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Charles Bradley

IndyCar Nashville: McLaughlin takes pole by big margin, Dixon shunts

McLaughlin whipped around the 11-turn, 2.1-mile temporary street course with a best lap of 1m14.6099s, and will start ahead of Pato O’Ward (Arrow McLaren) and Colton Herta (Andretti).

Qualifying was delayed by over three and a half hours due to track conditions after heavy rain caused standing water when it was originally slated to run. As a consequence, it ran in dry and sunny weather instead.

Fast Six qualifying

O’Ward set the early pace at 1m15.3506s, before series leader Alex Palou (Chip Ganassi Racing) – who opted for new harder primary tires as opposed to used alternates – grabbed P1 with 1m15.2462s.

Herta beat them both with 1m15.2416s, but McLaughlin unleashed 1m14.6099s in the final minute to take pole.

O’Ward beat Herta for P2, but was 0.3296s slower than McLaughlin. That trio will start ahead of Palou, David Malukas (Dale Coyne Racing) and Romain Grosjean (Andretti).

Herta was angry with Grosjean’s sister team for sending his car out right in front of him, which he felt hampered his bid for the front row.

 
 
     
Driver Info
 
 
Cla Driver # Laps Time Interval Mph
1 New Zealand S. McLaughlin Scott McLaughlin Team Penske 3 4 1'14.6099   101.327
2 Mexico P. O'Ward Patricio O'Ward Arrow McLaren 5 4 +0.3296 0.3296 100.881
3 United States C. Herta Colton Herta Andretti Autosport 26 3 +0.6317 0.3021 100.476
4 Spain A. Palou Alex Palou Chip Ganassi Racing 10 4 +0.6363 0.0046 100.470
5 United States D. Malukas David Malukas Dale Coyne Racing 18 3 +1.2604 0.6241 99.644
6 France R. Grosjean Romain Grosjean Andretti Autosport 28 4 +1.3822 0.1218 99.484

Top 12 qualifying

In the second round of qualifying, O’Ward set the fastest time of 1m14.5944s from Herta, Palou, McLaughlin, Grosjean and Malukas.

Failing to make it through were Will Power (Penske), Kyle Kirkwood (Andretti), hometown hero and title contender Josef Newgarden (Penske), Alexander Rossi (McLaren), series debutant Linus Lundqvist (Meyer Shank Racing) and Scott Dixon (Ganassi) who crashed hard at Turn 11 in the closing moments and will start 12th.

 
 
     
Driver Info
 
 
Cla Driver # Laps Time Interval Mph
1 Mexico P. O'Ward Patricio O'Ward Arrow McLaren 5 6 1'14.5944   101.348
2 United States C. Herta Colton Herta Andretti Autosport 26 9 +0.1184 0.1184 101.187
3 Spain A. Palou Alex Palou Chip Ganassi Racing 10 7 +0.1274 0.0090 101.175
4 New Zealand S. McLaughlin Scott McLaughlin Team Penske 3 8 +0.1540 0.0266 101.139
5 France R. Grosjean Romain Grosjean Andretti Autosport 28 9 +0.1751 0.0211 101.111
6 United States D. Malukas David Malukas Dale Coyne Racing 18 6 +0.4575 0.2824 100.730
7 Australia W. Power Will Power Team Penske 12 9 +0.5440 0.0865 100.614
8 United States K. Kirkwood Kyle Kirkwood Andretti Autosport 27 8 +0.5697 0.0257 100.580
9 United States J. Newgarden Josef Newgarden Team Penske 2 9 +0.8918 0.3221 100.151
10 United States A. Rossi Alexander Rossi Arrow McLaren 7 9 +0.9767 0.0849 100.038
11 Sweden L. Lundqvist Linus Lundqvist Meyer Shank Racing 60 8 +1.4771 0.5004 99.380
12 New Zealand S. Dixon Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing 9 6 +2.1748 0.6977 98.477

Group stage qualifying

In Group 1, McLaughlin was fastest with a time of 1m15.1629s, half a second ahead of Dixon, Malukas, Rossi, Newgarden and Lundqvist.

Missing out were Toronto winner Christian Lundgaard (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, who failed to progress by 0.0093s), his team-mate Graham Rahal, Helio Castroneves (MSR), Rinus VeeKay (Ed Carpenter Racing), Santino Ferrucci (AJ Foyt Racing), Agustin Canapino (Juncos Hollinger Racing, who lost a lap for a pitlane violation) and Benjamin Pedersen (Foyt) – who caused an early red flag by overshooting Turn 11 and stalled.

 
 
     

In Group 2, Herta set the quickest time at 1m15.0030s, 0.05s ahead of Kirkwood, Palou, O’Ward, Grosjean and Power, who got away with a wall brush.

Making no further progress were Felix Rosenqvist (McLaren, knocked out by 0.0039s), Marcus Armstrong (CGR), Callum Ilott (JHR), inaugural winner here Marcus Ericsson (CGR), Jack Harvey (Rahal), Sting Ray Robb (Coyne), Devlin DeFrancesco (Andretti) and Ryan Hunter-Reay (ECR).

 
 
     
Driver Info
 
 
Cla Driver # Laps Time Interval Mph
1 United States C. Herta Colton Herta Andretti Autosport 26 7 1'15.0030   100.796
2 United States K. Kirkwood Kyle Kirkwood Andretti Autosport 27 7 +0.0531 0.0531 100.725
3 Spain A. Palou Alex Palou Chip Ganassi Racing 10 7 +0.0819 0.0288 100.686
4 Mexico P. O'Ward Patricio O'Ward Arrow McLaren 5 7 +0.1221 0.0402 100.632
5 France R. Grosjean Romain Grosjean Andretti Autosport 28 7 +0.1540 0.0319 100.589
6 Australia W. Power Will Power Team Penske 12 7 +0.4569 0.3029 100.186
7 Sweden F. Rosenqvist Felix Rosenqvist Arrow McLaren 6 7 +0.4608 0.0039 100.180
8 New Zealand M. Armstrong Marcus Armstrong Chip Ganassi Racing 11 7 +0.5601 0.0993 100.049
9 United Kingdom C. Ilott Callum Ilott Juncos Hollinger Racing 77 7 +1.0140 0.4539 99.451
10 Sweden M. Ericsson Marcus Ericsson Chip Ganassi Racing 8 7 +1.0390 0.0250 99.419
11 United Kingdom J. Harvey Jack Harvey Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 30 6 +1.1163 0.0773 99.318
12
R. Robb Ray Robb Dale Coyne Racing
51 7 +1.3877 0.2714 98.965
13 Canada D. DeFrancesco Devlin DeFrancesco Andretti Autosport 29 7 +1.4339 0.0462 98.905
14 United States R. Hunter-Reay Ryan Hunter-Reay Ed Carpenter Racing 20 7 +2.2387 0.8048 97.875

 

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