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IndyCar Toronto: Herta beats Kirkwood to pole, Palou penalised

Colton Herta stormed to a last-gasp pole over Andretti Global team-mate Kyle Kirkwood in a frantic qualifying session in Toronto.

He stormed to a flying lap of 59.5431s around the temporary street circuit to claim the top spot to clinch his third pole of the season.

The late lap by Herta dethroned Kirkwood, who ended up just 0.1304s in second.

Fast Six qualifying

The segment began with Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Romain Grosjean overshooting Turn 8, but fortunately, he kept his car off the wall and continued.

Herta was forced to respond after being temporarily dethroned from the top spot by Kirkwood, who posted a flying lap of 59.6735s in the closing seconds Herta was able to snatch the top spot with a pole-winning lap of 59.5431s as time expired - having switched to his second set of softer alternates.

Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist finished third with a sizable 0.2821s gap behind Herta.

Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin produced his best effort at the end to secure fourth, with Grosjean fifth and followed by the No. 66 Meyer Shank Racing Honda of David Malukas in sixth.

IndyCar Toronto Fast Six times

   
1
 - 
3
   
Cla Driver # Laps Time Interval Mph
1 United States C. Herta Andretti Global with Curb-Agajanian 26 5

59.5431

  107.982
2 United States K. Kirkwood Andretti Global 27 4

+0.1304

59.6735

0.1304 107.746
3 Sweden F. Rosenqvist Meyer Shank Racing 60 5

+0.2821

59.8252

0.1517 107.473
4 New Zealand S. McLaughlin Team Penske 3 5

+0.3651

59.9082

0.0830 107.324
5 France R. Grosjean Juncos Hollinger Racing 77 5

+0.4581

1'00.0012

0.0930 107.158
6 United States D. Malukas Meyer Shank Racing 66 4

+0.6678

1'00.2109

0.2097 106.785

Top 12 qualifying

Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden was the first driver to deliver a sub-minute lap after nailing a 59.9128s flyer. However, he quickly fell down the running order after Rosenqvist, Kirkwood, Grosjean and Herta went faster.

In the end, Rosenqvist led the segment with a 59.5960s, followed by Kirkwood, Grosjean, Herta and McLaughlin transferring.

Malukas ended up sixth, which happened after a spin that led to a local yellow and lost his best lap to the point up to the incident. As a result of going faster after the incident, he knocked out Newgarden by 0.019s.

Graham Rahal was eighth, while Team Penske’s Will Power hung on to a wild moment that saw him nearly crash in Turn 8 but ended up only earning the ninth-quickest time.

Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Agustin Canapino broke into his first Top 12 round of his career and placed 10th at the checkered of the segment, just ahead of Andretti Global’s Marcus Ericsson and Ed Carpenter Racing rookie Christian Rasmussen.

IndyCar Toronto Top 12 times

   
1
 - 
3
   
Cla Driver # Laps Time Interval Mph
1 Sweden F. Rosenqvist Meyer Shank Racing 60 8

59.5960

  107.886
2 United States K. Kirkwood Andretti Global 27 7

+0.0709

59.6669

0.0709 107.758
3 France R. Grosjean Juncos Hollinger Racing 77 8

+0.1321

59.7281

0.0612 107.648
4 United States C. Herta Andretti Global with Curb-Agajanian 26 8

+0.1392

59.7352

0.0071 107.635
5 New Zealand S. McLaughlin Team Penske 3 8

+0.1419

59.7379

0.0027 107.630
6 United States D. Malukas Meyer Shank Racing 66 8

+0.2646

59.8606

0.1227 107.410
7 United States J. Newgarden Team Penske 2 8

+0.2836

59.8796

0.0190 107.375
8 United States G. Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 15 9

+0.4363

1'00.0323

0.1527 107.102
9 Australia W. Power Team Penske 12 8

+0.5350

1'00.1310

0.0987 106.927
10 Argentina A. Canapino Juncos Hollinger Racing 78 8

+0.6913

1'00.2873

0.1563 106.649
11 Sweden M. Ericsson Andretti Global 28 8

+0.7404

1'00.3364

0.0491 106.563
12
C. Rasmussen Ed Carpenter Racing
20 9

+0.8376

1'00.4336

0.0972 106.391

Group stage qualifying

In Group 1, the red flag came out shortly after it started when Dale Coyne Racing’s Hunter McElrea stuffed his No. 18 Honda into the tyre barrier at Turn 8. While he was able to continue, he was unable to advance as a result of bringing out the red flag.

Once the session resumed and serious times showed up, Kirkwood vaulted to the top with a 1m00.1698s lap on the softer alternates. McLaughlin, Rasmussen, Rosenqvist, Malukas and Newgarden advanced in spots second through sixth.

The Chip Ganassi Racing duo of Marcus Armstrong and Scott Dixon were the first to be on the outside looking in, with the former 0.0256s adrift of the transfer spots in seventh.

AJ Foyt Racing’s Santino Ferrucci was ninth, ahead of Arrow McLaren rookie Nolan Siegel in 10th.

Toby Sowery (Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing) was 11th, with Pietro Fittipaldi(Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing) 12th. McElrea ended up in the final spot of the group in 13th.

IndyCar Toronto Group 1 times

   
1
 - 
3
   
Cla Driver # Laps Time Interval Mph
1 United States K. Kirkwood Andretti Global 27 9

1'00.1698

  106.858
2 New Zealand S. McLaughlin Team Penske 3 9

+0.1870

1'00.3568

0.1870 106.527
3
C. Rasmussen Ed Carpenter Racing
20 9

+0.2800

1'00.4498

0.0930 106.363
4 Sweden F. Rosenqvist Meyer Shank Racing 60 8

+0.3022

1'00.4720

0.0222 106.324
5 United States D. Malukas Meyer Shank Racing 66 9

+0.3239

1'00.4937

0.0217 106.285
6 United States J. Newgarden Team Penske 2 9

+0.3778

1'00.5476

0.0539 106.191
7 New Zealand M. Armstrong Chip Ganassi Racing 11 9

+0.4034

1'00.5732

0.0256 106.146
8 New Zealand S. Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing 9 9

+0.5691

1'00.7389

0.1657 105.856
9 United States S. Ferrucci A.J. Foyt Enterprises 14 8

+0.8374

1'01.0072

0.2683 105.391
10
N. Siegel Arrow McLaren
6 9

+1.0711

1'01.2409

0.2337 104.989
11 United Kingdom T. Sowery Dale Coyne Racing 51 9

+1.1669

1'01.3367

0.0958 104.825
12 Brazil P. Fittipaldi Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 30 9

+1.2093

1'01.3791

0.0424 104.752
13
H. McElrea Dale Coyne Racing
18 0

 

   

In Group 2, Power delivered a scorching 1m00.0650s flying lap and out-paced second-place man Ericsson by 0.0876s.

Herta, Rahal, Grosjean and Canapino settled into third through sixth to transfer on. Canapino was promoted after a penalty for qualifying interference on Palou, who originally advanced.

But race control reviewed when he moved in front of Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward, who ended up seventh as the first to not transfer.

Defending race winner Christian Lundgaard finished eighth in the No. 45 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda. Palou was ninth as a result of the penalty that lost his two fastest laps.

“I do not agree at the moment, I need to check it,” said Palou, the reigning and two-time IndyCar champion. “I had three cars in front of me, I couldn’t really go anywhere. I was out for one lap already, unlike the cars in front of me. Also, I think the No. 5 car [O'Ward] was not on his fast sectors.

“It doesn’t help for sure. It’s frustrating. As long as we have a fast car we will be able to move [forward].”

Chip Ganassi Racing rookie Kyffin Simpson was 10th, ahead of Ed Carpenter Racing’s Rinus VeeKay.

Another Ganassi rookie, Linus Lundqivst, was 12th, ahead of rookie Theo Pourchaire, who logged his first laps of the weekend after a late call-up by Arrow McLaren to substitute for the injured Alexander Rossi.

AJ Foyt Racing’s Sting Ray Robb was 14th less than a week after a 109G crash at Iowa Speedway last Sunday.

IndyCar Toronto Group 2 times

   
1
 - 
3
   
Cla Driver # Laps Time Interval Mph
1 Australia W. Power Team Penske 12 8

1'00.0650

  107.044
2 Sweden M. Ericsson Andretti Global 28 8

+0.0876

1'00.1526

0.0876 106.888
3 United States C. Herta Andretti Global with Curb-Agajanian 26 7

+0.1235

1'00.1885

0.0359 106.824
4 United States G. Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 15 8

+0.4188

1'00.4838

0.2953 106.303
5 France R. Grosjean Juncos Hollinger Racing 77 8

+0.4541

1'00.5191

0.0353 106.241
6 Argentina A. Canapino Juncos Hollinger Racing 78 8

+0.4543

1'00.5193

0.0002 106.240
7 Mexico P. O'Ward Arrow McLaren 5 8

+0.5785

1'00.6435

0.1242 106.023
8 Denmark C. Lundgaard Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 45 9

+0.6860

1'00.7510

0.1075 105.835
9 Spain A. Palou Chip Ganassi Racing 10 9

+0.7687

1'00.8337

0.0827 105.691
10 United States K. Simpson Chip Ganassi Racing 4 7

+0.8852

1'00.9502

0.1165 105.489
11 Netherlands R. van Kalmthout Ed Carpenter Racing 21 8

+1.0196

1'01.0846

0.1344 105.257
12 Sweden L. Lundqvist Chip Ganassi Racing 8 9

+1.1449

1'01.2099

0.1253 105.042
13 France T. Pourchaire Arrow McLaren 7 9

+1.5421

1'01.6071

0.3972 104.365
14
R. Robb A.J. Foyt Enterprises
41 8

+1.6705

1'01.7355

0.1284 104.148
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