INDYCAR: From qualifying to post-race, Thermal was not a kind weekend for Scott McLaughlin
by William Soquet / LASTCAR.info Staff Writer
PHOTO: Andy Abeyta / The Desert Sun via On3
Scott McLaughlin finished last for the second time in his NTT IndyCar Series career in Sunday’s Thermal Club IndyCar Grand Prix when his #3 Xpel Chevrolet retired with hybrid issues after completing 53 of the race’s 65 laps.
The finish came in McLaughlin’s 70th series start and was his first since St. Petersburg last year, 18 races ago. Across IndyCar Series history, it was the seventh for the #3, the 118th for Chevrolet, and the first for hybrid issues.
Since jumping across the pond to join IndyCar from the Australian V-8 Supercars circuit, McLaughlin has had, by all accounts, a great run of it. Already a three-time Supercars champ, many wondered how he would transition to life in an open-wheeled car. The bright spots primarily came on ovals during his rookie season in 2021, placing second and eighth at Texas and fourth at Gateway. Multiple top-ten finishes on road courses also contributed to a 14th-place finish in points.
The fanfare picked up significantly during his sophomore campaign. He won the season-opening race in St. Petersburg, his maiden triumph, and also at Mid-Ohio and Portland. A streak of five midsummer races in which he finished no lower than fourth brought him to fourth in the standings. The barrage continued in 2023. McLaughlin only won once but finished the season on a tear, finishing in the top ten in every race after the Indianapolis 500. He finished third in points, tops among all Team Penske drivers. For a third-year IndyCar driver competing with teammates Josef Newgarden and Will Power, that was quite the accomplishment.
A rocky start hampered McLaughlin’s 2024 efforts. He finished second at St. Petersburg but was disqualified due to push-to-pass infractions, leaving him last – even behind fellow disqualified Penske driver Newgarden. While a runner-up finish at an exhibition Thermal event was a nice consolation, the next championship race in Long Beach resulted in an engine failure and a 26th-place finish. With his championship hopes all but dashed, McLaughlin then came out and won the next event at Barber, kickstarting the rest of his season. A spirited summer charge up the point standings was more than pretty much anybody was expecting out of the #3 squad – so much so that after a win at Milwaukee, McLaughlin was all the way up to third in the standings. He held that points position through the end of the year, once again finishing as the highest-placing Penske driver.
For his fourth full season in 2025, the cinematics kicked off with a pole position at St. Petersburg. However, his car was caught out on the wrong tire strategy and McLaughlin eventually finished fourth, which, while not a win, was still a good result.
The first practice session saw three teams each put a pair of cars below 20th. The Dale Coyne Racing cars of Jacob Abel and Rinus VeeKay were 26th and 25th. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing teammates Graham Rahal and Devlin DeFrancesco were 22nd and 23rd. Surprisingly, the third team in this category was McLaren: Nolan Siegel was 21st and Christian Lundgaard was 24th. The 27th driver was Robert Shwartzman, whose rookie campaign hit a big bump when his car caught on fire during opening practice. It was later determined that a fuel cell issue was the blame for the fire. Nevertheless, the car was not ready to go in time for second practice and it was a huge effort to get the car ready for qualifying. Abel was slowest again in second practice, although the two cars ahead of him were the Juncos Hollinger Racing cars of Conor Daly and Sting Ray Robb. McLaughlin was seventh and tenth during the practice sessions, signaling another good weekend ahead to keep him in the top group of championship drivers.
Qualifying is where the weekend began to go sideways for McLaughlin. On his first lap at speed, he spun out in Turn 17, although he did keep the car off the wall. He pitted for a change of tires but was plagued by dirt on the track later on his next at-speed lap late in the session. He ultimately wound up 13th and last of the cars in Group 1, relegating him to 25th on the starting grid. His Penske teammates didn’t fare much better, as both Josef Newgarden and Will Power were kept from advancing to the second round as well. Shwartzman was the slowest driver in Group 2, as his qualifying session was essentially his first on-track time of the weekend after the earlier fire.
As the racecars made their way off pit road and on to the track, there were no tail-end penalties, leaving Shwartzman at the rear of the field. However, one car did not fire. That was Louis Foster, the rookie who finished last in his first career race at St. Petersburg three weeks ago. He turned in a sparkling qualifying effort to earth tenth place, but saw that all go away as his team diagnosed a hybrid issue. However, his Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing team was able to remedy the problem in short order and get the driver out in time to reclaim his original starting position.
As the grid was forming up during the last pace lap, the fireworks began. While taking a right-hand turn, DeFrancesco, the 26th-place starter, speared McLaughlin in the passenger door, spinning the Chevrolet. DeFrancesco lost control of his Honda as well, looping in the middle of the corner. Both cars refired and drove away, a welcome change from this time last year when no hybrid meant both cars likely would’ve stalled.
Meanwhile, a stackup in the first few turns left Callum Ilott with significant front wing damage. He pitted at the end of the first lap and spent significant time in the pit box having his front wing changed, dropping him to last. DeFrancesco was assessed a drive-through penalty for the incident with McLaughlin, but after serving that penalty on lap three, he was still ahead of Ilott.
As Ilott emerged from pit road only 15 seconds and change ahead of leader Pato O’Ward, it was only a matter of time before he was lapped. That happened on Lap 14, and since he pitted right at the start of the race, he was still essentially on the same cycle as everyone else and was unable to un-lap himself during the first pit cycle. Abel was assessed a drive-through penalty on his first pit stop, dropping him to 26th.
McLaughlin had cycled all the way up to 19th before pitting on Lap 20, an inconspicuous dive to pit road during a pit cycle. However, his #3 machine did not move from its spot on pit road, and the broadcast (before it went out) indicated that McLaughlin was suffering from an overheating motor generator unit in the hybrid assembly. He returned to the track six laps down, but in a race that went cautionless, he was unable to make up any ground. He later suffered more problems with the hybrid and retired around Lap 59.
Ilott and Abel were the next two cars in the running order, as the lack of cautions impeded their progress through the field as well. Foster, hampered by strategy missteps, and Sting Ray Robb rounded out the Bottom Five.
McLaughlin’s drama didn’t stop at the checkered flag, however. He and DeFrancesco got into a heated verbal confrontation captured by FOX. The altercation almost turned physical, as the two engaged in finger-pointing and visualizations of what happened on track, but both drivers avoided serious fisticuffs and as such any penalties.
LASTCAR STATISTICS
*McLaughlin’s 53 laps completed are the most for a last-place finisher at a road course since Santino Ferrucci’s 55 in last May’s Indianapolis Grand Prix.
*This is the first last-place finish for the #3 at a permanent road course since Helio Castroneves crashed from the lead at Watkins Glen in 2007.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
27) #3-Scott McLaughlin / 53 laps / hybrid
26) #90-Callum Ilott / 64 laps / running
25) #51-Jacob Abel / 64 laps / running
24) #45-Louis Foster / 64 laps / running
23) #77-Sting Ray Robb / 64 laps / running
2025 LASTCAR INDYCAR SERIES OWNERS CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, Team Penske (1)
2025 LASTCAR INDYCAR SERIES MANUFACTURERS CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet, Honda (1)
2025 LASTCAR INDYCAR SERIES DRIVERS CHAMPIONSHIP
