Daily Times

Felix Rosenqvist and Alex Palou will lead the field to green in Sunday morning’s pair of heat races that determine which 12 IndyCar drivers will advance into the exhibition Thermal $1 million Challenge.

The made-for-TV all-star race of sorts will consist of only 12 of IndyCar’s 27 drivers, but the dozen who do compete will have to get into the event via a pair of earlier heat races. The starting lineups for the heat races were set Saturday in a pair of eight-minute qualifying sessions.

“Going into qualifying, it was like we were supposed to feel less pressure because there’s no points, but I was actually more nervous than ever,” Rosenqvist said.

Rosenqvist paced the stacked first group with a lap at 1 minute, 38.5831 seconds around the permanent road course located in a private members-only club near Coachella and outside of Palm Springs. The first group was comprised of all three Team Penske drivers, including Josef Newgarden, winner of the season-opener two weeks ago, two drivers from Andretti Global and six-time IndyCar champion Scott Dixon. “It’s going to be an angry pack in the mirror for sure,” said Rosenqvist. “If you can get away clean, you might have it. I think it´s all about the start and getting away.”