Colton Herta earned Andretti Global’s first pole position of the season and 12th of his career with a scorching 1:00.547 lap in the No. 26 Honda at the Chevrolet Grand Prix of Detroit. NTT IndyCar Series championship leader Alex Palou locked out the front row for Honda in the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing machine at Chevrolet’s home event (1m00.700s).
“I finished 180 and I’m just super happy for the team,” Herta said after Sunday’s Indianapolis 500 ended with his car in the wall. “You know, they worked really hard in May and it was disappointing to say the least. Coming back here for some redemption, man, it feels good.
Palou didn’t think he had the speed to knock Herta off pole, but he is confident about how the race could go.
“Pretty happy,” he said. “The car has been great since the first tests yesterday and we are able to fight in all segments of qualifying. Looking forward to tomorrow. It will be a very busy race, but with a fast car everything is a little easier.
Newly crowned Indianapolis 500 winner Josef Newgarden was the best of the Chevrolet field in the No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet (1m00.961s) in third and teammate Scott McLaughlin took fourth in the Chevrolet n°3 (1m01.334s). Ganassi’s Scott Dixon, in his 100th Firestone Fast Six appearance, was fifth in the No. 9 Honda (1:01.391) and Andretti’s Kyle Kirkwood, who was third before the final minute of qualifying, was spun, stalled and was abandoned. in sixth place after his two best laps were deleted for causing a red flag (1m04.293s).
“Hats off to Andretti Global. They gave us rockets this weekend. I knew it would be difficult to beat Colton, that’s where the mistake came from. Just a mistake,” Kirkwood said.
Qualifying opened with Theo Pourchaire leading the first group on track, followed by McLaughlin, Newgarden, Kirkwood, Will Power and Santino Ferrucci who all moved on.
Behind them, Christian Rasmussen (13th), Romain Grosjean (15th), Alexander Rossi (17th), Rinus VeeKay (19th), Linus Lundqvist (21st), Kyffin Simpson (23rd) and Tristan Vautier (25th) were stuck in their positions. .
Grosjean, angered by Ferrucci who he believed had blocked him, jumped out of his car and rushed to Ferrucci’s AJ Foyt Racing team to confront his frequent protagonist, but he had already left.
Palou led the way in the second group with Christian Lundgaard, Herta, Marcus Ericsson, Pato O’Ward and Dixon behind. Away, Graham Rahal (14th), Pietro Fittipaldi (16th), Agustin Canapino (18th), Marcus Armstrong (20th), Felix Rosenqvist (22nd), Sting Ray Robb (24th), Helio Castroneves (26th) and Jack Harvey (27th) had finished.
Rahal was sixth and poised to advance, but O’Ward knocked him out in his final round. Rahal will have a six-place grid penalty, as will Simpson, for unapproved engine changes once the order is set ahead of Sunday’s 100-lap race, which goes green at 12:45 p.m. ET on the network USA.
The Fast 12 was settled with the top six of Herta, Kirkwood, Dixon, McLaughlin, Palou and Newgarden. Dixon collided with Pourchaire (7th) at the finish line, followed by a furious Power (8th), Ericsson (9th), Ferrucci (10th), Lundgaard (11th) and O’Ward (12th).
O’Ward, trying to make room for a charging Kirkwood behind him, stalled with 3:45 left in the session, triggering a red flag, while in seventh place, before he was able to achieve a quick tour. He would lose his two best laps and fall to 12th.
RESULTS
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