Colton Herta, in spite of a spin in round two of qualifying, was able to put in the fast lap to take the pole at Road America for the Sonsio Grand Prix.
It’s his first NTT IndyCar Series pole since Toronto 2022 and the 10th of his career. It’s been a trying season for the Californian, as he has only a single top-five finish in the first seven races.
Pato O’Ward came up just short and qualified second.
It’s been way too long for us this year to get a pole.” Herta said to NBC Sports. “It’s nice to finally get one […] It does make it easier than the past few weeks where we have to come from 24th to 14th or whatever. We have a lot less work to do, so hopefully, we can keep it clean and upfront to have a good day.”
Firestone Fast Six
Alex Palou chose not to take a banker lap on his fresh primary tires, instead ending the session on a three-lap run on them. The Spaniard ended up qualifying third.
Josef Newgarden spun out on the final lap of the session, with the Indianapolis 500 winner qualifying fourth. Alexander Rossi qualified fifth and was the slowest of the fastest.
Kyle Kirkwood did not participate in this session due to a late issue in the previous round. The Floridan will start the race in sixth.
Round 2
Herta spun out in turn 1 with seven minutes remaining in the session but was able to keep going without stopping or hitting the wall.
On the cooldown lap, Kirkwood looked like he had major engine problems between turns 6 and 7 and had to park the car – thus offering the reason for why he did not participate in the Fast Six.
11. Santino Ferrucci
Round 1 Group 1
Scott Dixon spun out in turn 3 with two minutes remaining in the session. He was able to get the car going again but wasn’t able to make it back to the line to start another fast lap. And because there were two cars that passed him on track while he was off, his fastest lap was disallowed.
Herta had the fastest lap of the session, followed by Pedersen and DeFrancesco.
13. David Malukas
15. Rinus Veekay
17. Callum Ilott
19. Romain Grosjean
21. Agustin Canapino
23. Dixon
25. Sting Ray Robb
Round 1 Group 2
Will Power had to abort his first lap in the session, as he had a screwdriver loose at his feet in the cockpit. The team was able to find it and send him back out in due time.
Ryan Hunter-Reay had too much speed entering turn 14 and went off track, hitting the wall. He was uninjured but wasn’t able to participate in the rest of the session.
The incident happened with 11 seconds remaining, causing a one-lap shootout with all but O’Ward going out to finish off group one qualifying.
Power went off track in the shootout, which ended the session for him and led to a fiery interview with NBC Sports.
14. Graham Rahal
16. Felix Rosenqvist
18. Scott McLaughlin
20. Simon Pagenaud
22. Power
24. Jack Harvey
27. Hunter-Reay
IndyCar Qualifying Results at Road America
About the author
Michael has watched NASCAR for 20 years and regularly covered the sport from 2013-2021, and also formerly covered the SRX series from 2021-2023. He now covers the FIA Formula 1 World Championship, the NASCAR Xfinity Series, and road course events in the NASCAR Cup Series.
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