MIM driver Alex Palou topped the time sheets at the end of the Top Six qualifying session of the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix with a best lap time of 1min01sec8592. This is Palou’s second pole position in a row two weeks following his record feat at Indianapolis, which went to the record as the ‘fastest Indy 500 pole ever’.

This result is particularly important to Monaco Increase Management as on the same day another of our drivers, Pascal Wehrlein, won Round 10 of the FIA ABB Formula E world series in Jakarta, Indonesia. Such things rarely come by chance and MIM’s CEO and founder, Salvatore Gandolfo, said on Saturday that he was ‘really proud of our drivers’ achievements’.

Palou will start ahead of the pack in tomorrow’s race, which came back to the traditional downtown street circuit, a 1.7 miles (2.735 Km), nine-turn course that substituted for the Belle Isle track used in the last 31 years and will probably prove difficult to overtaking. For this weekend, CGR car number 10 reverted to its Ridgeline green livery. After clearing the first two stages of qualifying, Palou set the pace in the first run of the Fast Six session, scoring a best lap time of 1min03sec7423, but that was obviously far from expressing the real potential of its car, and thanks to a clever tire strategy he was soon ahead of everyone else in the second and final stint. The margin of about three tenths of a second to second-place Scott McLaughlin is particularly impressive on such a short track.

Alex Palou and MIM went into the Detroit event off the back of the Indy 500 result, which saw the Spanish driver take 4th from pole after being deprived of a likely win by a freakish accident in the pit road. Nevertheless, Palou came out of Indianapolis as a series leader and will be looking forward to extend his advantage in the event that starts tomorrow at 9 pm CET.

“I’m super happy with the pole here at the new Detroit track”, Palou said. “It’s been a great weekend so far. We rolled off with lots of speed on the four Chip Ganassi Racing Hondas. It was tight at the end to get to the Fast 6 but we got the pole with the Ridgeline Lubricants car. Super happy with my first pole on a street course, second pole in a row. We’ll try to keep it going tomorrow.”