Right Team, Right Time: Rosenqvist Wins Pole in Second Race for MSR

There was a young baseball player in the 1960s with a big arm, unlimited talent, and huge upside. But he never panned out for the New York Mets. Wrong coach. Wrong city. Wrong team. So the Mets traded him to the California Angels for a proven veteran named Jim Fregosi, who went on to play 101 games for the Mets. Then never played that many in a single season for the remaining five years of his career.

But Nolan Ryan – the legend, Nolan Ryan – played another 23 seasons, threw seven no-hitters, set strikeout records, and fashioned a Hall of Fame career.

It was all about being on the right team. And that’s where Felix Rosenqvist may well find himself today. On the right team.

The Swedish driver came into the 2024 INDYCAR season with 71 career starts and a victory back in 2020. But two seasons with Chip Ganassi Racing followed by three with Arrow McLaren failed to produce the no-hitters, failed to produce the strikeout records, failed to produce the results that would have landed him in the footsteps of Scott Dixon.

But now driving for Meyer Shank Racing, it’s possible that Rosenqvist has reached that point that all athletes hope to reach. Right team, right time.

Saturday under California skies, Rosenqvist won the pole position for the 49th Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. In the final moments of three rounds of qualifying, Rosenqvist held on against the all-time pole record-holder, Will Power, by 39/10,000ths of a second around the 11-turn, 1.968-mile layout. It is the smallest margin on an Indycar street circuit since knockout qualifying began in 2008.

It was a costly split second for Power. Had he nipped Rosenqvist, it would have been his fourth pole at Long Beach, breaking a record he currently shares with four legends of the sport, Mario Andretti, Michael Andretti, Gil de Ferran, and Helio Castroneves.

“Felix did a great job and it is fantastic to have the speed that we did today,” said team owner Michael Shank. “We’ve had a strong start to the year with good pace. Now our next mission is to bring home a big result tomorrow.”

The 85-lap main event on Sunday is the marquee road/street course on the schedule, and it rates high on every driver’s bucket list.

“It’s been good so far,” Rosenqvist said of the change of scenery to Shank’s Ohio-based team. “Everything has gelled pretty quickly. “When you have to adapt, it takes a while before you gel with the car. That time has literally been zero this year.”

If Rosenqvist hasn’t set the world on fire, he has set the world on notice. In the season-opener at St. Petersburg, he qualified second and finished seventh. In the Thermal $1 Million Challenge exhibition event last month, he qualified first and won his heat race, then finished third in the main event.

And now Rosenqvist has put his stamp on Long Beach in his AutoNation/SiriusXM Honda. He won Group 1 qualifying on Saturday, which doesn’t mean anything but bragging rights, settled in fifth in the Round of 12 second session, then won the final session to take the P1 Award with a time of 1 minute 6.0172 seconds, and an average speed of 107.317 mph.

Four teams were represented in final qualifying. Finishing second and third were the Penske Racing Chevrolets of Power and St. Pete winner Josef Newgarden. Andretti Global’s Colton Herta completed the second row. Herta teammate Marcus Ericsson and Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou make up a third row of Hondas.

Both Herta and Newgarden won this race, respectively, in 2022 and 2021; each also won a pole in those years, though they did not win the race. But winning from the pole is certainly possible, as Kyle Kirkwood did last year. And it’s something Rosenqvist hopes to repeat this year.

So has Rosenqvist landed in the right spot at the right time?

“If you ask me today, yes, but you never know tomorrow,” he said. “I think it's important to keep your feet on the ground, keep working. There's so much more we want to do and improve. Lots of things that you can always improve.

“We just kind of want to focus on ourselves, keep doing what we're doing. Excited to get to the ovals soon to see how that feels. Obviously, (it's the) second race of the year, so we're early days.”

But the early days have been great days.

“I think it’s impressive what these guys are doing at Meyer Shank Racing,” he said.. “They just gave me a package to be there straightaways.”

Saturday night will be spent trying to determine how to convert qualifying speed into team MSR's second Indycar victory. Shank's only win in the series was 2021 with Helio Castroneves winning the Indianapolis 500.

“That's what keeps me up at night, trying to convert,” Rosenqvist said. “I mean, my pole-to-win ratio is 6:1 right now. That's a big question for sure.”

But it’s a question that is likely to get solved at some point. If not this week, then soon. Because there seems to be something special happening. And for lack of a better description, Relix Rosenqvist has a big arm.