Firestone Fast Six
VeeKay lapped the 2.366-mile Barber Motorsports Park course in 66.2507sec to beat last year’s Barber polesitter Pato O’Ward by 0.15sec and land his first pole since the Harvest Grand Prix at IMS road course in 2020.
O’Ward of Arrow McLaren SP-Chevrolet reported he had to gather up a major slide as he tried to build momentum for his final run, so was quite content with his first front row of the season.
He will start just ahead of Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda, defending Barber race winner and defending series champion.
Scott McLaughlin, who has been Team Penske-Chevrolet’s pacesetter throughout the weekend, was fourth fastest. The sole Andretti Autosport-Honda representative was Alex Rossi in fifth, a remarkable comeback from his morning shunt, while Felix Rosenqvist ensured two Arrow McLaren SP-Chevys will start from the first three rows.
P | No | Name | FTime | Diff | Gap | FL | Laps | LapTime | LPit | Led | ST | FSpeed | Elapsed | Engine | Tire | Points | Team |
1 | 21 | 1:06.2507 | 1:06.2507 | 0.000 | 4 | 4 | 1:06.2507 | 2 | 5 | 124.980 | 6:23.6806 | Chevy | A | 16 | Ed Carpenter Racing | ||
2 | 5 | 1:06.4003 | 0.1496 | 0.1496 | 2 | 2 | 1:06.4003 | 0 | 1 | 124.698 | 3:46.9716 | Chevy | A | 4 | |||
3 | 10 | Alex Palou | 1:06.4415 | 0.1908 | 0.0412 | 4 | 4 | 1:06.4415 | 2 | 6 | 124.621 | 6:39.2766 | Honda | A | 9 | ||
4 | 3 | Scott McLaughlin | 1:06.4967 | 0.2460 | 0.0552 | 2 | 2 | 1:06.4967 | 0 | 2 | 124.517 | 6:15.9596 | Chevy | A | 2 | ||
5 | 27 | 1:06.5549 | 0.3042 | 0.0582 | 4 | 4 | 1:06.5549 | 2 | 3 | 124.409 | 6:30.2889 | Honda | A | 18 | |||
6 | 7 | Felix Rosenqvist | 1:06.6410 | 0.3903 | 0.0861 | 3 | 3 | 1:06.6410 | 1 | 4 | 124.248 | 5:12.3679 | Chevy | A | 6 | Arrow McLaren SP |
Q2
Rinus VeeKay had to serve a drive-through penalty before his final flyer for breaking the pitlane speed limit, but that didn’t prevent him producing a 66.2732sec lap and that was enough to get him into the top five, especially when two of the fast Andretti Autosport cars failed to graduate.
Pato O’Ward and Felix Rosenqvist moved on for Arrow McLaren SP-Chevrolet with first and fourth fastest times respectively, sandwiching Scott McLaughlin’s Penske and Alexander Rossi’s Andretti Autosport machine.
Alex Palou was the only Ganassi car in the Firestone Fast Six, as teammate Marcus Ericsson threw his car off track at Turn 7 in the final two minutes and brought out the red flag and lost his best laps.
That incident meant that Colton Herta wasn’t able to complete his final flyer, having left pitlane late, so he will line up 10th, directly behind teammate Romain Grosjean who fell 0.07sec short of graduation.
Callum Ilott was kicking himself for making a minor error on his best lap, but his 11th spot on the grid was a great breakthrough for Juncos Hollinger Racing.
P | No | Name | FTime | Diff | Gap | FL | Laps | LapTime | LPit | Led | ST | FSpeed | Elapsed | Engine | Tire | Points | Team |
1 | 5 | Pato O'Ward | 1:06.1054 | 1:06.1054 | 0.000 | 6 | 7 | 1:18.2831 | 4 | 3 | 125.255 | 10:44.8014 | Chevy | A | 4 | Arrow McLaren SP | |
2 | 3 | Scott McLaughlin | 1:06.1474 | 0.0420 | 0.0420 | 6 | 7 | 1:18.8779 | 4 | 1 | 125.175 | 11:00.0722 | Chevy | A | 2 | Team Penske | |
3 | 27 | Alexander Rossi | 1:06.1839 | 0.0785 | 0.0365 | 6 | 7 | 1:15.8329 | 4 | 9 | 125.106 | 10:50.8963 | Honda | A | 18 | Andretti Autosport | |
4 | 7 | Felix Rosenqvist | 1:06.2721 | 0.1667 | 0.0882 | 7 | 7 | 1:06.2721 | 4 | 5 | 124.939 | 10:09.8087 | Chevy | A | 6 | Arrow McLaren SP | |
5 | 21 | Rinus VeeKay | 1:06.2732 | 0.1678 | 0.0011 | 6 | 7 | 1:11.1331 | 5 | 8 | 124.937 | 10:41.6423 | Chevy | A | 16 | Ed Carpenter Racing | |
6 | 10 | Alex Palou | 1:06.3153 | 0.2099 | 0.0421 | 7 | 7 | 1:06.3153 | 4 | 7 | 124.858 | 10:00.4075 | Honda | A | 9 | Chip Ganassi Racing | |
7 | 2 | 1:06.3348 | 0.2294 | 0.0195 | 7 | 7 | 1:06.3348 | 4 | 6 | 124.821 | 10:15.5444 | Chevy | A | 1 | Team Penske | ||
8 | 28 | Romain Grosjean | 1:06.3820 | 0.2766 | 0.0472 | 7 | 7 | 1:06.3820 | 4 | 2 | 124.733 | 10:02.8781 | Honda | A | 19 | Andretti Autosport | |
9 | 15 | 1:06.6339 | 0.5285 | 0.2519 | 6 | 7 | 1:08.3823 | 4 | 11 | 124.261 | 10:25.9998 | Honda | A | 13 | |||
10 | 26 | Colton Herta | 1:06.7295 | 0.6241 | 0.0956 | 5 | 6 | 1:14.0744 | 4 | 4 | 124.083 | 10:51.7686 | Honda | A | 17 | Andretti Autosport | |
11 | 77 | Callum Ilott | 1:07.2000 | 1.0946 | 0.4705 | 6 | 7 | 1:23.7307 | 4 | 10 | 123.214 | 11:10.0771 | Chevy | A | 26 | Juncos Hollinger Racing | |
12 | 8 | Marcus Ericsson | 1:07.3561 | 1.2507 | 0.1561 | 2 | 6 | 1:06.4930 | 4 | 12 | 122.929 | 9:14.2238 | Honda | A | 7 | Chip Ganassi Racing |
Q1 Group 2
Andretti Autosport teammates Romain Grosjean and Colton Herta weren’t as quick as McLaughlin in the first group, but did enough to top their group, with three-time Barber winner Josef Newgarden in third for Penske-Chevrolet. Rinus VeeKay echoed the pace he showed this morning to get the Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevy through to Q2 but the story of the session was Callum Ilott. The Juncos Hollinger Racing driver, the only IndyCar driver without a teammate, was fifth fastest, ahead of Marcus Ericsson.
Helio Castroneves suffered an incident exiting Turn 9 but got going again so didn’t cause a red flag, but he wasn’t quick enough to move on to Q2. Nonetheless, he was faster than his Meyer Shank Racing-Honda teammate Simon Pagenaud.
Rookie David Malukas also had a shunt after completing his final flyer, skating across the grass just after the timing line and making firm contact with a barrier.
P | No | Name | FTime | Diff | Gap | FL | Laps | LapTime | LPit | Led | ST | FSpeed | Elapsed | Engine | Tire | Points | Team |
1 | 28 | Romain Grosjean | 1:06.2000 | 1:06.2000 | 0.000 | 5 | 7 | 1:18.0349 | 4 | 3 | 125.076 | 10:39.5417 | Honda | A | 19 | Andretti Autosport | |
2 | 26 | Colton Herta | 1:06.3396 | 0.1396 | 0.1396 | 5 | 7 | 1:14.1598 | 4 | 2 | 124.812 | 10:26.2447 | Honda | A | 17 | Andretti Autosport | |
3 | 2 | Josef Newgarden | 1:06.3799 | 0.1799 | 0.0403 | 6 | 7 | 1:15.3648 | 4 | 6 | 124.737 | 10:01.4408 | Chevy | A | 1 | Team Penske | |
4 | 21 | Rinus VeeKay | 1:06.5477 | 0.3477 | 0.1678 | 6 | 7 | 1:15.7461 | 4 | 1 | 124.422 | 10:12.0223 | Chevy | A | 16 | Ed Carpenter Racing | |
5 | 77 | Callum Ilott | 1:06.6649 | 0.4649 | 0.1172 | 5 | 7 | 1:32.3682 | 4 | 5 | 124.203 | 10:53.9240 | Chevy | A | 26 | Juncos Hollinger Racing | |
6 | 8 | Marcus Ericsson | 1:06.7305 | 0.5305 | 0.0656 | 6 | 7 | 1:15.7568 | 4 | 4 | 124.081 | 10:22.9578 | Honda | A | 7 | Chip Ganassi Racing | |
7 | 30 | 1:06.7462 | 0.5462 | 0.0157 | 6 | 7 | 1:19.8101 | 4 | 8 | 124.052 | 10:19.5219 | Honda | A | 21 | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | ||
8 | 06 | Helio Castroneves | 1:06.8138 | 0.6138 | 0.0676 | 2 | 6 | 1:31.5689 | 4 | 11 | 123.926 | 10:10.9903 | Honda | A | 5 | ||
9 | 18 | David Malukas | 1:06.8898 | 0.6898 | 0.0760 | 6 | 6 | 1:06.8898 | 4 | 9 | 123.786 | 9:10.4265 | Honda | P | 14 | Dale Coyne Racing with HMD | |
10 | 29 | 1:07.0242 | 0.8242 | 0.1344 | 5 | 6 | 1:07.9870 | 4 | 10 | 123.537 | 9:35.5054 | Honda | A | 20 | Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport | ||
11 | 20 | 1:07.0350 | 0.8350 | 0.0108 | 6 | 6 | 1:07.0350 | 4 | 7 | 123.518 | 9:29.1603 | Chevy | A | 15 | Ed Carpenter Racing | ||
12 | 60 | Simon Pagenaud | 1:07.1052 | 0.9052 | 0.0702 | 6 | 7 | 1:19.8074 | 4 | 13 | 123.388 | 10:35.4696 | Honda | A | 25 | Meyer Shank Racing | |
13 | 48 | 1:09.0075 | 2.8075 | 1.9023 | 2 | 6 | 1:11.4422 | 5 | 12 | 119.987 | 9:44.6181 | Honda | A | 23 | Chip Ganassi Racing |
Q1 Group 1
Arrow McLaren SP-Chevrolet’s Pato O’Ward set the fastest time on primary Firestones with a 66.8752sec lap ahead of Scott McLaughlin and Alex Palou before everyone dived for the pits to grab alternates. Alexander Rossi, whose team had got his car to pitlane with just eight minutes to spare after changing the whole rear end of the car following his shunt in morning practice, was fifth fastest on primaries.
With the reds on, McLaughlin got down to a 66.0289sec, ahead of the Arrow McLaren SP pair, ahead of defending race-winner Alex Palou, the hugely impressive Rossi, and Graham Rahal rebounded from a disastrous Friday to graduate to Q2.
Surprise exclusions at this stage were Ganassi’s Scott Dixon in seventh and Team Penske’s Will Power in 10th, both of them looking quite puzzled at their pace, having had no major complaints about their cars’ handling traits.
P | No | Name | FTime | Diff | Gap | FL | Laps | LapTime | LPit | Led | ST | FSpeed | Elapsed | Engine | Tire | Points | Team |
1 | 3 | Scott McLaughlin | 1:06.0289 | 1:06.0289 | 0.000 | 6 | 7 | 1:13.3885 | 4 | 2 | 125.400 | 10:42.6708 | Chevy | A | 113 | Team Penske | |
2 | 5 | Pato O'Ward | 1:06.2448 | 0.2159 | 0.2159 | 6 | 7 | 1:06.2518 | 4 | 1 | 124.991 | 10:23.5302 | Chevy | A | 63 | Arrow McLaren SP | |
3 | 7 | Felix Rosenqvist | 1:06.3855 | 0.3566 | 0.1407 | 7 | 7 | 1:06.3855 | 4 | 9 | 124.726 | 10:10.3351 | Chevy | A | 42 | Arrow McLaren SP | |
4 | 10 | Alex Palou | 1:06.3877 | 0.3588 | 0.0022 | 6 | 7 | 1:06.4958 | 4 | 3 | 124.722 | 10:03.9299 | Honda | A | 103 | Chip Ganassi Racing | |
5 | 27 | Alexander Rossi | 1:06.3962 | 0.3673 | 0.0085 | 6 | 6 | 1:06.3962 | 4 | 10 | 124.706 | 10:00.4030 | Honda | A | 40 | Andretti Autosport | |
6 | 15 | Graham Rahal | 1:06.5016 | 0.4727 | 0.1054 | 7 | 7 | 1:06.5016 | 4 | 6 | 124.508 | 10:32.9724 | Honda | A | 60 | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | |
7 | 9 | Scott Dixon | 1:06.5142 | 0.4853 | 0.0126 | 7 | 7 | 1:06.5142 | 4 | 4 | 124.485 | 10:29.7859 | Honda | A | 83 | Chip Ganassi Racing | |
8 | 45 | 1:06.6511 | 0.6222 | 0.1369 | 6 | 7 | 1:06.8740 | 4 | 5 | 124.229 | 10:45.0870 | Honda | A | 32 | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | ||
9 | 51 | 1:06.7541 | 0.7252 | 0.1030 | 7 | 7 | 1:06.7541 | 4 | 11 | 124.037 | 10:53.5935 | Honda | A | 44 | Dale Coyne Racing w/RWR | ||
10 | 12 | Will Power | 1:06.7775 | 0.7486 | 0.0234 | 7 | 7 | 1:06.7775 | 4 | 8 | 123.994 | 11:29.1153 | Chevy | A | 102 | Team Penske | |
11 | 14 | 1:06.8213 | 0.7924 | 0.0438 | 7 | 7 | 1:06.8213 | 4 | 7 | 123.913 | 10:18.3003 | Chevy | A | 38 | AJ Foyt Enterprises | ||
12 | 4 | 1:07.6869 | 1.6580 | 0.8656 | 7 | 7 | 1:07.6869 | 4 | 12 | 122.328 | 10:50.7102 | Chevy | A | 23 | AJ Foyt Enterprises | ||
13 | 11 | 1:07.9248 | 1.8959 | 0.2379 | 6 | 7 | 1:11.2959 | 4 | 13 | 121.900 | 11:08.2244 | Chevy | A | 20 | AJ Foyt Enterprises |