Qualifying Report: Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio

LEXINGTON, Ohio (July 5, 2025) -- Practice sessions at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course's 2.258-mile circuit are challenging as 27 cars try with little success to get clean laps to sort out their cars for qualifying.

David Malukas spun off track yesterday early in the first session and made contact with the Turn 9 tire barrier which ended his session for the day. With just an hour practice session this morning to sort out the No. 4 Clarience Technologies Chevrolet, his engineers and crew gave the 23-year-old a quick car for qualifying. Unfortunately, a fuel pressure issue surfaced on his hot lap and cost him the chance to transfer out of the first round. He will start 13th.

“So really unfortunate" he lamented. "We actually did a really good job getting the car where it needed to be. Went to the top of the hill to finish off the lap in [turn] eight, and we had a little bit of a fuel pressure issue and it kind of shut down on us. So probably lost about half a second on top of that hill, and we didn't transfer by 1,000ths of a second (.0117 second). Really unfortunate, because we were there."

 Malukas talks with crew chief Nick "Coop" Cooper.

"The guys did a fantastic job, the whole crew, everybody, to get it there," Malukas continued. "But these things happen. And I think it comes down to us missing practice one, not being able to do the alternate tire to test all these things. So it's a little bit of a guessing game, trying to go in fresh.

"Still, it kind of circles back to my mistake in the beginning of the weekend, but we're starting off P-13. I think when everything filters out (with one car receiving an unapproved engine change penalty), so we'll be on the inside row for four which I think is better. Outside of four is a bit scary, plus we have an extra set of new tires compared to everybody in front of us! So you know what? We planned this!" he joked.

Santino Ferrucci will start 17th in the No. 14 Sexton Properties Chevrolet.

Ferrucci at speed in the Sexton Properties Chevrolet.

“I think as a group, we'd be qualifying better than seventeenth at the moment; just unfortunately missing a ton of rotation mid-corner for myself," the Connecticut-born, living-in-Texas driver said. "I thought I drove well, and my engineering group - they're doing a great job. The car felt really quick, but it's also just really tight time-wise (throughout the field). We’ve got to figure out what we're missing to get up to the top step in quals. But I have a feeling that our race car is going to be good, and we’ll continue to move forward.”

Alex Palou won the NTT P1 award with his lap of 1 minute, 5.0215 seconds around the 13-turn natural terrain road course located halfway between Cleveland and Columbus. Trailing him in the Firestone Fast Six were Christian Lundgaard, Palou's teammate Kyffin Simpson, Lundgaard's teammate Nolan Siegel, Colton Herta and Louis Foster.

A morning warmup allows teams a final prep for tomorrow's race which will be broadcast by FOX starting at 1 p.m. ET.