Firestone Fast Six
Four drivers elected to go with primary tires rather than used reds at the start of the Firestone Fast Six, and Andretti Autosport-Honda’s Rossi took two flyers to get down to 1min44.8656sec, which is 137.799mph around 4.048-mile Road America, to edge Team Penske-Chevrolet’s Josef Newgarden.
Newgarden was only 0.0715sec behind, running two flyers – nonetheless impressive on used reds, which is all that the runners have left by the time they reach the Firestone Fast Six.
Alex Palou was over half a second from Rossi, but was able to just edge Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda teammate Marcus Ericsson by 0.0418sec. Colton Herta made a mistake on what would have been his fastest lap, falling 0.67sec off teammate Rossi. He will start alongside O’Ward who started the session on blacks but switched to alternates.
| P | Name | FTime | Diff | FL | Laps | FSpeed | Engine | Tire | Team |
| 1 | Alexander Rossi | 1:44.8656 | - | 3 | 3 | 137.799 | Honda | P | Andretti Autosport |
| 2 | Josef Newgarden | 1:44.9371 | 0.0715 | 3 | 3 | 137.705 | Chevy | A | Team Penske |
| 3 | Alex Palou | 1:45.3822 | 0.5166 | 2 | 3 | 137.124 | Honda | P | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 4 | Marcus Ericsson | 1:45.4240 | 0.5584 | 2 | 3 | 137.069 | Honda | P | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 5 | Colton Herta | 1:45.5388 | 0.6732 | 3 | 3 | 136.920 | Honda | P | Andretti Autosport w/Curb-Agajanian |
| 6 | Pato O'Ward | 1:45.6826 | 0.8170 | 1 | 2 | 136.734 | Chevy | A | Arrow McLaren SP |
Q2
Callum Ilott, making his return to the Juncos Hollinger Racing-Chevy after missing the Detroit GP with the broken hand he incurred in an Indy 500 shunt, skidded off the road at the final corner and went across the grass and gravel to slam into the tire wall. That brought out the red flag which meant his session was done.
With barely more than 5 minutes remaining in the session, the remaining 11 runners left the pits wearing alternate tires, although Romain Grosjean suffered a gearbox issue that meant his exit was delayed and would get only one flyer in.
On their first flyers, Alex Palou and Scott Dixon went 1-2 for Ganassi ahead of Rossi, but Penske’s Newgarden delivered another 1min44.5530s, as in Q2 (see below) and went top. Perhaps surprisingly, that wasn’t the fastest lap, however, as Colton Herta shaved 0.1492sec off the Penske driver’s lap to go top.
Marcus Ericsson and Alex Palou ensured Ganassi had two cars in the Firestone Fast Six, 0.45sec ahead of teammate Scott Dixon who was eliminated. He will start alongside Scott McLaughlin, who was 0.7sec off teammate Newgarden.
Grosjean did well to grab seventh considering he had been able to squeeze in one flyer on alternates and everyone’s fastest time came on their second.
So Pato O’Ward got through, as did Alexander Rossi, yesterday’s practice pacesetter, while O’Ward’s teammate Felix Rosenqvist, a 2020 race-winner here, was eighth and out.
| P | Name | FTime | Diff | FL | Laps | FSpeed | Engine | Tire | Team |
| 1 | Colton Herta | 1:44.4038 | - | 4 | 4 | 138.409 | Honda | A | Andretti Autosport w/Curb-Agajanian |
| 2 | Josef Newgarden | 1:44.5530 | 0.1492 | 4 | 4 | 138.211 | Chevy | A | Team Penske |
| 3 | Marcus Ericsson | 1:44.7887 | 0.3849 | 4 | 5 | 137.900 | Honda | A | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 4 | Alex Palou | 1:44.8313 | 0.4275 | 4 | 5 | 137.844 | Honda | A | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 5 | Pato O'Ward | 1:44.8704 | 0.4666 | 4 | 5 | 137.793 | Chevy | A | Arrow McLaren SP |
| 6 | Alexander Rossi | 1:45.0733 | 0.6695 | 4 | 5 | 137.527 | Honda | A | Andretti Autosport |
| 7 | Romain Grosjean | 1:45.1543 | 0.7505 | 3 | 3 | 137.421 | Honda | A | Andretti Autosport |
| 8 | Felix Rosenqvist | 1:45.2307 | 0.8269 | 3 | 4 | 137.321 | Chevy | A | Arrow McLaren SP |
| 9 | Scott McLaughlin | 1:45.2412 | 0.8374 | 4 | 5 | 137.307 | Chevy | A | Team Penske |
| 10 | Scott Dixon | 1:45.2446 | 0.8408 | 3 | 4 | 137.303 | Honda | A | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 11 | Simon Pagenaud | 1:45.2759 | 0.8721 | 4 | 5 | 137.262 | Honda | A | Meyer Shank Racing |
| 12 | Callum Ilott | No Time | --- | -- | --- | --- | Chevy | P | Juncos Hollinger Racing |
Q1 Group 2
Josef Newgarden (Penske) set a 1min45.5563sec lap on primary tires, 0.0430sec ahead of Alex Palou in the Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda before diving in for alternates. The rain was holding off. Newgarden’s first effort on reds kept him up top with a 1min45.2077sec run, with Marcus Ericsson becoming his closest challenger, ahead of Scott McLaughlin in the other Penske in the group.
No one was going to beat Newgarden though, setting the fastest lap of the weekend – a 1min44.5552sec – which would leave him a stunning half-second clear of the field. Both Arrow McLaren SP-Chevrolet drivers got into Q2, Pato O’Ward and Felix Rosenqvist split by defending race winner Palou.
Ericsson took fifth, while McLaughlin blew his last lap under braking at Canada Corner but his previous effort was enough to allow him to graduate.
Series returnee Simona De Silvestro in the Paretta Autosport-Chevrolet was 3.5sec off Newgarden’s time, 2.4sec from virtual teammate Conor Daly. She admitted she didn’t really use the extra grip offered by the Firestone reds, but her time wasn’t entirely representative because she picked up a pitlane speeding penalty which requires a drive-through. That’s expensive in a 12min session when there is time only for six laps.
| P | Name | FTime | Diff | FL | Laps | FSpeed | Engine | Tire | Team |
| 1 | Josef Newgarden | 1:44.5552 | - | 5 | 5 | 138.208 | Chevy | A | Team Penske |
| 2 | Pato O'Ward | 1:45.1033 | 0.5481 | 5 | 5 | 137.488 | Chevy | A | Arrow McLaren SP |
| 3 | Alex Palou | 1:45.1255 | 0.5703 | 5 | 6 | 137.459 | Honda | A | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 4 | Felix Rosenqvist | 1:45.1494 | 0.5942 | 5 | 5 | 137.427 | Chevy | A | Arrow McLaren SP |
| 5 | Marcus Ericsson | 1:45.2049 | 0.6497 | 5 | 6 | 137.355 | Honda | A | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 6 | Scott McLaughlin | 1:45.5678 | 1.0126 | 4 | 5 | 136.883 | Chevy | A | Team Penske |
| 7 | David Malukas | 1:45.6017 | 1.0465 | 5 | 5 | 136.839 | Honda | A | Dale Coyne Racing with HMD |
| 8 | Helio Castroneves | 1:45.6217 | 1.0665 | 5 | 5 | 136.813 | Honda | A | Meyer Shank Racing |
| 9 | Conor Daly | 1:45.7234 | 1.1682 | 5 | 5 | 136.681 | Chevy | A | Ed Carpenter Racing |
| 10 | Jack Harvey | 1:45.9420 | 1.3868 | 5 | 5 | 136.399 | Honda | A | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
| 11 | Graham Rahal | 1:45.9951 | 1.4399 | 5 | 5 | 136.331 | Honda | A | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
| 12 | Kyle Kirkwood | 1:46.6130 | 2.0578 | 5 | 5 | 135.541 | Chevy | A | AJ Foyt Enterprises |
| 13 | Jimmie Johnson | 1:47.3134 | 2.7582 | 2 | 5 | 134.656 | Honda | A | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 14 | Simona De Silvestro | 1:48.1033 | 3.5481 | 2 | 4 | 133.672 | Chevy | A | Paretta Autosport |
Q1 Group 1
With rain on its way, the drivers hit the track as soon as possible but only Rinus VeeKay of Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevy and Tatiana Calderon in the AJ Foyt Racing-Chevy chose to go out on alternate Firestones to try and slam in an early flyer. Alexander Rossi and Colton Herta went 1-2 in the Andretti Autosport-Hondas on primaries, Rossi on 1min45.3680sec ahead, while Takuma Sato in the Dale Coyne Racing with RWR-Honda was third. VeeKay was fifth when he pitted for second set of reds.
Scott Dixon was the first to set a representative time on reds, a 1min45.6882sec but then Romain Grosjean went top with a 1min45.0216sec. He stayed there, too, heading an Andretti Autosport 1-2-3, with Scott Dixon putting in a brave effort on his third flyer, to grab fourth. Simon Pagenaud of Meyer Shank Racing-Honda took fifth ahead of the excellent Callum Ilott in the Juncos Hollinger Racing-Chevrolet.
Surprise elimination was championship leader Will Power in the Team Penske-Chevrolet, who said he had wheelspin out of Turn 12 but otherwise was surprised to find himself on the outside looking in.
| P | Name | FTime | Diff | FL | Laps | FSpeed | Engine | Tire | Team |
| 1 | Romain Grosjean | 1:44.8840 | - | 5 | 6 | 137.775 | Honda | A | Andretti Autosport |
| 2 | Alexander Rossi | 1:44.8954 | 0.0114 | 5 | 5 | 137.760 | Honda | A | Andretti Autosport |
| 3 | Colton Herta | 1:44.9268 | 0.0428 | 5 | 5 | 137.719 | Honda | A | Andretti Autosport w/Curb-Agajanian |
| 4 | Scott Dixon | 1:45.0906 | 0.2066 | 6 | 6 | 137.504 | Honda | A | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 5 | Simon Pagenaud | 1:45.2278 | 0.3438 | 5 | 5 | 137.325 | Honda | A | Meyer Shank Racing |
| 6 | Callum Ilott | 1:45.3906 | 0.5066 | 4 | 4 | 137.113 | Chevy | A | Juncos Hollinger Racing |
| 7 | Christian Lundgaard | 1:45.4024 | 0.5184 | 5 | 5 | 137.097 | Honda | A | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
| 8 | Will Power | 1:45.4227 | 0.5387 | 5 | 5 | 137.071 | Chevy | A | Team Penske |
| 9 | Rinus VeeKay | 1:45.5581 | 0.6741 | 5 | 6 | 136.895 | Chevy | A | Ed Carpenter Racing |
| 10 | Takuma Sato | 1:45.7045 | 0.8205 | 2 | 5 | 136.706 | Honda | A | Dale Coyne Racing w/RWR |
| 11 | Devlin DeFrancesco | 1:46.0785 | 1.1945 | 4 | 4 | 136.224 | Honda | A | Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport |
| 12 | Dalton Kellett | 1:46.9755 | 2.0915 | 5 | 5 | 135.081 | Chevy | A | AJ Foyt Enterprises |
| 13 | Tatiana Calderon | 1:47.5661 | 2.6821 | 2 | 5 | 134.340 | Chevy | A | AJ Foyt Enterprises |
