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