Barber IndyCar: VeeKay wins great battle, earns second pole

Firestone Fast Six

VeeKay lapped the 2.366-mile Barber Motorsports Park course in 66.2507sec to beat last year’s Barber polesitter Pato O’Ward by 0.15sec and land his first pole since the Harvest Grand Prix at IMS road course in 2020.

O’Ward of Arrow McLaren SP-Chevrolet reported he had to gather up a major slide as he tried to build momentum for his final run, so was quite content with his first front row of the season.

He will start just ahead of Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda, defending Barber race winner and defending series champion.

Scott McLaughlin, who has been Team Penske-Chevrolet’s pacesetter throughout the weekend, was fourth fastest. The sole Andretti Autosport-Honda representative was Alex Rossi in fifth, a remarkable comeback from his morning shunt, while Felix Rosenqvist ensured two Arrow McLaren SP-Chevys will start from the first three rows.

P	No	Name	FTime	Diff	Gap	FL	Laps	LapTime	LPit	Led	ST	FSpeed	Elapsed	Engine	Tire	Points	Team
1	21	Rinus VeeKay	1:06.2507	1:06.2507	0.000	4	4	1:06.2507	2		5	124.980	6:23.6806	Chevy	A	16	Ed Carpenter Racing
2	5	Pato O'Ward	1:06.4003	0.1496	0.1496	2	2	1:06.4003	0		1	124.698	3:46.9716	Chevy	A	4	Arrow McLaren SP
3	10	Alex Palou	1:06.4415	0.1908	0.0412	4	4	1:06.4415	2		6	124.621	6:39.2766	Honda	A	9	Chip Ganassi Racing
4	3	Scott McLaughlin	1:06.4967	0.2460	0.0552	2	2	1:06.4967	0		2	124.517	6:15.9596	Chevy	A	2	Team Penske
5	27	Alexander Rossi	1:06.5549	0.3042	0.0582	4	4	1:06.5549	2		3	124.409	6:30.2889	Honda	A	18	Andretti Autosport
6	7	Felix Rosenqvist	1:06.6410	0.3903	0.0861	3	3	1:06.6410	1		4	124.248	5:12.3679	Chevy	A	6	Arrow McLaren SP

Q2

Rinus VeeKay had to serve a drive-through penalty before his final flyer for breaking the pitlane speed limit, but that didn’t prevent him producing a 66.2732sec lap and that was enough to get him into the top five, especially when two of the fast Andretti Autosport cars failed to graduate.

Pato O’Ward and Felix Rosenqvist moved on for Arrow McLaren SP-Chevrolet with first and fourth fastest times respectively, sandwiching Scott McLaughlin’s Penske and Alexander Rossi’s Andretti Autosport machine.

Alex Palou was the only Ganassi car in the Firestone Fast Six, as teammate Marcus Ericsson threw his car off track at Turn 7 in the final two minutes and brought out the red flag and lost his best laps.

That incident meant that Colton Herta wasn’t able to complete his final flyer, having left pitlane late, so he will line up 10^th, directly behind teammate Romain Grosjean who fell 0.07sec short of graduation.

Callum Ilott was kicking himself for making a minor error on his best lap, but his 11^th spot on the grid was a great breakthrough for Juncos Hollinger Racing.

P	No	Name	FTime	Diff	Gap	FL	Laps	LapTime	LPit	Led	ST	FSpeed	Elapsed	Engine	Tire	Points	Team
1	5	Pato O'Ward	1:06.1054	1:06.1054	0.000	6	7	1:18.2831	4		3	125.255	10:44.8014	Chevy	A	4	Arrow McLaren SP
2	3	Scott McLaughlin	1:06.1474	0.0420	0.0420	6	7	1:18.8779	4		1	125.175	11:00.0722	Chevy	A	2	Team Penske
3	27	Alexander Rossi	1:06.1839	0.0785	0.0365	6	7	1:15.8329	4		9	125.106	10:50.8963	Honda	A	18	Andretti Autosport
4	7	Felix Rosenqvist	1:06.2721	0.1667	0.0882	7	7	1:06.2721	4		5	124.939	10:09.8087	Chevy	A	6	Arrow McLaren SP
5	21	Rinus VeeKay	1:06.2732	0.1678	0.0011	6	7	1:11.1331	5		8	124.937	10:41.6423	Chevy	A	16	Ed Carpenter Racing
6	10	Alex Palou	1:06.3153	0.2099	0.0421	7	7	1:06.3153	4		7	124.858	10:00.4075	Honda	A	9	Chip Ganassi Racing
7	2	Josef Newgarden	1:06.3348	0.2294	0.0195	7	7	1:06.3348	4		6	124.821	10:15.5444	Chevy	A	1	Team Penske
8	28	Romain Grosjean	1:06.3820	0.2766	0.0472	7	7	1:06.3820	4		2	124.733	10:02.8781	Honda	A	19	Andretti Autosport
9	15	Graham Rahal	1:06.6339	0.5285	0.2519	6	7	1:08.3823	4		11	124.261	10:25.9998	Honda	A	13	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
10	26	Colton Herta	1:06.7295	0.6241	0.0956	5	6	1:14.0744	4		4	124.083	10:51.7686	Honda	A	17	Andretti Autosport
11	77	Callum Ilott	1:07.2000	1.0946	0.4705	6	7	1:23.7307	4		10	123.214	11:10.0771	Chevy	A	26	Juncos Hollinger Racing
12	8	Marcus Ericsson	1:07.3561	1.2507	0.1561	2	6	1:06.4930	4		12	122.929	9:14.2238	Honda	A	7	Chip Ganassi Racing

Q1 Group 2

Andretti Autosport teammates Romain Grosjean and Colton Herta weren’t as quick as McLaughlin in the first group, but did enough to top their group, with three-time Barber winner Josef Newgarden in third for Penske-Chevrolet. Rinus VeeKay echoed the pace he showed this morning to get the Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevy through to Q2 but the story of the session was Callum Ilott. The Juncos Hollinger Racing driver, the only IndyCar driver without a teammate, was fifth fastest, ahead of Marcus Ericsson.

Helio Castroneves suffered an incident exiting Turn 9 but got going again so didn’t cause a red flag, but he wasn’t quick enough to move on to Q2. Nonetheless, he was faster than his Meyer Shank Racing-Honda teammate Simon Pagenaud.

Rookie David Malukas also had a shunt after completing his final flyer, skating across the grass just after the timing line and making firm contact with a barrier.

P	No	Name	FTime	Diff	Gap	FL	Laps	LapTime	LPit	Led	ST	FSpeed	Elapsed	Engine	Tire	Points	Team
1	28	Romain Grosjean	1:06.2000	1:06.2000	0.000	5	7	1:18.0349	4		3	125.076	10:39.5417	Honda	A	19	Andretti Autosport
2	26	Colton Herta	1:06.3396	0.1396	0.1396	5	7	1:14.1598	4		2	124.812	10:26.2447	Honda	A	17	Andretti Autosport
3	2	Josef Newgarden	1:06.3799	0.1799	0.0403	6	7	1:15.3648	4		6	124.737	10:01.4408	Chevy	A	1	Team Penske
4	21	Rinus VeeKay	1:06.5477	0.3477	0.1678	6	7	1:15.7461	4		1	124.422	10:12.0223	Chevy	A	16	Ed Carpenter Racing
5	77	Callum Ilott	1:06.6649	0.4649	0.1172	5	7	1:32.3682	4		5	124.203	10:53.9240	Chevy	A	26	Juncos Hollinger Racing
6	8	Marcus Ericsson	1:06.7305	0.5305	0.0656	6	7	1:15.7568	4		4	124.081	10:22.9578	Honda	A	7	Chip Ganassi Racing
7	30	Christian Lundgaard	1:06.7462	0.5462	0.0157	6	7	1:19.8101	4		8	124.052	10:19.5219	Honda	A	21	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
8	06	Helio Castroneves	1:06.8138	0.6138	0.0676	2	6	1:31.5689	4		11	123.926	10:10.9903	Honda	A	5	Meyer Shank Racing
9	18	David Malukas	1:06.8898	0.6898	0.0760	6	6	1:06.8898	4		9	123.786	9:10.4265	Honda	P	14	Dale Coyne Racing with HMD
10	29	Devlin DeFrancesco	1:07.0242	0.8242	0.1344	5	6	1:07.9870	4		10	123.537	9:35.5054	Honda	A	20	Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport
11	20	Conor Daly	1:07.0350	0.8350	0.0108	6	6	1:07.0350	4		7	123.518	9:29.1603	Chevy	A	15	Ed Carpenter Racing
12	60	Simon Pagenaud	1:07.1052	0.9052	0.0702	6	7	1:19.8074	4		13	123.388	10:35.4696	Honda	A	25	Meyer Shank Racing
13	48	Jimmie Johnson	1:09.0075	2.8075	1.9023	2	6	1:11.4422	5		12	119.987	9:44.6181	Honda	A	23	Chip Ganassi Racing

Q1 Group 1

Arrow McLaren SP-Chevrolet’s Pato O’Ward set the fastest time on primary Firestones with a 66.8752sec lap ahead of Scott McLaughlin and Alex Palou before everyone dived for the pits to grab alternates. Alexander Rossi, whose team had got his car to pitlane with just eight minutes to spare after changing the whole rear end of the car following his shunt in morning practice, was fifth fastest on primaries.

With the reds on, McLaughlin got down to a 66.0289sec, ahead of the Arrow McLaren SP pair, ahead of defending race-winner Alex Palou, the hugely impressive Rossi, and Graham Rahal rebounded from a disastrous Friday to graduate to Q2.

Surprise exclusions at this stage were Ganassi’s Scott Dixon in seventh and Team Penske’s Will Power in 10^th, both of them looking quite puzzled at their pace, having had no major complaints about their cars’ handling traits.

P	No	Name	FTime	Diff	Gap	FL	Laps	LapTime	LPit	Led	ST	FSpeed	Elapsed	Engine	Tire	Points	Team
1	3	Scott McLaughlin	1:06.0289	1:06.0289	0.000	6	7	1:13.3885	4		2	125.400	10:42.6708	Chevy	A	113	Team Penske
2	5	Pato O'Ward	1:06.2448	0.2159	0.2159	6	7	1:06.2518	4		1	124.991	10:23.5302	Chevy	A	63	Arrow McLaren SP
3	7	Felix Rosenqvist	1:06.3855	0.3566	0.1407	7	7	1:06.3855	4		9	124.726	10:10.3351	Chevy	A	42	Arrow McLaren SP
4	10	Alex Palou	1:06.3877	0.3588	0.0022	6	7	1:06.4958	4		3	124.722	10:03.9299	Honda	A	103	Chip Ganassi Racing
5	27	Alexander Rossi	1:06.3962	0.3673	0.0085	6	6	1:06.3962	4		10	124.706	10:00.4030	Honda	A	40	Andretti Autosport
6	15	Graham Rahal	1:06.5016	0.4727	0.1054	7	7	1:06.5016	4		6	124.508	10:32.9724	Honda	A	60	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
7	9	Scott Dixon	1:06.5142	0.4853	0.0126	7	7	1:06.5142	4		4	124.485	10:29.7859	Honda	A	83	Chip Ganassi Racing
8	45	Jack Harvey	1:06.6511	0.6222	0.1369	6	7	1:06.8740	4		5	124.229	10:45.0870	Honda	A	32	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
9	51	Takuma Sato	1:06.7541	0.7252	0.1030	7	7	1:06.7541	4		11	124.037	10:53.5935	Honda	A	44	Dale Coyne Racing w/RWR
10	12	Will Power	1:06.7775	0.7486	0.0234	7	7	1:06.7775	4		8	123.994	11:29.1153	Chevy	A	102	Team Penske
11	14	Kyle Kirkwood	1:06.8213	0.7924	0.0438	7	7	1:06.8213	4		7	123.913	10:18.3003	Chevy	A	38	AJ Foyt Enterprises
12	4	Dalton Kellett	1:07.6869	1.6580	0.8656	7	7	1:07.6869	4		12	122.328	10:50.7102	Chevy	A	23	AJ Foyt Enterprises
13	11	Tatiana Calderon	1:07.9248	1.8959	0.2379	6	7	1:11.2959	4		13	121.900	11:08.2244	Chevy	A	20	AJ Foyt Enterprises