Fast Six
Andretti Autosport’s Romain Grosjean was fastest initially around the 17-turn 2.3-mile track with a 1m06.0289s, 0.0341s ahead of Pato O’Ward of Arrow McLaren, but on fresher (but still used) reds, Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin displaced him, then O’Ward did the same.
However, Grosjean, who lost an engine yesterday, delivered a 1m05.8396s with his fourth lap and it was Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing who came closest, just 0.0734s adrift.
Impressively the top four were covered by just 0.112s, as O’Ward was a hair quicker than McLaughlin, while Scott Dixon made it two Ganassi cars in the top five, ahead of the impressive Christian Lundgaard of Rahal Letterman Lanigan, just 0.32s from the top spot.
It is the second pole of the season for Grosjean, and the fifth of his IndyCar career.
P |
Name |
FTime |
Diff |
FL |
Laps |
FSpeed |
Engine |
Tire |
Team |
1 |
Romain Grosjean |
1:05.8396 |
1:05.8396 |
4 |
4 |
125.760 |
Honda |
A |
Andretti Autosport |
2 |
Alex Palou |
1:05.9130 |
0.0734 |
5 |
5 |
125.620 |
Honda |
A |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
3 |
1:05.9382 |
0.0986 |
4 |
4 |
125.572 |
Chevy |
A |
Arrow McLaren |
|
4 |
Scott McLaughlin |
1:05.9515 |
0.1119 |
3 |
4 |
125.547 |
Chevy |
A |
Team Penske |
5 |
Scott Dixon |
1:06.0723 |
0.2327 |
5 |
5 |
125.317 |
Honda |
A |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
6 |
Christian Lundgaard |
1:06.1601 |
0.3205 |
3 |
3 |
125.151 |
Honda |
A |
Q2
Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon immediately hit the track on used alternates rather than the primaries that everyone else ran for their banker laps, and Dixon landed a 1m06.3498s to go top, although compatriot Scott McLaughlin was only 0.0204s adrift on the harder compound tires, before everyone dived into pitlane for new alternates.
Kyle Kirkwood spun on cold tires exiting the pits and kissed the dirt in his 360deg recovery. Then the times started tumbling at the top, with Alex Palou, Pato O’Ward and finally Romain Grosjean all taking turns at the top.
That trio made it through, although split by McLaughlin who bumped teammate Josef Newgarden out of the Fast Six. The other Penske, Will Power’s, was already eliminated with a couple of incidents, at Turns 5 and 13, and he also reported his car was down around 0.15s due to his Chevrolet approaching the end of its life.
Another driver who fell off the track with a final effort was Rinus VeeKay, last year’s polesitter, who will start between the Arrow McLarens of Felix Rosenqvist and Alexander Rossi.
This surprise elimination of two Penskes and two McLarens meant there was room for Christian Lundgaard to give the Rahal Letterman Lanigan team the lift it needed by getting into Fast Six.
P |
Name |
FTime |
Diff |
FL |
Laps |
FSpeed |
Engine |
Tire |
Team |
1 |
Romain Grosjean |
1:05.6829 |
1:05.6829 |
7 |
8 |
126.060 |
Honda |
A |
Andretti Autosport |
2 |
Pato O'Ward |
1:05.7512 |
0.0683 |
6 |
7 |
125.929 |
Chevy |
A |
Arrow McLaren |
3 |
Scott McLaughlin |
1:05.8061 |
0.1232 |
8 |
8 |
125.824 |
Chevy |
A |
Team Penske |
4 |
Alex Palou |
1:05.8386 |
0.1557 |
7 |
8 |
125.762 |
Honda |
A |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
5 |
Christian Lundgaard |
1:05.8661 |
0.1832 |
6 |
7 |
125.710 |
Honda |
A |
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
6 |
Scott Dixon |
1:05.8986 |
0.2157 |
7 |
7 |
125.648 |
Honda |
A |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
7 |
Josef Newgarden |
1:05.9603 |
0.2774 |
7 |
8 |
125.530 |
Chevy |
A |
Team Penske |
8 |
Felix Rosenqvist |
1:06.0930 |
0.4101 |
7 |
8 |
125.278 |
Chevy |
A |
Arrow McLaren |
9 |
Rinus VeeKay |
1:06.1222 |
0.4393 |
7 |
8 |
125.223 |
Chevy |
A |
Ed Carpenter Racing |
10 |
Alexander Rossi |
1:06.2091 |
0.5262 |
7 |
7 |
125.058 |
Chevy |
A |
Arrow McLaren |
11 |
Will Power |
1:06.3790 |
0.6961 |
6 |
7 |
124.738 |
Chevy |
A |
Team Penske |
12 |
Kyle Kirkwood |
1:06.3963 |
0.7134 |
7 |
7 |
124.706 |
Honda |
A |
Andretti Autosport |
Q1 Group 2
Conor Daly, Agustin Canapino and Devlin DeFrancesco went straight out on alternates, but Friday pacesetter Scott McLaughlin’s 1m06.2689 on primaries, almost matched by Saturday morning pacesetter Alex Palou, suggested who would be quickest.
Sure enough, Palou’s first flyer on reds matched Newgarden’s effort from Q1, to go top while Pato O’Ward was 0.15s short, but ahead of McLaughlin. Rahal Letterman Lanigan’s Christian Lundgaard managed fourth, despite being baulked on one of his flyers by Marcus Armstrong – who lost his two best laps as a result. That allowed Arrow McLaren’s Felix Rosenqvist and Team Penske’s Will Power to get through.
Colton Herta was a surprise elimination at this stage, while Juncos Hollinger Racing’s rookie Agustin Canapino did a superb job to be within one second of Palou, and ahead of RLL’s Jack Harvey.
Santino Ferrucci had gearbox issues and could only run one slow lap.
P |
Name |
FTime |
Diff |
FL |
Laps |
FSpeed |
Engine |
Tire |
Team |
1 |
Alex Palou |
1:05.5871 |
1:05.5871 |
7 |
8 |
126.244 |
Honda |
A |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
2 |
Pato O'Ward |
1:05.7400 |
0.1529 |
6 |
7 |
125.951 |
Chevy |
A |
Arrow McLaren |
3 |
Scott McLaughlin |
1:05.7478 |
0.1607 |
7 |
8 |
125.936 |
Chevy |
A |
Team Penske |
4 |
Christian Lundgaard |
1:05.8342 |
0.2471 |
7 |
8 |
125.770 |
Honda |
A |
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
5 |
Felix Rosenqvist |
1:05.8696 |
0.2825 |
7 |
8 |
125.703 |
Chevy |
A |
Arrow McLaren |
6 |
Will Power |
1:05.9768 |
0.3897 |
7 |
8 |
125.499 |
Chevy |
A |
Team Penske |
7 |
Colton Herta |
1:06.1850 |
0.5979 |
7 |
8 |
125.104 |
Honda |
A |
Andretti Autosport w/Curb-Agajanian |
8 |
1:06.2433 |
0.6562 |
6 |
7 |
124.994 |
Honda |
A |
||
9 |
Devlin DeFrancesco |
1:06.4415 |
0.8544 |
6 |
7 |
124.621 |
Honda |
A |
Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport |
10 |
Conor Daly |
1:06.4810 |
0.8939 |
7 |
7 |
124.547 |
Chevy |
A |
Ed Carpenter Racing |
11 |
Agustin Canapino |
1:06.5158 |
0.9287 |
6 |
7 |
124.482 |
Chevy |
A |
Juncos Holling Racing |
12 |
Jack Harvey |
1:06.7181 |
1.1310 |
7 |
8 |
124.104 |
Honda |
A |
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
13 |
Marcus Armstrong |
1:07.2378 |
1.6507 |
8 |
8 |
123.145 |
Honda |
A |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
14 |
Santino Ferrucci |
3:49.1462 |
2:43.5591 |
1 |
1 |
36.134 |
Chevy |
P |
AJ Foyt Enterprises |
Q1 Group 1
Helio Castroneves of Meyer Shank Racing initially went to the top of the times since he decided to go straight out on Firestone’s alternates, but his best effort was eclipsed by Andretti Autosport’s Romain Grosjean and Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon on the harder primaries. Grosjean’s benchmark was 1m06.2666, but Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden’s first effort on the softer rubber was 1m05.8743s. Last year’s polesitter Rinus VeeKay of Ed Carpenter Racing and then Marcus Ericsson of Chip Ganassi Racing came close to deposing him, but then Alexander Rossi and Scott Dixon did the job.
Newgarden responded though, with a 1m05.5883s, and that kept him top by a tenth ahead of Grosjean, whose final effort bumped points leader Marcus Ericsson out of the top six. Rossi’s Arrow McLaren claimed third ahead of Long Beach winner Kyle Kirkwood and Scott Dixon. VeeKay clung on to sixth to graduate to Q2.
P |
Name |
FTime |
Diff |
FL |
Laps |
FSpeed |
Engine |
Tire |
Team |
1 |
Josef Newgarden |
1:05.5883 |
1:05.5883 |
8 |
8 |
126.242 |
Chevy |
A |
Team Penske |
2 |
Romain Grosjean |
1:05.6839 |
0.0956 |
8 |
8 |
126.058 |
Honda |
A |
Andretti Autosport |
3 |
Alexander Rossi |
1:05.6939 |
0.1056 |
7 |
8 |
126.039 |
Chevy |
A |
Arrow McLaren |
4 |
Kyle Kirkwood |
1:05.7353 |
0.1470 |
7 |
7 |
125.960 |
Honda |
A |
Andretti Autosport |
5 |
Scott Dixon |
1:05.7721 |
0.1838 |
7 |
8 |
125.889 |
Honda |
A |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
6 |
Rinus VeeKay |
1:05.7808 |
0.1925 |
7 |
7 |
125.873 |
Chevy |
A |
Ed Carpenter Racing |
7 |
Marcus Ericsson |
1:05.9207 |
0.3324 |
7 |
8 |
125.605 |
Honda |
A |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
8 |
1:06.0642 |
0.4759 |
6 |
7 |
125.333 |
Chevy |
A |
Juncos Hollinger Racing |
|
9 |
1:06.1851 |
0.5968 |
6 |
6 |
125.104 |
Honda |
A |
Dale Coyne Racing with HMD |
|
10 |
1:06.2504 |
0.6621 |
6 |
7 |
124.980 |
Honda |
A |
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
|
11 |
Helio Castroneves |
1:06.2715 |
0.6832 |
6 |
6 |
124.941 |
Honda |
A |
Meyer Shank Racing |
12 |
Sting Ray Robb |
1:06.5925 |
1.0042 |
7 |
7 |
124.338 |
Honda |
A |
Dale Coyne Racing w/RWR |
13 |
Benjamin Pedersen |
1:06.9327 |
1.3444 |
6 |
7 |
123.706 |
Chevy |
A |
AJ Foyt Enterprises |