David Malukas calls his AJ Foyt IndyCar a "rocket ship" after Portland qualifying
David Malukas will start fourth after his Fast Six was disrupted by Alex Palou bringing out the yellow flag.
David Malukas called his AJ Foyt IndyCar a "rocket ship" after he qualified fifth for tomorrow's Portland race.
Due to start fourth thanks to Christian Lundgaard's six-place grid penalty for making a unapproved engine change, Malukas was lucky not to be eliminated in Group One.
Red flagged with a minute to go after Robert Shwartzman went into the barrier at Turn 12, Malukas was in the drop zone when the incident happened.
"Wow, what a crazy session", Malukas exclaimed. "Our Q1, I ended up going off, came in, had to do a drive through and so they get a lap, red flag comes out.
"So now they say, 'hey, you just gotta go out, you have one lap to do it'. [The] tyres were cold and I mean we kept that Gallagher car together and got it across.
"Q2 comes around and again people are doing different strategies. We get held up, aren't able to push, tires are cold again, push. We make Fast Six again."
Malukas had expected his luck to change in Fast Six and had hoped for clean running but Alex Palou ruined this after he made the same mistake as robert Shwartzman into Turn 12.
Bringing out the yellow flag, the incident impeded Malukas' push lap and meant he couldn't improve.
However, the American remained positive at the result and thanked his team for their efforts and for giving him a car that could get into the final group.
He said: "I'm like 'okay, things will go our way for this, for this last one' and then we get a yellow flag on our push lap.
"Opposing strategy to the rest of the field but, look, the car was a rocket ship.
"I mean, couldn't have made it without this team. They gave me that car to put it up there [in] P5 because moments like that, when things don't go your way, [you] try to capitalize on it.
"We'll take a P5 starting P4 tomorrow for the Gallagher car."
Malukas has competed in the Fast Six five times this season so far which is joint with his 2024 efforts.
Rumoured to replace Will Power at Team Penske for 2026, the result will be followed closely by the team as they weigh up the choice between him and IndyCar veteran.
Malukas will line up next to Power on the grid who will start third and is the highest Penske on the grid once more in 2025.
