IndyCar: 2021 Barber qualifying – Full starting lineup

The stage is set for the 2021 IndyCar season opener at Barber Motorsports Park following Saturday evening’s qualifying session.

If you thought all the talk of parity ahead of the 2021 IndyCar season was overblown, think again.

The qualifying session for the season-opening Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama presented by AmFirst at Barber Motorsports Park provided everything we expected and more.

Four teams ended up with one driver qualifying inside the top four, with Arrow McLaren SP’s Pato O’Ward taking the pole position for the first of 17 races on this year’s schedule.

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O’Ward took the pole position for this 90-lap race around the 17-turn, 2.38-mile (3.83-kilometer) natural terrain road course in Birmingham, Alabama with a top lap time of 65.8479 seconds (125.744 miles per hour) in the Firestone Fast Six qualifying session behind the wheel of his #5 Chevrolet.

This pole position is the second of his career. He is still pursuing his first career IndyCar victory after finishing in fourth place in last year’s championship standings in what was his first full season of competition.

Andretti Autosport’s Alexander Rossi is set to start alongside O’Ward in second place behind the wheel of his #27 Honda. Set to share the second row are Alex Palou, who is making his first start behind the wheel of the #10 Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing, and Team Penske’s Will Power behind the wheel of his #12 Chevrolet in third and fourth, respectively.

Chip Ganassi Racing teammates Scott Dixon and Marcus Ericsson rounded out the Firestone Fast Six in fifth and sixth place behind the wheels of their #9 Honda and #8 Honda, respectively.

In his first ever IndyCar qualifying session, Romain Grosjean just missed out on the Firestone Fast Six with a seventh place qualifying effort behind the wheel of his #51 Honda. His series debut is also the full-time debut for Rick Ware Racing, which formed a partnership with Dale Coyne Racing to field his entry.

Here is the full starting lineup for the 2021 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama presented by AmFirst at Barber Motorsports Park.

Starting Lineup
1st – Pato O’Ward
2nd – Alexander Rossi
3rd – Alex Palou
4th – Will Power
5th – Scott Dixon
6th – Marcus Ericsson
7th – Romain Grosjean
8th – Josef Newgarden
9th – Colton Herta
10th – Conor Daly
11th – Jack Harvey
12th – Scott McLaughlin
13th – Ed Jones
14th – Rinus VeeKay
15th – Simon Pagenaud
16th – Sebastien Bourdais
17th – Ryan Hunter-Reay
18th – Graham Rahal
19th – Takuma Sato
20th – Max Chilton
21st – Jimmie Johnson
22nd – Felix Rosenqvist
23rd – Dalton Kellett
24th – James Hinchcliffe

Tune in to NBC at 3:00 p.m. ET tomorrow afternoon for the live broadcast of the 2021 IndyCar season-opening Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama presented by AmFirst from Barber Motorsports Park.