyre behaved. I was doing 12-lap runs and the last lap was the best one.”

Malukas crashed out of the first leg of qualifying trying to get through to the second round.

“I just pushed really hard,” said Malukas, who will start last in the 25-car field.

“The guys were telling me I was missing time in [Turn] 6 and 7 so I decided to push that braking zone a little bit more and lost the rear on entry

“I probably should have lifted man. I should have just lifted and not made the transfer and committed to where were going to be and start from there.

“I really wanted to make it and I decided to keep the foot planted and see what would happen, and the car couldn’t take it.

‘I hit that front left corner and at that point it I couldn’t do anything.”

The IndyCar Series Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix gets underway at 2:30am AEST on Monday, June 1.

Results: IndyCar Series Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix, Qualifying