McLaughlin fumes at IndyCar rival’s ‘bonehead’ act

The Team Penske driver was left frustrated by his Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing rival, who exited the pits in front of McLaughlin just as he began a push lap.

The Kiwi pulled up alongside the Canadian and gave him the middle finger.

Earlier this year, the pair featured in a fiery pit lane exchange at The Thermal Club, and more recently, DeFrancesco took McLaughlin out at Iowa Speedway.

McLaughlin also appeared to squabble with AJ Foyt Racing’s Santino Ferrucci over track position.

“It just builds up, I guess,” said McLaughlin when asked about giving DeFrancesco the bird.

“That’s twice in a row that Dev’s got me coming out of the pits. It just gets frustrating.

“You’re coming down there at 180, 190 mph and the guy just parks at the apex of Turn 1.

‘It’s etiquette, right? There were a couple of little bonehead moves out there I wasn’t happy with.

“It’s just like, what are we doing? It’s like, okay, you stuff up, pull to the side off two, but he just keeps going. I was just like, okay. It’s annoying.”

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DeFrancesco said the incident was “unfortunate” but stopped short of an apology.

“Look, I’ve been in that position like he has too. It’s extremely frustrating. Adrenaline is high in the car, I get it,” the Canadian explained.

“We were sent out. From what the GPS tracker was saying, we were going to slot in behind him and we came out in front of him right as he was on a push lap. It’s unfortunate.”

McLaughlin went on to qualify 13th for Monday’s race. He will start 12th thanks to teammate Josef Newgarden taking an engine penalty that drops him from ninth to 15th.

Will Power was the best of the Team Penske trio, qualifying fourth. Power will also move up from where he qualified.

McLaren’s Christian Lundgaard took pole position but will start seventh for an unapproved engine change.

That means McLaren teammate Pato O’Ward will start from pole position alongside Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist.

“We made some changes to the Verizon Chevy for the top six, to see if we could just get a little better,” said Power.

“We just seemed to be off the quickest guys. Although Lundgaard was a standout there.

“One-tenth would have moved us up a couple spots, but that was it. It was a pretty good lap. I put it together.

“Obviously, there’s always a little bit in it somewhere, A big moment in [Turn] 10 there starting that last lap. Happy with that, any time you’re in the top six in this series is really good.”

Of the New Zealand contingent, Meyer Shank Racing’s Marcus Armstrong was the quickest in eighth while Chip Ganassi Racing driver Scott Dixon was 10th, but will start ninth.

Alex Palou went off the road at the final corner but was able to qualify sixth in the leading Chip Ganassi Racing car. He starts fifth thanks to Lundgaard’s penalty.

Results: IndyCar Series Grand Prix of Portland Qualifying, Portland International Raceway

This article first appeared on Speedcafe.com, a sister site to MotorRacing.com.