McLaughlin escapes penalty to keep front-row start

Scott McLaughlin has escaped a penalty for impeding after he qualified on the front row for Sunday’s Honda Indy Toronto race, which the Kiwi hopes will see a continuation of the wet weather that mixed up the starting grid.

The Penske driver had, along with team-mate Will Power, pitted for slick tyres on a drying Toronto street circuit after the pair after Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward had made the switch from wets with immediate effect.

On his first push lap attempt of the session, McLaughlin spun at the start/finish line, which is situated after the blind Turn 11 final corner, coming to rest in a perilous position perpendicular to oncoming traffic.

First on the scene was the Arrow McLaren of Swede Felix Rosenqvist, which saw McLaughlin scurry forward to avoid, before a potential impediment of Marcus Ericsson, who was seemingly unintentionally blocked into Turn 1 and 2 as the #3 Penske driver gathered himself back up.

While McLaughlin lost the fastest lap time he’d achieved at the time of the spin, having cost Rosenqvist time, it proved inconsequential – but the potential impediment of Ericsson saw the Kiwi’s front-row start under a cloud as the session concluded.

There was no outburst from Ericsson, though, with officials not issuing McLaughlin an additional penalty for impeding, seemingly given that the local yellow flag was still in play when the Chip Ganassi Racing driver was held up.

That means the #3 Penske will start in second after 21-year-old Dane, Christian Lundgaard, scored his second IndyCar career pole.

“Overall, it was a great day for us,” McLaughlin said.

“We start second which is another street course front row start. Really loving Toronto. Really happy with these guys and my Gallagher Chevrolet. The car was really good. I think we are due for a wet race. It’s something that I’ve always loved to do.”

McLaughlin heads into the Toronto race sixth in the standings, with points leader Alex Palou – gunning for his fourth consecutive race win – starting 15th, his worst grid position of the season.

Read the Honda Indy Toronto qualifying report here.

Race start is 13:45 local time Sunday July 16/03:45 AEST Monday July 17.