There are periods of dominance in motorsport, and then there are performances that earn a place in the history books. Alex Palou’s remarkable qualifying form is rapidly becoming the latter.
The reigning four-time IndyCar Series champion continued his extraordinary run on Saturday by securing pole position for the XPEL Grand Prix at Road America, extending a qualifying streak not seen in IndyCar for decades.
Behind the wheel of the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, the 29-year-old Spaniard produced a stunning lap of 1:43.6615 around the iconic 4.014-mile, 14-turn Road America circuit in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. The effort earned him his 18th career pole, his sixth of the 2026 season, and—perhaps most impressively—his fifth consecutive pole position.
The achievement places Palou alongside some of the greatest qualifiers in IndyCar history. He is the first driver since Chip Ganassi Racing legend Alex Zanardi to claim five successive poles, with Zanardi’s run stretching across the end of the 1996 campaign and the opening rounds of 1997. To find the last driver to record five consecutive poles within a single season, one has to look back to Danny Sullivan’s remarkable qualifying sequence in 1988.
Yet despite the growing list of records attached to his name, Palou admitted the latest pole position was far from straightforward.
A difficult path to pole
From the outside, Palou’s qualifying performances have appeared almost effortless throughout 2026. Internally, however, Saturday proved considerably more complicated.
The Spaniard revealed that his pace fluctuated dramatically throughout the various stages of qualifying, making it difficult to find the consistency required to challenge for pole.
“Yeah, it was so tough,” Palou said afterwards.
“Q1 I felt great. Q2 I struggled a ton. Yesterday I felt great, but this morning I struggled as well.”
Those changing fortunes left him uncertain about whether he could produce the lap required when it mattered most.
“I knew it was going to be very tough to piece it together,” he explained.
“My lap felt good. There’s always room to improve.”
Even after claiming another pole, Palou admitted the result still catches him by surprise.
“It’s always surprising. It’s always so fun and so tough to get it right.”
“I think everything is so tight that, yeah, it still surprises me.”
Historic qualifying achievements
Palou’s latest success further strengthens what is already becoming one of the finest qualifying campaigns in modern IndyCar history.
| Statistic | 2026 Total |
|---|---|
| Pole positions | 6 |
| Career poles | 18 |
| Consecutive poles | 5 |
| Championship position | 1st |
| Race victories | 4 |
| Additional podiums | 1 runner-up |
His sixth pole of the season has already matched his total from the previous year, a campaign that ultimately produced one of the most dominant championship-winning seasons in recent memory, featuring eight victories and 13 podium finishes from 17 races.
Combined with four wins and a further second-place finish during the opening half of the current campaign, Palou has once again established himself as the driver everyone else must beat.
Faster, but not flawless
Despite his remarkable qualifying statistics, Palou does not believe he is necessarily performing better overall than during his championship-winning campaign.
Instead, he sees subtle differences between outright pace and overall execution.
“In terms of speed, maybe,” he said when asked whether he was driving better than last season.
“In terms of execution, no.”
“I think last year we were able to execute almost perfectly.”
That distinction reflects the exceptionally high standards Palou now sets for himself. While he believes he has become quicker over a single lap, he also recognises there have been moments where small mistakes have prevented complete perfection.
Refusing to stand still
One of the defining characteristics of Palou’s recent success has been his refusal to become complacent.
Although he is firmly established as the benchmark in the IndyCar paddock, the Spaniard insists continual development remains essential if he is to remain ahead of an increasingly competitive field.
“I’m improving in places where I wasn’t as good last year,” Palou explained.
“On the other side, I feel like sometimes I make mistakes that I wouldn’t have made last year.”
He believes that balancing those gains and losses is simply part of elite-level sport.
“It’s the good thing and the bad thing about sport: you cannot relax for a single second.”
“You need to keep working on everything; otherwise everybody is going to catch up.”
Those comments perhaps best explain why Palou’s remarkable run continues. Even after recording a fifth consecutive pole position—a feat unmatched in IndyCar for nearly three decades—he remains more focused on the imperfections than the accolades.
For the rest of the field, that mindset may be the most daunting statistic of all. If the championship leader continues combining relentless self-improvement with the outright pace he has displayed throughout 2026, his historic qualifying streak could yet extend even further.
