Qualifying report
IndyCar Road America
IndyCar Road America: O’Ward takes pole for Race 2
The 2018 Indy Lights champion Pato O’Ward earned the first pole position of his IndyCar career at Road America this morning when his fastest time in his Group edged the best effort of former Lights teammate Colton Herta who topped Group 1.
David Malsher-Lopez
Edited: Jul 12, 2020, 4:06 PM
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The Arrow McLaren SP-Chevrolet driver’s margin over the Andretti Harding Steinbrenner-Honda driver was just 0.0279sec but that was enough to push last year’s polesitter Herta to the outside of the front row.
It is the first pole position for a Mexican IndyCar driver since Mario Dominguez started P1 in the Houston Champ Car race in 2006.
In fact, Dale Coyne Racing with Team Goh’s Alex Palou, third place finisher in yesterday’s round, was closer to O’Ward – 0.0221sec – but being in the same group, he will start from the odd-numbered positions, and therefore third on the grid, alongside Ryan Hunter-Reay of Andretti Autosport.
The third row will consist of Graham Rahal’s Rahal Letterman Lanigan-Honda alongside the as-yet-unbeatable Scott Dixon of Chip Ganassi Racing who earned his third straight win yesterday.
The field ran in the same groups as yesterday, but this time with Group 2 going out first and tackling the track at its ‘greenest’.
In this group, Team Penske-Chevrolet drivers Will Power and Simon Pagenaud, as well as Arrow McLaren-SP Chevy’s Oliver Askew, all hurt their chances by speeding in pitlane, thereby incurring a drive-through penalty and consigning themselves to just one flying lap on the Firestone alternate tires. Power did well, therefore, to grab P4 in the session to edge his teammates, even if he did trail Herta, Hunter-Reay and Dixon, but he’s consigned to eighth, alongside Dixon’s Ganassi teammate Felix Rosenqvist.
Jack Harvey, who started his Meyer Shank Racing-Honda from the front row yesterday, will start from the fifth row on this occasion alongside semi-teammate Alexander Rossi.
With Penske finally dropping the ball in qualifying, yesterday’s polesitter Josef Newgarden will start only 14th, while Pagenaud is 22nd.
The race begins at 12.40pm ET.
GRID LINE-UP for Race 2
Cla Driver Team Time Gap Mph 1 Patricio O'Ward Arrow McLaren SP 1'44.897 137.758 2
Colton Herta Andretti Harding Steinbrenner Autosport 1'44.925 0.027 137.721 3
Alex Palou Dale Coyne Racing with Team Goh 1'44.919 0.022 137.729 4
Ryan Hunter-Reay
Andretti Autosport 1'45.153 0.256 137.422 5
Graham Rahal
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 1'45.032 0.135 137.580 6
Scott Dixon
Chip Ganassi Racing 1'45.267 0.370 137.273 7
Felix Rosenqvist
Chip Ganassi Racing 1'45.148 0.251 137.428 8
Will Power
Team Penske 1'45.299 0.402 137.231 9
Jack Harvey
Meyer Shank Racing 1'45.509 0.612 136.958 10
Alexander Rossi
Andretti Autosport 1'45.372 0.475 137.137 11
Santino Ferrucci Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser Sullivan 1'45.567 0.670 136.883 12
Takuma Sato
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 1'45.432 0.534 137.059 13
Charlie Kimball
A.J. Foyt Enterprises 1'45.834 0.937 136.538 14
Josef Newgarden
Team Penske 1'45.460 0.563 137.022 15
Rinus van Kalmthout
Ed Carpenter Racing 1'46.033 1.135 136.282 16
Marcus Ericsson
Chip Ganassi Racing 1'45.785 0.888 136.601 17
Zach Veach
Andretti Autosport 1'46.181 1.284 136.091 18
Oliver Askew Arrow McLaren SP 1'46.073 1.176 136.230 19
Marco Andretti Andretti Herta Autosport with Marco & Curb-Agajani 1'46.221 1.324 136.041 20
Conor Daly
Ed Carpenter Racing 1'46.485 1.587 135.704 21
Max Chilton
Carlin 1'46.609 1.712 135.546 22
Simon Pagenaud
Team Penske 1'46.573 1.676 135.591 23
Dalton Kellett
A.J. Foyt Enterprises 1'47.313 2.415 134.657 View full results
GROUP 2
Cla Driver Team Time Gap Mph 1 Patricio O'Ward Arrow McLaren SP 1'44.897 137.758 2
Alex Palou Dale Coyne Racing with Team Goh 1'44.919 0.022 137.729 3
Graham Rahal
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 1'45.032 0.135 137.580 4
Felix Rosenqvist
Chip Ganassi Racing 1'45.148 0.251 137.428 5
Jack Harvey
Meyer Shank Racing 1'45.509 0.612 136.958 6
Santino Ferrucci Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser Sullivan 1'45.567 0.670 136.883 7
Charlie Kimball
A.J. Foyt Enterprises 1'45.834 0.937 136.538 8
Rinus van Kalmthout
Ed Carpenter Racing 1'46.033 1.135 136.282 9
Zach Veach
Andretti Autosport 1'46.181 1.284 136.091 10
Marco Andretti Andretti Herta Autosport with Marco & Curb-Agajani 1'46.221 1.324 136.041 11
Max Chilton
Carlin 1'46.609 1.712 135.546 View full results
GROUP 1
Cla Driver Team Time Gap Mph 1 Colton Herta Andretti Harding Steinbrenner Autosport 1'44.925 137.721 2
Ryan Hunter-Reay
Andretti Autosport 1'45.153 0.228 137.422 3
Scott Dixon
Chip Ganassi Racing 1'45.267 0.342 137.273 4
Will Power
Team Penske 1'45.299 0.374 137.231 5
Alexander Rossi
Andretti Autosport 1'45.372 0.447 137.137 6
Takuma Sato
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 1'45.432 0.507 137.059 7
Josef Newgarden
Team Penske 1'45.460 0.535 137.022 8
Marcus Ericsson
Chip Ganassi Racing 1'45.785 0.860 136.601 9
Oliver Askew Arrow McLaren SP 1'46.073 1.148 136.230 10
Conor Daly
Ed Carpenter Racing 1'46.485 1.560 135.704 11
Simon Pagenaud
Team Penske 1'46.573 1.648 135.591 12
Dalton Kellett
A.J. Foyt Enterprises 1'47.313 2.388 134.657 View full results
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