Colton Herta on Pole for Detroit Grand Prix

It looks like someone will challenge the dominance of Alex Palou this week after a competitive qualifying session on the streets of Detroit

Colton Herta earned his 15th career pole of his NTT IndyCar Series career for the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix, his second pole in the Motor City. Herta won his first pole of the 2025 season.

Colton Herta wins the pole! #DetroitGP pic.twitter.com/sX71aLREL0

— INDYCAR on FOX (@IndyCarOnFOX) May 31, 2025

David Malukas ties his best career start, sharing front row with Herta in his AJ Foyt Enterprises No. 4 Chevrolet. Malukas posted his best street course start in his career on Saturday (May 31).

Firestone Fast Six

Kyle Kirkwood, winner of this season’s Acura Long Beach Grand Prix, broke his toe link in his push lap. The Jupiter, Fla. native will start third.

Graham Rahal qualified fifth but will shift back six positions to 11th for an engine penalty.

Palou, looking for six wins in seven races, was last of the Fast Six.

Position	Driver	Number	Team	Time from Pole
1	Colton Herta	26	Andretti Global	1:00.4779
2	David Malukas	4	AJ Foyt Enterprises	+0.1713
3	Kyle Kirkwood	27	Andretti Global	+0.2533
4	Christian Lundgaard	7	Andretti Global	+0.4159
5	Graham Rahal	15	Rahal Letterman Lanigan	+0.5872
6	Alex Palou	10	Chip Ganassi Racing	+0.9901

Round 2

Lundgaard went deep into turn 3 and had to make a drive-through early in the session, but it did not affect him in the session as he still put up a fast time to make it in to the Firestone Fast Six.

Rinus VeeKay was close to making a second Fast Six of the season with Michael Cannon on his pit box. He will roll off seventh on Sunday.

The remaining two Team Penske Chevys of Scott McLaughlin and Will Power both fell short of advancing in eighth and ninth. Scott Dixon rounded out the top 10, but has a six-position penalty for unapproved engine changes.

Position	Driver	Number	Team	Time from Advancing
7	Rinus VeeKay	18	Dale Coyne Racing	+0.0256
8	Scott McLaughlin	3	Team Penske	+0.0647
9	Will Power	12	Team Penske	+0.0903
10	Scott Dixon	9	Chip Ganassi Racing	+0.4641
11	Marcus Armstrong	66	Meyer Shank Racing	+0.548
12	Christian Rasmussen	21	Ed Carpenter Racing	+0.8358

Round 1 Group 1

Marcus Ericsson and Felix Rosenqvist were surprise exits in Group 1. Ericsson was first to put a flying lap at the end of the session and slid out of the top six in the group. Rosenqvist wasn’t too pleased with his MSR teammate Armstrong hindering his lap time, saying it prevented him from advancing.

Discussed but not heard 🫢@FRosenqvist ends Round 1 outside the top six and will not advance. pic.twitter.com/bZYLwXrF0F

— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) May 31, 2025

Position	Driver	Number	Team	Time from Advancing
13	Marcus Ericsson	28	Andretti Global	+0.0102
15	Felix Rosenqvist	60	Meyer Shank Racing	+0.0435
17	Callum Ilott	90	PREMA Racing	+0.0923
19	Kyffin Simpson	8	Chip Ganassi	+0.1162
21	Santino Ferrucci	14	AJ Foyt Enterprises	+0.1401
23	Devlin DeFrancesco	30	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	+0.1644
25	Conor Daly	76	Juncos Hollinger Racing	+0.7286

Group 2

Josef Newgarden clipped the wall in his push lap, continuing his qualifying woes this season. He almost got ran into the No. 4 Chevrolet of Malukas after the contact with the wall but didn’t impede the Chicago native in the narrow final sector of the track.

OUT in Round 1: @josefnewgarden ❌

The No. 2 car tags the wall on the exit of Turn 4. pic.twitter.com/jU16WsdQYc

— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) May 31, 2025

Louis Foster and Jacob Abel almost had a close moment in pit lane, the two almost colliding with one another. Foster narrowly missed after Dixon crossed last in the session, squeaking ahead of the Englishman.

Nolan Siegel had engine trouble during the session after his first laps of the session. He will start at the back. He wasn’t able to return to put a decent time in. Arrow McLaren teammate Pato O’Ward also didn’t advance out of the first round.

Position	Driver	Number	Team	Time from Advancing
14	Louis Foster	45	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	+0.0081
16	Alexander Rossi	20	Ed Carpenter Racing	+0.2289
18	Pato O’Ward	5	Arrow McLaren	+0.4801
20	Jacob Abel	51	Dale Coyne Racing	+0.5293
22	Robert Shwartzman	83	PREMA Racing	+0.6481
24	Josef Newgarden	2	Team Penske	+1.0037
26	Sting Ray Robb	77	Juncos Hollinger Racing	+1.2035
27	Nolan Siegel	6	Arrow McLaren	+7.1178

Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix Qualifying Results

The green flag will wave at the streets of Detroit on Sunday, June 1 at 12:30 p.m. ET, with coverage provided by FOX.