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Autosport
Autosport
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David Malsher-Lopez

IndyCar Texas: Rosenqvist takes second pole from McLaughlin

Oval IndyCar rookie Jimmie Johnson, the fifth driver to run, was the first driver to crack 220mph on a lap, reaching the 220.006mph mark on his first flyer in his Chip Ganassi Racing machine. A 219.724mph lap on his second tour left him with an average of 219.865mph.

This was immediately edged by Andretti Autosport’s rookie Devlin DeFrancesco, who breached the 220mph barrier on his second lap, and delivered an average of 219.888mph.

He was in turn usurped, with Conor Daly producing an average of 219.987mph for Ed Carpenter Racing, before Alexander Rossi was the first driver to run two 220mph laps and jumped to the top of the speed charts, his two laps just 0.01mph apart.

But Rosenqvist took that further and went into the 221s – a 221.316mph – on his opening lap, and backed it up with a 220.905mph, trimming the grass at the kink on the front straight, to set a 221.110mph average.

That put him beyond the reach of Josef Newgarden, who slotted his Team Penske-Chevy into second, and practice pacesetter Simon Pagenaud of Meyer Shank Racing, who moved into fourth.

Felix Rosenqvist, Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet (Photo by: Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Images)

Pagenaud’s team-mate, four-time Texas winner Helio Castroneves, moved into second with a 220.768mph average, while the second Arrow McLaren SP car of Pato O’Ward produced a 220.579mph average, fourth for the time being.

Dale Coyne Racing with RWR’s Takuma Sato, preparing for his 200th IndyCar start, delivered a first lap just 0.1mph off Rosenqvist’s best effort, then a second lap slightly faster than the McLaren driver’s second. Although it was not quite enough to depose Rosenqvist, he grabbed a provisional front row slot.

Scott Dixon was the third driver to set a 221mph average, the five-time Texas winner taking provisional third ahead of Castroneves, while Romain Grosjean’s first ever quali run at Texas was a very respectable 220.4, within 0.1mph of experienced team-mate Rossi. It netted him 13th, and within 0.2mph of Colton Herta, the Andretti team’s pacesetter in ninth.

Penske’s Will Power delivered two very consistent 221.0mph laps to slot into a provisional third, the first driver to deliver a 221mph lap on lap two.

INSIGHT: How Supercars king McLaughlin became IndyCar's newest star

But the final car to run, Power's team-mate McLaughlin delivered a 221.166mph lap followed by a 221.027mph to move into second, just 0.002mph faster than Sato and only 0.014mph behind Rosenqvist.

IndyCar Texas Qualifying result

Cla Driver Team Time Gap Mph
1 Sweden Felix Rosenqvist United States Arrow McLaren SP 23.423   221.316
2 New Zealand Scott McLaughlin United States Team Penske 23.439 0.015 221.166
3 Japan Takuma Sato United States Dale Coyne Racing 23.434 0.010 221.216
4 Australia Will Power United States Team Penske 23.454 0.031 221.024
5 New Zealand Scott Dixon United States Chip Ganassi Racing 23.447 0.023 221.094
6 Brazil Helio Castroneves United States Meyer Shank Racing 23.451 0.028 221.048
7 United States Josef Newgarden United States Team Penske 23.478 0.055 220.796
8 Netherlands Rinus van Kalmthout United States Ed Carpenter Racing 23.454 0.030 221.028
9 United States Colton Herta United States Andretti Autosport 23.483 0.059 220.752
10 Mexico Patricio O'Ward United States Arrow McLaren SP 23.466 0.043 220.908
11 Spain Alex Palou United States Chip Ganassi Racing 23.499 0.076 220.599
12 United States Alexander Rossi United States Andretti Autosport 23.514 0.090 220.463
13 France Romain Grosjean United States Andretti Autosport 23.492 0.068 220.668
14 Sweden Marcus Ericsson United States Chip Ganassi Racing 23.510 0.087 220.494
15 France Simon Pagenaud United States Meyer Shank Racing 23.521 0.098 220.392
16 United States Conor Daly United States Ed Carpenter Racing 23.552 0.129 220.104
17 Canada Devlin DeFrancesco United States Andretti Autosport 23.553 0.129 220.096
18 United States Jimmie Johnson United States Chip Ganassi Racing 23.563 0.139 220.006
19 United States David Malukas Dale Coyne Racing with HMD 23.571 0.148 219.927
20 United Kingdom Callum Ilott Juncos Hollinger Racing 23.602 0.179 219.637
21 United States Ed Carpenter United States Ed Carpenter Racing 23.622 0.199 219.450
22 Canada Dalton Kellett United States A.J. Foyt Enterprises 23.641 0.218 219.275
23 United States Kyle Kirkwood United States A.J. Foyt Enterprises 23.655 0.231 219.147
24 United Kingdom Jack Harvey United States Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 23.690 0.267 218.820
25 Denmark Christian Lundgaard United States Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 23.697 0.274 218.754
26 United States J.R. Hildebrand United States A.J. Foyt Enterprises 23.699 0.275 218.740
27 United States Graham Rahal United States Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 23.716 0.293 218.582
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