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Motorsport

Sport

IndyCar Detroit: Herta beats Palou to pole by 0.152s

Indy (Organization) Alex Palou Josef Newgarden Kyle Kirkwood Scott McLaughlin Christian Lundgaard Santino Ferrucci Scott Dixon Christian Rasmussen Arrow McLaren

Herta navigated the 1.645-mile, nine temporary street circuit to put down a quick lap of 1m00.5475s to claim the top spot, which provided a big rebound after crashing from second in the Indianapolis 500 last weekend.

It is the 12th pole of Herta’s IndyCar Series career.

Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou made a strong run at pole but the reigning champion fell short by 0.1520s to claim the second spot alongside Herta on the front row.

The Team Penske duo of Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin were third and fourth, respectively. While six-time IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon (CGR) was fifth, ahead of Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood.

Fast Six qualifying

McLaughlin set the benchmark at 1m01.3046s, but Herta responded with a 1m01.1164s lap to take the top spot with less than two minutes to go.

The provisional top spot began to rotate as Newgarden and Palou went fastest before Herta delivered his mighty 1m00.5475s run.

A red flag came out after Kirkwood stalled his No. 27 Andretti Global Honda following his off in Turn 1. He lost his two quickest laps as a result and dropped to sixth.

The break set up a one-lap shootout for pole between the remaining five competitors. Despite the chance, everyone appeared to struggle getting tires in the peak performance window as the running order remained unchanged.

Thus Herta remained on top, ahead of Palou, with Newgarden and McLaughlin taking third and fourth, respectively. Dixon ended up fifth.

"A complete 180 and just super happy for the team," Herta said of his rebound from Indy. "You know, they worked their tails off in the month of May, and it was disappointing to say the least.

"So, to come back for some redemption, it feels good."

Palou said of his front row spot: "The car has been awesome since practice one yesterday and we're able to fight during all segments in qualifying. So yeah, starting on the front row and looking forward to tomorrow.

"It's gonna be a busy, busy race, but with a fast car I think it's a little bit easier."


Cla	Driver	#	Laps	Time	Interval	Mph
1	C. Herta Andretti Global with Curb-Agajanian	26	6	1'00.5475		97.808
2	A. Palou Chip Ganassi Racing	10	6	+0.1520 1'00.6995	0.1520	97.563
3	J. Newgarden Team Penske	2	5	+0.4132 1'00.9607	0.2612	97.145
4	S. McLaughlin Team Penske	3	5	+0.7869 1'01.3344	0.3737	96.553
5	S. Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing	9	6	+0.8430 1'01.3905	0.0561	96.464
6	K. Kirkwood Andretti Global	27	4	+3.7451 1'04.2926	2.9021	92.110
View full results

Top 12 qualifying

A red flag came out with just under four minutes to go after Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward stopped off course in Turn 5, who tried to get out of the way of Kirkwood before being accidentally dropping the clutch while approaching the corner. He lost his two fastest laps and was not allowed to advance, leaving him 12th.

The session resumed and saw Palou jump to the top of the leaderboard but was pushed down moments later as Herta hit a lap of 1m00.5189s and then goes quicker with a 1m00.2304s run the next lap.

Kirkwood was second, followed by Dixon in third. McLaughlin, Palou and Newgarden grabbed the remaining transfer spots.

Arrow McLaren rookie Theo Pourchaire was only 0.0287s from making his first Fast Six appearance in seventh.

Team Penske’s Will Power was an anguished eighth, ahead of Andretti Global’s Marcus Ericsson in ninth. After an eventful second practice, Santino Ferrucci, who started once again on fresh alternates, ended up 10th.

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Christian Lundgaard finished up in 11th.


Cla	Driver	#	Laps	Time	Interval	Mph
1	C. Herta Andretti Global with Curb-Agajanian	26	9	1'00.2304		98.322
2	K. Kirkwood Andretti Global	27	9	+0.1690 1'00.3994	0.1690	98.047
3	S. Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing	9	10	+0.3560 1'00.5864	0.1870	97.745
4	S. McLaughlin Team Penske	3	9	+0.3703 1'00.6007	0.0143	97.722
5	A. Palou Chip Ganassi Racing	10	10	+0.4257 1'00.6561	0.0554	97.632
6	J. Newgarden Team Penske	2	9	+0.4751 1'00.7055	0.0494	97.553
7	T. Pourchaire Arrow McLaren	6	7	+0.5038 1'00.7342	0.0287	97.507
8	W. Power Team Penske	12	10	+0.5308 1'00.7612	0.0270	97.464
9	M. Ericsson Andretti Global	28	9	+0.6201 1'00.8505	0.0893	97.320
10	S. Ferrucci A.J. Foyt Enterprises	14	8	+0.8047 1'01.0351	0.1846	97.026
11	C. Lundgaard Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	45	8	+0.9359 1'01.1663	0.1312	96.818
12	P. O'Ward Arrow McLaren	5	5	+2.8175 1'03.0479	1.8816	93.929
View full results

Group Stage qualifying

The first group saw the rise of Pourchaire, who rocketed to a quick lap of 1m00.7000s lap on a set of alternates to go top in the final seconds to lead the timesheets.

McLaughlin and Newgarden ended up second and third, ahead of Kirkwood in fourth. Power was fifth, with Ferrucci in the final transfer spot in sixth. Ferrucci and Ed Carpenter Racing’s Rinus VeeKay were the only drivers to start the group running on alternates, with everyone else swapping midway through.

Rookie Christian Rasmussen was the first driver on the outside in seventh, hitting a 1m01.3930s, which was roughly a tenth of a second off from transferring.

Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Romain Grosjean was eighth, but claimed he was impeded by Ferrucci and stomped down to the pits of AJ Foyt Racing to talk with team president Larry Foyt and voice his displeasure.

Arrow McLaren’s Alexander Rossi and VeeKay finished ninth and 10th, respectively. Chip Ganssi Racing rookies Linus Lundqvist and Kyffin Simpson ended up 11th and 12th, with Dale Coyne Racing’s Tristan Vautier in 13th.


Cla	Driver	#	Laps	Time	Interval	Mph
1	T. Pourchaire Arrow McLaren	6	8	1'00.7000		97.562
2	S. McLaughlin Team Penske	3	8	+0.0935 1'00.7935	0.0935	97.412
3	J. Newgarden Team Penske	2	8	+0.1844 1'00.8844	0.0909	97.266
4	K. Kirkwood Andretti Global	27	8	+0.1962 1'00.8962	0.0118	97.247
5	W. Power Team Penske	12	9	+0.2537 1'00.9537	0.0575	97.156
6	S. Ferrucci A.J. Foyt Enterprises	14	8	+0.5906 1'01.2906	0.3369	96.622
7	C. Rasmussen Ed Carpenter Racing	20	9	+0.6930 1'01.3930	0.1024	96.461
8	R. Grosjean Juncos Hollinger Racing	77	8	+0.7933 1'01.4933	0.1003	96.303
9	A. Rossi Arrow McLaren	7	9	+0.8905 1'01.5905	0.0972	96.151
10	R. van Kalmthout Ed Carpenter Racing	21	9	+0.9040 1'01.6040	0.0135	96.130
11	L. Lundqvist Chip Ganassi Racing	8	9	+0.9297 1'01.6297	0.0257	96.090
12	K. Simpson Chip Ganassi Racing	4	9	+1.0770 1'01.7770	0.1473	95.861
13	T. Vautier Dale Coyne Racing	51	9	+1.5091 1'02.2091	0.4321	95.195
View full results

The second group was led by Palou, who hit a stout lap of 1m00.3478s flyer in the final minute and dethroned Lundgaard’s 1m00.4142s run.

Herta and Ericsson scored third and fourth, while O’Ward delivered late heroics to vault back into the transfer spot in fifth. Dixon powered to sixth.

Graham Rahal (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing) narrowly missed transferring by 0.0614s in seventh. He was trailed by team-mate Pietro Fittipaldi.

Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Agustin Canapino was ninth, with Chip Ganassi Racing’s Marcus Armstrong in 10th.

Felix Rosenqvist’s No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Honda missed the cut, but the misery was added with a penalty for causing a local yellow, relegating him down to 11th.

AJ Foyt Racing’s Sting Ray Robb was 12th, ahead of Meyer Shank Racing’s Helio Castroneves 13th and Dale Coyne Racing’s Jack Harvey 14th.


Cla	Driver	#	Laps	Time	Interval	Mph
1	A. Palou Chip Ganassi Racing	10	9	1'00.3478		98.131
2	C. Lundgaard Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	45	7	+0.0664 1'00.4142	0.0664	98.023
3	C. Herta Andretti Global with Curb-Agajanian	26	8	+0.2253 1'00.5731	0.1589	97.766
4	M. Ericsson Andretti Global	28	9	+0.4059 1'00.7537	0.1806	97.476
5	P. O'Ward Arrow McLaren	5	9	+0.6814 1'01.0292	0.2755	97.036
6	S. Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing	9	9	+0.7244 1'01.0722	0.0430	96.967
7	G. Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	15	9	+0.7858 1'01.1336	0.0614	96.870
8	P. Fittipaldi Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	30	8	+1.0206 1'01.3684	0.2348	96.499
9	A. Canapino Juncos Hollinger Racing	78	8	+1.2088 1'01.5566	0.1882	96.204
10	M. Armstrong Chip Ganassi Racing	11	9	+1.3928 1'01.7406	0.1840	95.917
11	F. Rosenqvist Meyer Shank Racing	60	7	+1.3963 1'01.7441	0.0035	95.912
12	R. Robb A.J. Foyt Enterprises	41	8	+1.4976 1'01.8454	0.1013	95.755
13	H. Castroneves Meyer Shank Racing	66	8	+1.6209 1'01.9687	0.1233	95.564
14	J. Harvey Dale Coyne Racing	18	9	+1.7707 1'02.1185	0.1498	95.334
View full results