Wednesday, October 9, 2024

Colton Herta Takes Tenth Career Pole at Road America

In an action-packed qualifying, Colton Herta took the NTT P1 Award after getting his tenth NTT IndyCar Series career pole position, in the Sonsio Grand Prix at Road America.

“It’s been way too long for us this year to get a pole,” said Herta, who hasn’t started from pole position since Toronto 2022.

Next to Herta, in second place, is find Pato O’Ward, who lost a few tenths after going slightly wide at the exit of the Canada Corner.

Alex Palou will start in third position, next to 2023 Indy 500 winner Josef Newgarden, who had a spin at the end of the Firestone Fast Six session. Alexander Rossi in the No. 7 Arrow McLaren will start in fifth while Kyle Kirkwood qualified for the Fast Six but couldn’t take part in it because of an engine failure after Round 2 and will start in sixth position.

A tough session for some big names of the series: Scott Dixon and Will Power, starring of a contact sustained in Free Practice 2, are going to start respectively twenty-third and twenty-second, while Romain Grosjean will start nineteenth after a spin and running wide at the opening corner during Round One, Group One.

It was a difficult return for Ryan Hunter-Reay as Conor Daly‘s replacement. He caused a red flag at the end of Group Two and lost with it his two fastest laps, and will start in twenty-sixth place.

Benjamin Pedersen has a notable qualifying, after he claimed his best qualifying result with a brilliant tenth position. Rookie Marcus Armstrong will start from eighth position and RLL’s Christian Lundgaard missed the Fast Six session by just a few tenths but will start from a solid seventh position.

Sonsio Grand Prix of Road America – Starting Order

RANK CAR NO. DRIVER TEAM BEST TIME
1 26 Colton Herta Andretti Autosport w/Curb-Agajanian 1:40.1945
2 5 Pato O’Ward Arrow McLaren 1:40.3643
3 10 Alex Palou Chip Ganassi Racing 1:40.4930
4 2 Josef Newgarden Team Penske 1:40.9530
5 7 Alexander Rossi Arrow McLaren 1:41.1854
6 27 Kyle Kirkwood Andretti Autosport NO TIME
7 45 Christian Lundgaard Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 1:41.0480
8 11 Marcus Armstrong (R) Chip Ganassi Racing 1:41.1737
9 8 Marcus Ericsson Chip Ganassi Racing 1:41.2202
10 55 Benjamin Pedersen (R) AJ Foyt Racing 1:41.4989
11 14 Santino Ferrucci AJ Foyt Racing 1:41.6314
12 29 Devlin DeFrancesco Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport 1:41.8277
13 18 David Malukas Dale Coyne Racing w/HMD 1:41.5204
14 15 Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 1:41.5121
15 21 Rinus VeeKay Ed Carpenter Racing 1:41.7420
16 6 Felix Rosenqvist Arrow McLaren 1:41.5823
17 77 Callum Ilott Juncos Hollinger Racing 1:41.8005
18 3 Scott McLaughlin Team Penske 1:41.7005
19 28 Romain Grosjean Andretti Autosport 1:41.8529
20 60 Simon Pagenaud Meyer Shank Racing 1:41.7257
21 78 Agustin Canapino (R) Juncos Hollinger Racing 1:41.9247
22 12 Will Power Team Penske 1:41.9275
23 9 Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing 1:42.2745
24 30 Jack Harvey Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 1:41.9329
25 51 Sting Ray Robb (R) Dale Coyne Racing w/Rick Ware Racing 1:42.6862
26 20 Ryan Hunter-Reay Ed Carpenter Racing 1:44.1738
27 06 Helio Castroneves Meyer Shank Racing 1:42.0399
(R) = Rookie
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