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David Malsher-Lopez

Long Beach IndyCar: Herta takes pole with new lap record

Q3

Alexander Rossi laid down the first marker in the third segment of qualifying with 66.0sec, his closest opponent being Josef Newgarden and Felix Rosenqvist after their first runs.

Palou then delivered a 65.8667sec lap to go top, but then Herta slammed in a 65.3095sec to claim the qualifying track record by nine-tenths of a second, with Grosjean 0.1960sec behind him.

Attempting to usurp his teammate, Grosjean grazed a wall with his left-rear on the run to Turn 5, breaking a toelink which sent him crabbing hard into the tire wall on the outside of the corner.

That cost him his best time, dropping him to sixth, and promoting Newgarden to the front row ahead of Palou.

With two seconds of guaranteed time remaining, IndyCar’s rule allowing cars one final flyer kicked in. Only Rosenqvist and Rossi took the option, but both failed to improve – Rossi slid into the Turn 1 run-off, and Rosenqvist was unable to edge ahead of anyone.

P

Name

FTime

Diff

Gap

FL

Laps

Engine

Team

1

Colton Herta

1:05.3095

 

 

2

2

Honda

Andretti Autosport

2

Josef Newgarden

1:05.7550

0.4455

0.4455

3

3

Chevy

Team Penske

3

Alex Palou

1:05.8667

0.5572

0.1117

2

3

Honda

Chip Ganassi Racing

4

Felix Rosenqvist

1:05.9349

0.6254

0.0682

3

5

Chevy

Arrow McLaren SP

5

Alexander Rossi

1:06.0674

0.7579

0.1325

1

4

Honda

Andretti Autosport

6

Romain Grosjean

No Time

---

---

--

2

Honda

Andretti Autosport

 

Q2

Palou was somewhat of an outlier by going straight onto used reds from the start of the session but his first effort left him only eighth fastest. Herta was fastest on the primaries on 65.9478sec, ahead of McLaughlin, Pagenaud, Grosjean and Ericsson.

First flyers on fresh reds came from Josef Newgarden and Will Power, springing into the top two spots with 65.8s. Then Felix Rosenqvist and Herta deposed both of them, and Herta kept improving delivering a 65.4057, and his closest challenger was teammate Rossi.

Rosenqvist, Palou, Newgarden and Grosjean also got through, but Will Power – only 0.0001sec behind Grosjean – called in the fact that got backed up following Pato O’Ward at the hairpin, but believing O’Ward had also been backed up.

A surprise elimination was Meyer Shank Racing’s Simon Pagenaud who had looked so quick in practice and Q1, as he had unfortunately encountered Scott McLaughlin, who himself had been stymied by Marcus Ericsson’s Ganassi-Honda which he let past on an out lap, but who then slowed up.

P

Name

FTime

Diff

Gap

FL

Laps

FSpeed

Engine

Team

1

Colton Herta

1:05.4057

 

 

6

6

108.321

Honda

Andretti Autosport

2

Alexander Rossi

1:05.5775

0.1718

0.1718

5

6

108.037

Honda

Andretti Autosport

3

Felix Rosenqvist

1:05.6344

0.2287

0.0569

6

7

107.943

Chevy

Arrow McLaren SP

4

Alex Palou

1:05.7662

0.3605

0.1318

7

7

107.727

Honda

Chip Ganassi Racing

5

Josef Newgarden

1:05.8194

0.4137

0.0532

5

7

107.640

Chevy

Team Penske

6

Romain Grosjean

1:05.8744

0.4687

0.0550

6

6

107.550

Honda

Andretti Autosport

7

Will Power

1:05.8745

0.4688

0.0001

5

7

107.550

Chevy

Team Penske

8

Marcus Ericsson

1:05.9548

0.5491

0.0803

6

6

107.419

Honda

Chip Ganassi Racing

9

Scott McLaughlin

1:06.0507

0.6450

0.0959

3

7

107.263

Chevy

Team Penske

10

Simon Pagenaud

1:06.0678

0.6621

0.0171

3

6

107.235

Honda

Meyer Shank Racing

11

Pato O'Ward

1:06.0726

0.6669

0.0048

6

6

107.228

Chevy

Arrow McLaren SP

12

Kyle Kirkwood

1:06.2604

0.8547

0.1878

6

7

106.924

Chevy

AJ Foyt Enterprises

 

Q1 Group 2

Grosjean was the fastest driver on primaries in Group 2, with a 65.9796, and that time withstood several aces’ first efforts on reds, but the exception was Simon Pagenaud, who edged past with a 65.8908sec lap. Then Grosjean nudged past with a 65.7468sec.

Behind these two, Will Power and Josef Newgarden sent their Team Penske-Chevrolets into Q2, just ahead of Palou’s Ganassi car and Pato O’Ward in the Arrow McLaren SP-Chevy.

Those eliminated at this stage included the second Meyer Shank Racing entry of Helio Castroneves, who started third here last year, and six-time champion Scott Dixon.

P

Name

FTime

Diff

Gap

FL

Laps

Engine

Team

1

Romain Grosjean

1:05.7468

 

 

6

6

Honda

Andretti Autosport

2

Simon Pagenaud

1:05.8908

0.1440

0.1440

5

6

Honda

Meyer Shank Racing

3

Will Power

1:06.0788

0.3320

0.1880

7

7

Chevy

Team Penske

4

Josef Newgarden

1:06.0819

0.3351

0.0031

6

7

Chevy

Team Penske

5

Alex Palou

1:06.1452

0.3984

0.0633

5

7

Honda

Chip Ganassi Racing

6

Pato O'Ward

1:06.1781

0.4313

0.0329

6

7

Chevy

Arrow McLaren SP

7

Helio Castroneves

1:06.2467

0.4999

0.0686

5

6

Honda

Meyer Shank Racing

8

Scott Dixon

1:06.3241

0.5773

0.0774

6

7

Honda

Chip Ganassi Racing

9

Conor Daly

1:06.4489

0.7021

0.1248

6

7

Chevy

Ed Carpenter Racing

10

Christian Lundgaard

1:06.5049

0.7581

0.0560

5

6

Honda

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

11

Callum Ilott

1:06.6672

0.9204

0.1623

7

7

Chevy

Juncos Hollinger Racing

12

Dalton Kellett

1:06.7679

1.0211

0.1007

6

7

Chevy

AJ Foyt Enterprises

13

Tatiana Calderon

1:07.4789

1.7321

0.7110

6

6

Chevy

AJ Foyt Enterprises

 

Q1 Group 1

Colton Herta set a 66.6653sec on primaries, but this became irrelevant when McLaughlin delivered a 66.1076sec, and then both Herta and teammate Alexander Rossi ducked under the 66sec mark, Herta produced a 65.7283sec.

Felix Rosenqvist then delivered a 66.1 to grab third in the Arrow McLaren SP-Chevrolet ahead of McLaughlin, while Kyle Kirkwood excelled with fifth fastest in group in the AJ Foyt Racing-Chevrolet.

Graham Rahal looked like he was going to graduate until Marcus Ericsson squeezed him out with his last run in the #8 Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda. Rahal had also been maddened by Jimmie Johnson emerging from pitlane into his path during a flying lap, and Johnson’s interference cost him his best laps.

Rinus VeeKay was a surprise elimination at this stage, while rookie David Malukas did a fine job in the Dale Coyne Racing with HMD-Honda to outqualify his teammate, 2013 Long Beach winner Takuma Sato.

P

Name

FTime

Diff

Gap

FL

Laps

Engine

Team

1

Colton Herta

1:05.7283

 

 

6

6

Honda

Andretti Autosport

2

Alexander Rossi

1:05.8363

0.1080

0.1080

5

6

Honda

Andretti Autosport

3

Felix Rosenqvist

1:06.1005

0.3722

0.2642

6

7

Chevy

Arrow McLaren SP

4

Scott McLaughlin

1:06.1076

0.3793

0.0071

5

6

Chevy

Team Penske

5

Kyle Kirkwood

1:06.4676

0.7393

0.3600

6

6

Chevy

AJ Foyt Enterprises

6

Marcus Ericsson

1:06.5757

0.8474

0.1081

6

6

Honda

Chip Ganassi Racing

7

Graham Rahal

1:06.6896

0.9613

0.1139

6

7

Honda

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

8

Rinus VeeKay

1:06.7049

0.9766

0.0153

6

7

Chevy

Ed Carpenter Racing

9

Devlin DeFrancesco

1:06.7418

1.0135

0.0369

6

7

Honda

Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport

10

David Malukas

1:06.7925

1.0642

0.0507

6

6

Honda

Dale Coyne Racing with HMD

11

Jack Harvey

1:06.9708

1.2425

0.1783

7

7

Honda

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

12

Takuma Sato

1:07.1001

1.3718

0.1293

6

7

Honda

Dale Coyne Racing w/RWR

13

Jimmie Johnson

1:09.0287

3.3004

1.9286

2

6

Honda

Chip Ganassi Racing

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