Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Motorsport
Motorsport
Sport
David Malsher-Lopez

IndyCar Barber: Grosjean wins his second pole of the year

Fast Six

Andretti Autosport’s Romain Grosjean was fastest initially around the 17-turn 2.3-mile track with a 1m06.0289s, 0.0341s ahead of Pato O’Ward of Arrow McLaren, but on fresher (but still used) reds, Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin displaced him, then O’Ward did the same.

However, Grosjean, who lost an engine yesterday, delivered a 1m05.8396s with his fourth lap and it was Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing who came closest, just 0.0734s adrift.

Impressively the top four were covered by just 0.112s, as O’Ward was a hair quicker than McLaughlin, while Scott Dixon made it two Ganassi cars in the top five, ahead of the impressive Christian Lundgaard of Rahal Letterman Lanigan, just 0.32s from the top spot.

It is the second pole of the season for Grosjean, and the fifth of his IndyCar career. 

P

Name

FTime

Diff

FL

Laps

FSpeed

Engine

Tire

Team

1

Romain Grosjean

1:05.8396

1:05.8396

4

4

125.760

Honda

A

Andretti Autosport

2

Alex Palou

1:05.9130

0.0734

5

5

125.620

Honda

A

Chip Ganassi Racing

3

Pato O'Ward

1:05.9382

0.0986

4

4

125.572

Chevy

A

Arrow McLaren

4

Scott McLaughlin

1:05.9515

0.1119

3

4

125.547

Chevy

A

Team Penske

5

Scott Dixon

1:06.0723

0.2327

5

5

125.317

Honda

A

Chip Ganassi Racing

6

Christian Lundgaard

1:06.1601

0.3205

3

3

125.151

Honda

A

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

Q2

Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon immediately hit the track on used alternates rather than the primaries that everyone else ran for their banker laps, and Dixon landed a 1m06.3498s to go top, although compatriot Scott McLaughlin was only 0.0204s adrift on the harder compound tires, before everyone dived into pitlane for new alternates.

Kyle Kirkwood spun on cold tires exiting the pits and kissed the dirt in his 360deg recovery. Then the times started tumbling at the top, with Alex Palou, Pato O’Ward and finally Romain Grosjean all taking turns at the top.

That trio made it through, although split by McLaughlin who bumped teammate Josef Newgarden out of the Fast Six. The other Penske, Will Power’s, was already eliminated with a couple of incidents, at Turns 5 and 13, and he also reported his car was down around 0.15s due to his Chevrolet approaching the end of its life.

Another driver who fell off the track with a final effort was Rinus VeeKay, last year’s polesitter, who will start between the Arrow McLarens of Felix Rosenqvist and Alexander Rossi.

This surprise elimination of two Penskes and two McLarens meant there was room for Christian Lundgaard to give the Rahal Letterman Lanigan team the lift it needed by getting into Fast Six.

P

Name

FTime

Diff

FL

Laps

FSpeed

Engine

Tire

Team

1

Romain Grosjean

1:05.6829

1:05.6829

7

8

126.060

Honda

A

Andretti Autosport

2

Pato O'Ward

1:05.7512

0.0683

6

7

125.929

Chevy

A

Arrow McLaren

3

Scott McLaughlin

1:05.8061

0.1232

8

8

125.824

Chevy

A

Team Penske

4

Alex Palou

1:05.8386

0.1557

7

8

125.762

Honda

A

Chip Ganassi Racing

5

Christian Lundgaard

1:05.8661

0.1832

6

7

125.710

Honda

A

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

6

Scott Dixon

1:05.8986

0.2157

7

7

125.648

Honda

A

Chip Ganassi Racing

7

Josef Newgarden

1:05.9603

0.2774

7

8

125.530

Chevy

A

Team Penske

8

Felix Rosenqvist

1:06.0930

0.4101

7

8

125.278

Chevy

A

Arrow McLaren

9

Rinus VeeKay

1:06.1222

0.4393

7

8

125.223

Chevy

A

Ed Carpenter Racing

10

Alexander Rossi

1:06.2091

0.5262

7

7

125.058

Chevy

A

Arrow McLaren

11

Will Power

1:06.3790

0.6961

6

7

124.738

Chevy

A

Team Penske

12

Kyle Kirkwood

1:06.3963

0.7134

7

7

124.706

Honda

A

Andretti Autosport

Q1 Group 2

Conor Daly, Agustin Canapino and Devlin DeFrancesco went straight out on alternates, but Friday pacesetter Scott McLaughlin’s 1m06.2689 on primaries, almost matched by Saturday morning pacesetter Alex Palou, suggested who would be quickest.

Sure enough, Palou’s first flyer on reds matched Newgarden’s effort from Q1, to go top while Pato O’Ward was 0.15s short, but ahead of McLaughlin. Rahal Letterman Lanigan’s Christian Lundgaard managed fourth, despite being baulked on one of his flyers by Marcus Armstrong – who lost his two best laps as a result. That allowed Arrow McLaren’s Felix Rosenqvist and Team Penske’s Will Power to get through.

Colton Herta was a surprise elimination at this stage, while Juncos Hollinger Racing’s rookie Agustin Canapino did a superb job to be within one second of Palou, and ahead of RLL’s Jack Harvey.

Santino Ferrucci had gearbox issues and could only run one slow lap.

P

Name

FTime

Diff

FL

Laps

FSpeed

Engine

Tire

Team

1

Alex Palou

1:05.5871

1:05.5871

7

8

126.244

Honda

A

Chip Ganassi Racing

2

Pato O'Ward

1:05.7400

0.1529

6

7

125.951

Chevy

A

Arrow McLaren

3

Scott McLaughlin

1:05.7478

0.1607

7

8

125.936

Chevy

A

Team Penske

4

Christian Lundgaard

1:05.8342

0.2471

7

8

125.770

Honda

A

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

5

Felix Rosenqvist

1:05.8696

0.2825

7

8

125.703

Chevy

A

Arrow McLaren

6

Will Power

1:05.9768

0.3897

7

8

125.499

Chevy

A

Team Penske

7

Colton Herta

1:06.1850

0.5979

7

8

125.104

Honda

A

Andretti Autosport w/Curb-Agajanian

8

Simon Pagenaud

1:06.2433

0.6562

6

7

124.994

Honda

A

Meyer Shank Racing

9

Devlin DeFrancesco

1:06.4415

0.8544

6

7

124.621

Honda

A

Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport

10

Conor Daly

1:06.4810

0.8939

7

7

124.547

Chevy

A

Ed Carpenter Racing

11

Agustin Canapino

1:06.5158

0.9287

6

7

124.482

Chevy

A

Juncos Holling Racing

12

Jack Harvey

1:06.7181

1.1310

7

8

124.104

Honda

A

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

13

Marcus Armstrong

1:07.2378

1.6507

8

8

123.145

Honda

A

Chip Ganassi Racing

14

Santino Ferrucci

3:49.1462

2:43.5591

1

1

36.134

Chevy

P

AJ Foyt Enterprises

Q1 Group 1

Helio Castroneves of Meyer Shank Racing initially went to the top of the times since he decided to go straight out on Firestone’s alternates, but his best effort was eclipsed by Andretti Autosport’s Romain Grosjean and Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon on the harder primaries. Grosjean’s benchmark was 1m06.2666, but Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden’s first effort on the softer rubber was 1m05.8743s. Last year’s polesitter Rinus VeeKay of Ed Carpenter Racing and then Marcus Ericsson of Chip Ganassi Racing came close to deposing him, but then Alexander Rossi and Scott Dixon did the job.

Newgarden responded though, with a 1m05.5883s, and that kept him top by a tenth ahead of Grosjean, whose final effort bumped points leader Marcus Ericsson out of the top six. Rossi’s Arrow McLaren claimed third ahead of Long Beach winner Kyle Kirkwood and Scott Dixon. VeeKay clung on to sixth to graduate to Q2.

P

Name

FTime

Diff

FL

Laps

FSpeed

Engine

Tire

Team

1

Josef Newgarden

1:05.5883

1:05.5883

8

8

126.242

Chevy

A

Team Penske

2

Romain Grosjean

1:05.6839

0.0956

8

8

126.058

Honda

A

Andretti Autosport

3

Alexander Rossi

1:05.6939

0.1056

7

8

126.039

Chevy

A

Arrow McLaren

4

Kyle Kirkwood

1:05.7353

0.1470

7

7

125.960

Honda

A

Andretti Autosport

5

Scott Dixon

1:05.7721

0.1838

7

8

125.889

Honda

A

Chip Ganassi Racing

6

Rinus VeeKay

1:05.7808

0.1925

7

7

125.873

Chevy

A

Ed Carpenter Racing

7

Marcus Ericsson

1:05.9207

0.3324

7

8

125.605

Honda

A

Chip Ganassi Racing

8

Callum Ilott

1:06.0642

0.4759

6

7

125.333

Chevy

A

Juncos Hollinger Racing

9

David Malukas

1:06.1851

0.5968

6

6

125.104

Honda

A

Dale Coyne Racing with HMD

10

Graham Rahal

1:06.2504

0.6621

6

7

124.980

Honda

A

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

11

Helio Castroneves

1:06.2715

0.6832

6

6

124.941

Honda

A

Meyer Shank Racing

12

Sting Ray Robb

1:06.5925

1.0042

7

7

124.338

Honda

A

Dale Coyne Racing w/RWR

13

Benjamin Pedersen

1:06.9327

1.3444

6

7

123.706

Chevy

A

AJ Foyt Enterprises

 

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.