IndyCar Road America: Lundqvist takes shock pole, Newgarden crashes

The Swede extracted a flying lap of 1m45.1519s in the final seconds of qualifying to climb to the top of the leaderboard at the 14-turn circuit.

Andretti Global’s Colton Herta, last year’s pole-sitter at Road America, finished second fastest, 0.1394s behind Lundqvist.

Marcus Armstrong made it two Chip Ganassi Racing drivers in the top three, putting down a lap that was 0.5073s off in third. 

Herta's Andretti team-mate Kyle Kirkwood will start fourth, with Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden in fifth, though he suffered a vicious hit in the final round of qualifying.

Will Power also struggled in what was a miserable session for Team Penske, spinning in Turn 5 and causing a red flag, which negated his chance to fight for pole.

Fast Six qualifying

Herta began the switch for drivers going from wet tyres to the softer alternate slick compound to start the segment, charging to an initial quick lap of 1m57.2604s on the ever-drying track.

After Newgarden crossed the line at 2m00.9985s lap, with he and Herta the only drivers to log a time, Power brought out the red flag with under six minutes to go after spinning and stalling at Turn 12.

When the session resumed, it was Armstrong who delivered a stout lap of 1m47.9501s to dethrone Herta, who responded with a 1m47.6837s to return the favour and bump Armstrong to second.

The top spot rotated between Kirkwood, Armstrong and then Lundqvist in the final seconds, but Herta was still on track lurking.

However, everything ended abruptly after Newgarden dropped a wheel off-track entering The Kink, spinning around and crashing violently – first with the right rear and then the right sidepod – into the SAFER Barrier.

The shunt concluded the session and handed Lundqvist the pole.

Main Information Additional Data Driver Info

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Main Information
Cla	Driver	#	Laps	Time	Interval	Mph
1	L. Lundqvist Chip Ganassi Racing	8	4	1'45.1519		137.424
2	C. Herta Andretti Global with Curb-Agajanian	26	4	+0.1394 1'45.2913	0.1394	137.242
3	M. Armstrong Chip Ganassi Racing	11	4	+0.5073 1'45.6592	0.3679	136.764
4	K. Kirkwood Andretti Global	27	4	+1.2979 1'46.4498	0.7906	135.748
5	J. Newgarden Team Penske	2	3	+4.5052 1'49.6571	3.2073	131.778
6	W. Power Team Penske	12	0
View full results

Top 12 qualifying

Although Armstrong led most of the segment with a 2m00.3687s lap, the spot changed hands with less than a minute to go when Herta delivered a 1m59.2088s flyer.

Herta was followed by Kirkwood, who was 0.3285s behind to end up second. Armstrong tried to respond and improved his time, but came away third at 0.3861s behind Herta.

Power was fourth. The fifth spot went to Lundqvist, who bumped team-mate Alex Palou, the defending race winner, out of transferring into the Fast Six in the final seconds. Newgarden was sixth from Palou and Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin.

Alexander Rossi (Arrow McLaren) was ninth, ahead of championship leader Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing) in 10th.

Main Information Additional Data Driver Info

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Main Information
Cla	Driver	#	Laps	Time	Interval	Mph
1	C. Herta Andretti Global with Curb-Agajanian	26	6	1'59.2088		121.219
2	K. Kirkwood Andretti Global	27	6	+0.3285 1'59.5373	0.3285	120.886
3	M. Armstrong Chip Ganassi Racing	11	5	+0.3861 1'59.5949	0.0576	120.828
4	W. Power Team Penske	12	6	+0.6387 1'59.8475	0.2526	120.573
5	L. Lundqvist Chip Ganassi Racing	8	6	+0.7333 1'59.9421	0.0946	120.478
6	J. Newgarden Team Penske	2	5	+1.3296 2'00.5384	0.5963	119.882
7	A. Palou Chip Ganassi Racing	10	6	+1.6202 2'00.8290	0.2906	119.594
8	S. McLaughlin Team Penske	3	6	+1.6752 2'00.8840	0.0550	119.539
9	A. Rossi Arrow McLaren	7	6	+1.6947 2'00.9035	0.0195	119.520
10	S. Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing	9	6	+2.0583 2'01.2671	0.3636	119.162
11	P. O'Ward Arrow McLaren	5	6	+2.3053 2'01.5141	0.2470	118.920
12	K. Simpson Chip Ganassi Racing	4	5	+2.4178 2'01.6266	0.1125	118.810
View full results

Group Stage qualifying

In Group 1, Rossi vaulted to the top in the final minute with a 2m00.9811s flyer, ahead of O’Ward in second.

Armstrong, who led the group for a majority, was knocked down to third with Newgarden in fourth and Power in fifth.

The final transfer spot went to Simpson, who delivered a late run of 2m019470s to knock out Christian Lundgaard, who ran a 2m02.3826s lap in the No. 45 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda.

Andretti Global’s Marcus Ericsson was also on the outside looking in, ending up eighth in the group.

Rinus VeeKay (Ed Carpenter Racing) and Santino Ferrucci (AJ Foyt Racing) were ninth and 10th, respectively.

Nolan Siegel, who was called to substitute for Agustin Canapino in the No. 78 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet, put in a respectable effort in 11th.

Dale Coyne Racing’s Luca Ghiotto, making his third career IndyCar start, was 12th, ahead of Pietro Fittipaldi (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing).

Main Information Additional Data Driver Info

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Main Information
Cla	Driver	#	Laps	Time	Interval	Mph
1	A. Rossi Arrow McLaren	7	6	2'00.9811		119.443
2	P. O'Ward Arrow McLaren	5	6	+0.2901 2'01.2712	0.2901	119.158
3	M. Armstrong Chip Ganassi Racing	11	5	+0.4099 2'01.3910	0.1198	119.040
4	J. Newgarden Team Penske	2	6	+0.8518 2'01.8329	0.4419	118.608
5	W. Power Team Penske	12	5	+0.8791 2'01.8602	0.0273	118.582
6	K. Simpson Chip Ganassi Racing	4	6	+0.9659 2'01.9470	0.0868	118.497
7	C. Lundgaard Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	45	6	+1.4015 2'02.3826	0.4356	118.076
8	M. Ericsson Andretti Global	28	5	+1.6649 2'02.6460	0.2634	117.822
9	R. van Kalmthout Ed Carpenter Racing	21	6	+1.7277 2'02.7088	0.0628	117.762
10	S. Ferrucci A.J. Foyt Enterprises	14	6	+2.8333 2'03.8144	1.1056	116.710
11	N. Siegel Juncos Hollinger Racing	78	6	+4.0437 2'05.0248	1.2104	115.580
12	L. Ghiotto Dale Coyne Racing	51	6	+4.1530 2'05.1341	0.1093	115.479
13	P. Fittipaldi Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	30	6	+4.6268 2'05.6079	0.4738	115.044
View full results

In Group 2, it was Herta pulling out the late heroics by throttling to a lap of 2m00.3275s to go to the top at the checkered flag.

Palou set a 2m00.5789s lap, which left him second at 0.2514s behind Herta.

McLaughlin, Kirkwood and Dixon transferred into the next round in third, fourth and fifth, respectively.

Lundqvist climbed into the final transfer spot in sixth, bettering Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Romain Grosjean by 0.3497s.

Rookie Christian Rasmussen (Ed Carpenter Racing) was eighth, ahead of fellow first-year driver Theo Pourchaire (Arrow McLaren) in ninth.

Jack Harvey (Dale Coyne Racing) was 10th, with Felix Rosenqvist (Meyer Shank Racing) coming across 11th.

Graham Rahal (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing) ended up 12th, ahead of Sting Ray Robb (AJ Foyt Racing) in 13th.

Helio Castroneves, who brought out the only red flag after stalling in Turn 5 with three minutes left, put the Meyer Shank Racing Honda in 14th.

Main Information Additional Data Driver Info

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Main Information
Cla	Driver	#	Laps	Time	Interval	Mph
1	C. Herta Andretti Global with Curb-Agajanian	26	6	2'00.3275		120.092
2	A. Palou Chip Ganassi Racing	10	6	+0.2514 2'00.5789	0.2514	119.842
3	S. McLaughlin Team Penske	3	6	+0.6923 2'01.0198	0.4409	119.405
4	K. Kirkwood Andretti Global	27	6	+0.7571 2'01.0846	0.0648	119.341
5	S. Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing	9	6	+1.0724 2'01.3999	0.3153	119.031
6	L. Lundqvist Chip Ganassi Racing	8	6	+1.0854 2'01.4129	0.0130	119.019
7	R. Grosjean Juncos Hollinger Racing	77	6	+1.4351 2'01.7626	0.3497	118.677
8	C. Rasmussen Ed Carpenter Racing	20	6	+1.7669 2'02.0944	0.3318	118.354
9	T. Pourchaire Arrow McLaren	6	6	+1.8470 2'02.1745	0.0801	118.277
10	J. Harvey Dale Coyne Racing	18	6	+2.6168 2'02.9443	0.7698	117.536
11	F. Rosenqvist Meyer Shank Racing	60	6	+2.9823 2'03.3098	0.3655	117.188
12	G. Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	15	6	+4.4938 2'04.8213	1.5115	115.769
13	R. Robb A.J. Foyt Enterprises	41	6	+4.5278 2'04.8553	0.0340	115.737
14	H. Castroneves Meyer Shank Racing	66	4	+9.3562 2'09.6837	4.8284	111.428
View full results