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David Malsher-Lopez

IndyCar GP Indy: Power scores 64th pole, sixth at IMS

Firestone Fast Six

Power delivered a 69.7664sec on worn reds, 0.0426sec ahead of Palou’s Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda, with an average lap speed of 125.854mph. The achievement leaves him just three poles short of Mario Andretti’s record tally.

Palou delivered on a day when his Ganassi teammates all fell in Q1 and was also the only Honda to make it through to the Firestone Fast Six.

Power’s teammate Josef Newgarden bounced back superbly from a clutch issue in FP2 to end up 0.0679sec adrift of Power, and just ahead of the happiest surprise of the session. Conor Daly upheld his and Ed Carpenter Racing’s honor in front of their home crowd with fourth fastest, beating the two Arrow McLaren SPs of Pato O’Ward and Felix Rosenqvist.

P

No

Name

FTime

Diff

Gap

FL

Laps

LapTime

LPit

Led

ST

FSpeed

Elapsed

Engine

Tire

Points

Team

1

12

Will Power

1:09.7664

1:09.7664

0.000

3

3

1:09.7664

2

 

4

125.854

6:30.4382

Chevy

A

11

Team Penske

2

10

Alex Palou

1:09.8090

0.0426

0.0426

3

3

1:09.8090

2

 

1

125.777

5:25.1180

Honda

A

9

Chip Ganassi Racing

3

2

Josef Newgarden

1:09.8343

0.0679

0.0253

2

2

1:09.8343

1

 

5

125.732

5:34.8655

Chevy

A

1

Team Penske

4

20

Conor Daly

1:09.9063

0.1399

0.0720

3

3

1:09.9063

2

 

6

125.602

6:02.4360

Chevy

A

15

Ed Carpenter Racing

5

5

Pato O'Ward

1:10.0546

0.2882

0.1483

3

4

1:10.0546

2

 

3

125.337

6:36.5916

Chevy

A

4

Arrow McLaren SP

6

7

Felix Rosenqvist

1:10.0605

0.2941

0.0059

3

3

1:10.0605

2

 

2

125.326

5:50.0897

Chevy

A

6

Arrow McLaren SP

 

Q2

Will Power topped the times on the harder primaries as track temperature dropped a tad from the start of the session, going from 129 to 126degF. His time was a 1min10.7082, barely a hundredth ahead of teammate Scott McLaughlin, with Conor Daly inserting his ECR car in third to edge his former Indy Lights teammate Josef Newgarden.

Onto alternates, Alex Palou delivered with 69.4114sec to leave him hundredths ahead of the two Arrow McLaren SP-Chevrolets, Will Power and Josef Newgarden, and home boy Conor Daly. Thus Palou was the only Honda driver to make the Fast Six.

Callum Ilott, the only driver without a teammate, did another sterling job to deliver P7, just 0.24sec from top spot and only 0.0144sec from making it into the Firestone Fast Six.

Scott McLaughlin was a surprise elimination, admitting that he made a slight error in his first lap, on a day when the drop off on the second lap on Firestone alternates was around 0.3sec.

P

No

Name

FTime

Diff

Gap

FL

Laps

LapTime

LPit

Led

ST

FSpeed

Elapsed

Engine

Tire

Points

Team

1

10

Alex Palou

1:09.4114

1:09.4114

0.000

5

7

1:15.9100

4

 

3

126.498

10:33.6078

Honda

A

9

Chip Ganassi Racing

2

7

Felix Rosenqvist

1:09.4379

0.0265

0.0265

5

6

1:21.6442

4

 

5

126.450

10:54.3624

Chevy

A

6

Arrow McLaren SP

3

5

Pato O'Ward

1:09.4574

0.0460

0.0195

4

5

1:09.4574

3

 

2

126.414

9:38.1701

Chevy

A

4

Arrow McLaren SP

4

12

Will Power

1:09.4905

0.0791

0.0331

5

6

1:10.7161

4

 

1

126.354

10:41.2062

Chevy

A

11

Team Penske

5

2

Josef Newgarden

1:09.5837

0.1723

0.0932

5

7

1:09.7970

4

 

7

126.185

10:31.7303

Chevy

A

1

Team Penske

6

20

Conor Daly

1:09.6387

0.2273

0.0550

5

6

1:09.9462

4

 

10

126.085

10:28.1396

Chevy

A

15

Ed Carpenter Racing

7

77

Callum Ilott

1:09.6530

0.2416

0.0143

4

5

1:09.6530

3

 

8

126.059

9:44.7070

Chevy

A

26

Juncos Hollinger Racing

8

30

Christian Lundgaard

1:09.6594

0.2480

0.0064

5

6

1:10.0140

4

 

6

126.048

10:36.7055

Honda

A

21

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

9

45

Jack Harvey

1:09.6899

0.2785

0.0305

5

6

1:09.9621

4

 

9

125.992

10:43.0984

Honda

A

22

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

10

28

Romain Grosjean

1:09.7100

0.2986

0.0201

5

6

1:14.2126

4

 

11

125.956

10:58.2627

Honda

A

19

Andretti Autosport

11

3

Scott McLaughlin

1:09.7847

0.3733

0.0747

6

6

1:09.7847

4

 

4

125.821

10:21.8961

Chevy

A

2

Team Penske

12

15

Graham Rahal

1:10.2950

0.8836

0.5103

6

6

1:10.2950

4

 

12

124.908

10:46.3935

Honda

A

13

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

Q1 Group 2

Last year’s polesitter for the second Indy road course race, Pato O’Ward, went fastest by a mere 0.08sec ahead of Scott McLaughlin, while Christian Lundgaard and Graham Rahal ensured that all three Rahal Letterman Lanigan cars advanced to Q2.

Callum Ilott was fourth fastest for Juncos Hollinger, while Conor Daly did what VeeKay could not by getting an ECR car into Q2.

Neither Colton Herta nor Alexander Rossi were able to progress, while Meyer Shank Racing’s Simon Pagenaud was another surprise casualty.

P

No

Name

FTime

Diff

Gap

FL

Laps

LapTime

LPit

Led

ST

FSpeed

Elapsed

Engine

Tire

Points

Team

1

5

Pato O'Ward

1:09.4708

1:09.4708

0.000

5

6

1:09.4708

4

 

1

126.390

10:00.8703

Chevy

A

4

Arrow McLaren SP

2

3

Scott McLaughlin

1:09.5511

0.0803

0.0803

5

6

1:09.5511

4

 

6

126.244

9:38.2744

Chevy

A

2

Team Penske

3

30

Christian Lundgaard

1:09.6777

0.2069

0.1266

5

6

1:12.5095

4

 

3

126.014

9:50.3174

Honda

A

21

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

4

77

Callum Ilott

1:09.7025

0.2317

0.0248

5

6

1:16.4887

4

 

10

125.970

10:12.9115

Chevy

A

26

Juncos Hollinger Racing

5

20

Conor Daly

1:09.7210

0.2502

0.0185

5

6

1:09.9925

4

 

4

125.936

10:22.1560

Chevy

A

15

Ed Carpenter Racing

6

15

Graham Rahal

1:09.7458

0.2750

0.0248

6

6

1:09.7458

4

 

8

125.891

9:55.4288

Honda

A

13

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

7

26

Colton Herta

1:09.8527

0.3819

0.1069

5

6

1:09.8882

4

 

2

125.699

10:17.6637

Honda

A

17

Andretti Autosport

8

27

Alexander Rossi

1:09.9178

0.4470

0.0651

5

6

1:14.0024

4

 

9

125.582

10:18.9935

Honda

A

18

Andretti Autosport

9

8

Marcus Ericsson

1:09.9294

0.4586

0.0116

5

6

1:10.1703

4

 

7

125.561

10:00.0338

Honda

A

7

Chip Ganassi Racing

10

60

Simon Pagenaud

1:09.9717

0.5009

0.0423

5

5

1:09.9717

4

 

5

125.485

9:15.7911

Honda

A

25

Meyer Shank Racing

11

14

Kyle Kirkwood

1:10.1954

0.7246

0.2237

5

5

1:10.1954

3

 

11

125.085

9:28.6999

Chevy

A

12

AJ Foyt Enterprises

12

18

David Malukas

1:10.4755

1.0047

0.2801

5

6

1:10.7293

4

 

12

124.588

9:32.0486

Honda

A

14

Dale Coyne Racing with HMD

13

4

Dalton Kellett

1:10.7187

1.2479

0.2432

6

7

1:10.7187

4

 

13

124.160

10:07.9401

Chevy

A

3

AJ Foyt Enterprises

14

48

Jimmie Johnson

1:11.5380

2.0672

0.8193

6

7

1:11.5380

4

 

14

122.738

10:00.8266

Honda

A

23

Chip Ganassi Racing

 

 

Q1 Group 1

Rinus VeeKay was the fastest driver on primary tires, clocking a 70.6265, while Devlin DeFrancesco was second fastest, having gone out straight away on alternates. Then Palou and Rosenqvist hit the top two spots, with 69.5 and 69.6 respectively.

Then Power clipped 0.0139sec off Palou’s time to land a 69.5544sec lap and go quickest.

Palou, Rosenqvist, Josef Newgarden, Jack Harvey and Romain Grosjean also made it through. Surprise exclusions were VeeKay, last year’s winner here for Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevrolet, and Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda). The six-time champion was left baffled, explaining that the car “felt like a different car every time out”.

P

No

Name

FTime

Diff

Gap

FL

Laps

LapTime

LPit

Led

ST

FSpeed

Elapsed

Engine

Tire

Points

Team

1

12

Will Power

1:09.5544

1:09.5544

0.000

5

6

1:15.8198

4

 

5

126.238

10:44.1855

Chevy

A

102

Team Penske

2

10

Alex Palou

1:09.5683

0.0139

0.0139

5

6

1:11.3045

4

 

1

126.213

9:59.8889

Honda

A

103

Chip Ganassi Racing

3

7

Felix Rosenqvist

1:09.6831

0.1287

0.1148

5

6

1:13.6918

4

 

4

126.005

10:06.7692

Chevy

A

42

Arrow McLaren SP

4

2

Josef Newgarden

1:09.7151

0.1607

0.0320

5

5

1:09.7151

4

 

8

125.947

9:15.2723

Chevy

A

118

Team Penske

5

45

Jack Harvey

1:09.7910

0.2366

0.0759

5

6

1:12.3098

4

 

6

125.810

10:37.7305

Honda

A

32

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

6

28

Romain Grosjean

1:09.8214

0.2670

0.0304

5

6

1:10.3568

4

 

3

125.755

10:15.2460

Honda

A

75

Andretti Autosport

7

51

Takuma Sato

1:09.8239

0.2695

0.0025

6

7

1:10.4829

5

 

7

125.751

10:55.3775

Honda

A

44

Dale Coyne Racing w/RWR

8

21

Rinus VeeKay

1:09.9550

0.4006

0.1311

5

6

1:10.5586

4

 

2

125.515

10:08.3845

Chevy

A

67

Ed Carpenter Racing

9

29

Devlin DeFrancesco

1:10.1306

0.5762

0.1756

4

4

1:10.1306

3

 

11

125.201

9:18.6464

Honda

A

20

Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport

10

06

Helio Castroneves

1:10.1417

0.5873

0.0111

4

5

1:10.5069

3

 

9

125.181

10:33.1024

Honda

A

46

Meyer Shank Racing

11

9

Scott Dixon

1:10.1694

0.6150

0.0277

5

6

1:19.7706

4

 

10

125.131

10:31.9889

Honda

A

83

Chip Ganassi Racing

12

6

Juan Pablo Montoya

1:10.7610

1.2066

0.5916

5

5

1:10.7610

4

 

12

124.085

9:42.7895

Chevy

A

28

Arrow McLaren SP

13

11

Tatiana Calderon

1:11.0020

1.4476

0.2410

5

6

1:11.4916

3

 

13

123.664

10:45.7288

Chevy

A

20

AJ Foyt Enterprises

 

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