Saturday afternoon at the Milwaukee Mile was set aside for IndyCar qualifying, with drivers completing two solo laps in order to set the grid for Sunday’s race.

Drivers generally improved as the session went out, with later laps having the benefit of more rubber built up on the concrete surface.

When the line of cars on pit lane was emptied, however, it was the inevitable Alex Palou that had the fastest time of the afternoon.

READ MORE: IndyCar Milwaukee – Full Qualifying Results

Palou’s two laps were completed in 44.8422 seconds, which gave him an average speed of 162.971 MPH. His laps were nearly three quarters of a MPH faster than any other driver.

David Malukas had a good chance at earning his first career IndyCar pole, and was in the provisional top spot for most of the final portion of the event.

He was seen getting his hopes up as his time stood up, but then disappointment hit when Palou, who was the final qualifier, knocked him out of the top position.

Pato O’Ward also had a good set of laps and earned the third grid position, just ahead of Scott McLaughlin in fourth.

The other members of Team Penske had solid runs as well, with Will Power qualifying sixth and Josef Newgarden setting the eighth best time.

Grid penalties and disappointment

Three drivers were assessed grid penalties ahead of qualifying, with all three entries needing an engine change which pushed them over the number allowed.

Kyffin Simpson and Scott Dixon each lost an engine at the team’s test at Milwaukee last week, and Louis Foster’s engine failed at the beginning of practice earlier in the day.

All three were Honda engines, and the most consequential was the penalty for Dixon.

The veteran qualified with the fifth best time, but he will roll away from the 14th position.

Simpson and Foster were well down the order, and will take up the final two positions on the grid on Sunday.

Colton Herta was simultaneously extremely unlucky and lucky, and the Californian’s skills saved his Andretti crew from having to rebuild the #26.

The rear of his car stepped out on his first flying lap, but quick hands and deft throttle control allowed him to control his car while in an extreme slide. He remarkably brought the car to rest without touching any walls at all.

Herta’s time was obviously way off the pace, and he will start Sunday’s event from the rear of the field.

Felix Rosenqvist also had a sudden case of oversteer, but he was not able to save his car from taking damage.

His #60 MSR Honda slid into the Turn 4 wall and impacted it squarely with the rear attenuator, damaging his rear wing and suspension in the process.

With the grid set, drivers will hit the track in anger on Sunday afternoon at 1:00 PM central time for 250 laps around the flat oval.

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During Sunday’s IndyCar race at Road America, David Malukas was the first driver to find trouble.

He touched the grass under braking into Turn 3 on the first lap, and spun into the gravel trap as the rest of the field roared past.

After bring pulled out of the gravel, Malukas set about making up for lost ground. He climbed back through the field over the race’s 55 laps to finish right where he started in seventh position.

His recovery, as good as it was, placed him behind his team-mate Santino Ferrucci, who had a strong drive of his own and finished on the podium in third.

It was the best team result on a road course since 2015 at Belle Isle, Detroit. In the second race of that double-header weekend, Takuma Sato and Jack Hawksworth finished second and seventh respectively.

Every race in the decade since then has seen at least one Foyt driver finish below seventh position apart from this year’s Indianapolis 500. Now that streak has been broken on a road course as well.

“I had an incident at the start of the race that put us in the back, but, man, I couldn’t believe it,” said Malukas. “That was probably one of the most chaotic races I’ve ever been a part of, and it was a lot of fun.

“I had no idea what was going on. I was really hot, and around lap 35 I was hallucinating from the heat and seeing bears in the carousel.

“I’m just joking, maybe not, but yeah, it was a lot of heat, a lot of fun, a lot of passing, and we finished right where we started.

“So good recovery, really good job from the team and the entire crew at the # 4 Clarience Technologies Chevy.”

Lots to love

Team President Larry Foyt was thrilled to have both cars finish so high up the order.

Just a few weeks prior at the 109th Indianapolis 500, Malukas and Ferrucci finished second and fifth. Their performance this past weekend nearly matched those results, and made a statement in the toughest weather conditions of the season.

“It was definitely an up-and-down day with the 4 car spinning on the first lap and having to go to the back of the field,” said Foyt.

“Then we had the stall in the pits on the 14 car and it looked like at the halfway point that it just wasn’t going to be our day. But what I love about this team right now is nobody gives up and we just keep fighting!”

Ferrucci now sits ninth in the points, while Malukas is 12th at the halfway point in the season.

If both drivers finish in the top 10 in points, it would be the first time in the team’s 45-year history that it places two drivers in the top 10 of the championship standings outside the incredibly short 1996 IRL season that marked the beginning of ‘The Split’ from CART.

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The morning rains at Barber Motorsports Park moved out before Saturday’s IndyCar practice session, but they moved back in before the session was complete.

The changing conditions led to uncertain strategies from the teams. Most drivers completed at least some laps on the damp track, attempting to stay in the dry groove with slick tires.

During that period, David Malukas set the fastest time. He powered his #4 AJ Foyt Chevy to a 1:08.1661 lap time, narrowly ahead of Alex Palou.

Christian Lundgaard and Will Power were on track for most of the dry portion, and ended up with the third and fourth fastest times respectively.

Louis Foster was on top for a while, and ended the session in fifth.

With 10 minutes left on the clock, rains moved through and suddenly soaked the 2.38-mile course.

More than a few drivers headed out on wet tires in an effort to practice a wet qualifying simulation, betting on the fact that more rain will roll through later in the afternoon.

Colton Herta and Alex Palou looked be the most secure in full wet conditions, possibly foreshadowing this afternoon’s qualifying runs.

Palou’s fast time in the wet was 1:21.9683, 13 seconds off his time on a damp track earlier on.

Team Penske was chasing some electrical issues on Josef Newgarden’s machine, forcing him to wait until the wet portion of the session to set any time at all.

He did complete eight laps, however, and will feel better for having completed a systems check.

Small mistakes, big consequences

Multiple drivers spun through the grass while pushing the limits, with the most common problem stemming from the heavy hybrid causing the rear end to come around.

There were two stoppages during the 45 minute session, with Pato O’Ward the first to get into trouble while coming through the final turn.

The rear end of his #5 Arrow McLaren Chevy broke loose midway through the corner, then when he caught the wobble he was immediately sliding through the gravel.

O’Ward slid all the way into the tire barriers, damaging his front wing and tweaking his suspension. He was not able to get back on track before the session was complete.

Towards the end of the session, Marcus Ericsson lost control through the quick 11-12 complex. A burst of rain had created unexpectedly slick conditions catching him off guard.

His Andretti Global Honda went sideways through the gravel trap and very nearly flipped over when his car caught the edge of the grass.

Luckily, Ericsson stayed wheel-side-down and came to a rest up against the tire barriers.

His crew will also have a lot of work to do in the two hours before qualifying, which gets underway at 1:30 PM central time.

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David Malukas is betting on a new level of maturity to help him climb the standings in his fourth season driving in IndyCar.

The 23-year-old is coming off a less than ideal season that saw him sit out the first seven rounds while recovering from a hand injury.

His extended time out of the car led to Arrow McLaren releasing him from his contract, and forced Malukas to find a ride with Meyer Shank Racing for the latter half of the season once he was able to drive again.

Having now secured a contract with AJ Foyt Racing for the upcoming season, Malukas is hoping to have a more stable year ahead of him.

He is using knowledge learned while he was sidelined to be a more well-rounded driver behind the wheel.

“Yeah, sitting on the sidelines watching, that was really tough. That was hard,” said Malukas. “I definitely had to keep some emotions in watching everybody go around.

“It was good. I learned a lot, especially being on the sidelines, just seeing what the engineers have to deal with, all the screens, the strategy.

“There’s a lot that I learned that as a driver you don’t really know much of what’s going on, so I think it was good by the time I got in the car I didn’t get angry at the engineers or the strategy on what’s going on because they can see a lot more than the driver can see.

“So I think that was the number one thing that I learned and that I will take going into this next season.”

Staying healthy over the break

Malukas also was sure to stay healthy over the past few months, toning down his physical activities and reducing his risk of another injury.

He completed a final surgery on his injured hand just after the 2024 season ended, and has worked hard to get his grip strength back over the winter.

It has been a conscious effort on his part to make sure he is ready to go when the 2025 season starts in six weeks’ time.

“I’ve been so careful. I think the craziest thing I’ve done this off-season is go ziplining with my nephews and the drop was only like two feet. I had to lift my knees up the just do the ziplining. That was the most chaotic thing I’ve done.

“Like I said, I’ve matured a lot, and not just from individuality and outside of the car, but also in the car I’ve matured a lot. I’m excited to take that maturity, be consistent, have a full season, and actually build with the team that I have and the crew is incredible and I’m very excited to get some very good results. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”

Malukas will be driving the historic #4 with AJ Foyt Racing alongside Santino Ferrucci as his team-mate, with the first race of the new partnership taking place on the streets of St. Petersburg on March 2.

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The start of David Malukas’ 2024 IndyCar season was delayed, and the path of his IndyCar career changed, due to a left wrist injury suffered while riding a mountain bike in February.

The 22-year-old originally planned to drive for Arrow McLaren this season, but he was not able to start the year in St. Petersburg behind the wheel due to the injury.

As the healing process was delayed and extended through April, the team released him so they could find a more stable driver for the #6 entry.

Malukas returned to action starting at Laguna Seca in late June, driving for Meyer Shank Racing to finish out the rest of the season.

Even though he has been contested seven races since returning, Malukas still has his wrist wrapped at nearly all times and he has confirmed that it is not yet fully healed.

The amount of data available to him allowed him to get back up to speed quickly, however, especially concerning the details of the new hybrid system that was introduced just after he returned.

“100%,” Malukas confirmed when asked by MotorsportWeek.com if he was still making up for lost time.

“The hand is still only around 85% health, you know. It is not going to be 100% until next year, so there are still some things we’re battling with.

“The whole team has been incredible. You have Felix Rosenqvist in our cars, and then you have all the Andretti cars with that data. There’s a lot of collection from my side.

“The only reason why we’re able to get this performance so fast was because we have all this data on my hands. To miss half a season and come back into it, it’s really because of them. They have all this data I can really just push off of.”

The Andretti and Meyer Shank Racing teams have a technical partnership, through this season anyway, which has allowed Malukas to study data from a number of sources.

Malukas’ best result since returning to action has been on the streets of Toronto where he finished sixth.

Next year, Malukas will be driving for AJ Foyt Racing, a deal which many believe is a way for him to move into Team Penske later on, utilizing the partnership between those two teams.

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The NTT IndyCar Series has announced three grid penalties for this weekend’s race at Portland International Raceway.

The penalties will be levied to Graham Rahal, Kyle Kirkwood, and David Malukas for using too many engine throughout the season.

All three entries have used their yearly allocation set by IndyCar, and will be moved six positions down the grid from their qualifying positions.

The number of grid positions is different for road and street courses than it is from oval events, which is why the drop is six positions this weekend instead of nine.

The penalties will be levied exclusively to Honda-powered entries, just as the ones last weekend were.

The Japanese manufacturer struggled earlier in the season with engine failures, which has now come back to give their cars trouble late in the year.

Kyle Kirkwood is the highest championship contender affected by this weekend’s penalties, but he is practically already out of contention for the title.

He sits seventh in the points and is over 100 points behind the leader Alex Palou.

After this weekend’s race, there are three races remaining in the 2024 season. More penalties can be expected in those events, especially if any drivers have crashes large enough to cause damage to their powertrains.

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When David Malukas returned to IndyCar racing after healing from his wrist injury, he did so by joining Meyer Shank Racing for the second half of the 2024 season.

He has now run six races with the team, and has quickly found his pace following a few months on the sidelines.

During his return to action he has been the team-mate of Felix Rosenqvist, and the two have gotten along well.

The partnership is not destined to last longer than the next few races, however, as Malukas recently announced that he will be joining AJ Foyt Racing at the conclusion of this season.

Rosenqvist took time this past weekend to point out that he thinks highly of his younger team-mate, and he will be sad watch him switch to another team.

“He’s been really impressive,” said Rosenqvist when asked about his new team-mate. “He’s quick on every kind of track.

“He’s known for being very good here [at Gateway], obviously, but he’s been impressive on every track we’ve been so far, and especially with that hand injury, recovering from that. It’s pretty impressive, to be honest.

“I’ll be sad to lose him next year for sure, but I’ll be happy he’s got his future sorted.

“When you have a quick teammate, every time you come back, you’re scratching your head, ‘How can I beat this guy?’ That’s what you want internally. It’s a healthy thing to have between team-mates.

“I think we see it in all the best teams like Penske, Ganassi and Andretti, as well. They have some really, really good drivers pushing each other, and I think it always keeps you on your toes and you maximize your stuff a little bit more every session.”

Malukas’ best finish this season is a sixth place result in Toronto, and he looked set to compete for a podium at Gateway until he crashed out while battling with Will Power for position.

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The NTT IndyCar Series roared back from a month-long break on Friday to complete the first practice session of the World Wide Technology Weekend.

High heat and humidity greeted drivers as they headed out on track to try to find the best setup for the egg-shaped oval.

Colton Herta set a blazing time early on, completing a lap more than a full mile per hour faster than everyone else in the first part of the session.

He was bested at the end of the run by David Malukas, however, who put his #66 Meyer Shank Racing Honda into the top spot.

Malukas completed his best lap in 25.1635 seconds, averaging 178.830 MPH.

The 22-year-old has driven really well at Gateway throughout his entire feeder series and premiere series career, and looks set to have yet another good result this weekend.

Herta ended the session with the second fastest time, a mere 0.059 seconds slower than Malukas.

A pair of Team Penske drivers logged the third and fourth fastest laps, with Scott McLaughlin edging out Will Power after the one hour session was complete.

Alex Palou, with a fresh Honda engine onboard that will set him back nine positions for the start of the race, completed the fifth best time of the afternoon.

Romain Grosjean set the sixth fastest time, showing an impressive amount of pace in the Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevy.

The Frenchman’s new team-mate Conor Daly was speedy as well, and placed the #78 entry into the 12th spot on the timing sheet.

Linus Lundqvist had a bit of trouble in the first half of the session, coming to a stop on track and requiring assistance from the safety crew to get back to the pits.

The reason for his stoppage was a problem with the car’s hybrid system MGU. The Ganassi crew was able to rectify the system quickly and got him back out on track, but Lundqvist was only able to manage the 14th best time.

Katherine Legge brought up the rear in the #51 entry, and the Dale Coyne Racing team will look to find extra pace before qualifying later this afternoon.

A two-lap qualifying run is next on each driver’s radar, with the 260-lap race taking place Saturday afternoon.

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AJ Foyt Racing has announced that David Malukas will drive for the team in the 2025 IndyCar season, beginning a multi-year relationship between the two.

The young driver will pilot one of the team’s two entries, earning a long-term contract following a strong return to the series that came after an injury sidelined him the first half of this year.

“I am extremely excited to have the opportunity to join AJ Foyt Racing,” Malukas said. “The team has performed very well this season and I can’t wait to get to work with them and immerse myself in that environment.

“The history and success of both AJ Foyt Racing and A.J. Foyt himself were key factors in my decision to join the team.

“Everyone knows that A.J. is a legend and he was someone whose name I always heard growing up. To have the opportunity to work alongside him and drive for his team is very special. I am starting a new chapter in my IndyCar career, and I am eager to achieve strong results with AJ Foyt Racing.”

Malukas has had a chaotic year in terms of driving assignments. He planned to run the season with Arrow McLaren after completing a couple seasons with Dale Coyne Racing and HMD Motorsports.

A preseason cycling accident delayed his participation, however, and ultimately led to Arrow McLaren releasing him from his contract.

After he was healed, Malukas was signed by Meyer Shank Racing to take over driving duties of the #66 entry for the second half of the year, and has shown no lingering effects from his injury in the five races run.

Now he will be hoping to find a longer-term home starting next year at AJ Foyt Racing, which has been riding a wave of strong performances lately due in part to the skills of Santino Ferrucci.

“David will be a great addition to AJ Foyt Racing,” said Team President Larry Foyt. “He is a fierce competitor who possesses a great deal of natural talent.

“I think David will be a super fit with our engineers and mechanics, and he will be an important factor as we continue to ascend the IndyCar rankings.”

AJ Foyt Racing has not yet announced who will drive the team’s second car.

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Meyer Shank Racing has announced that David Malukas will pilot the #66 entry for the remainder of the 2024 NTT IndyCar Series season, beginning with the race at Laguna Seca in two weeks’ time.

Malukas ostensibly replaces Tom Blomqvist, who was sidelined by the team following the Indianapolis 500 but remains with the team.

Veteran Helio Castroneves drove the car in Detroit and will be behind the wheel this weekend at Road America, but then will return to his role as part owner of the team for the rest of the season.

“This whole process has been extremely difficult on myself and [team co-owner] Jim Meyer,” said Mike Shank.

“There were so many things for us to consider as we need to do everything we can to make up ground in the championship and Leader Circle standings.

“We are pleased to have David [Malukas] join us as he has both experience and potential and we are looking forward to having him start with us in Milwaukee for the test and then go racing with him at Laguna.”

Malukas was originally set to race this season in the #6 Arrow McLaren entry, but a pre-season mountain biking accident left him with a wrist injury.

That injury took longer to heal than originally planned, and Arrow McLaren exercised a clause in the 22-year-old’s contract and released him after four races passed without him being able to compete.

He focused his efforts on recovery, and has now found a new home for the final 10 races of the season.

“I am extremely grateful to Jim Meyer, Mike Shank and the entire Meyer Shank Racing team for the opportunity to finish out the 2024 NTT IndyCar Series season,” said Malukas.

“Despite setbacks earlier this year, I have been diligently focusing on my recovery, putting in the necessary effort and dedication to get back to peak condition.

“I am ready and excited to be back in the car, aiming to make the most of this chance and deliver strong performances for the team and our supporters. This opportunity means a great deal to me, and I am determined to repay the faith shown in me with my best efforts on the track.”

Malukas will first get behind the wheel of his new MSR ride at test session around the Milwaukee Mile Speedway on June 11th ,10 days ahead of the opening practice session for Laguna Seca.

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