Louis Foster obliterated the Indy NXT by Firestone track record Saturday to win the pole for the Detroit Grand Prix.
Foster earned his first pole of the season and fifth of his career in the IndyCar development series with a top lap of 1m5.1079s in the No. 26 Copart/Novara Technologies car fielded by Andretti Global.
English driver Foster, who has led all three on-track sessions this weekend, broke the track record of 1m06.8374s he set last year in the debut of this nine-turn, 1.645-mile temporary street circuit in downtown Detroit. He also enters this event with the momentum of his first win of the season, at the most-recent event May 11 on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
“It’s about time, really,” Foster said. “We’ve had a lot of pace. It’s nice to get the monkey off the back, so to speak. Tomorrow we can have a good race.
“We’ve been fast all season. Just haven’t had the best of luck and a few mistakes by me. Happy to get a pole, and hopefully we can get a win.”
Live coverage of the 45-lap race starts at 10:20am ET Sunday on Peacock and the IndyCar Radio Network.
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The starting grid was determined after the field was split into two qualifying groups. Championship leader Jacob Abel will start second after leading the first qualifying group at 1m06.0048s in the No. 51 Abel Construction car fielded by Abel Motorsports.
Rookie Caio Collet will start third in the No. 18 HMD Motorsports machine after his best lap of 1m05.4952s in the second group. Jamie Chadwick will join him in the second row after her best lap of 1m06.5050s in the No. 28 VEXT car of Andretti Global. That was a career-best start for second-year driver Chadwick, whose previous best was fifth earlier this season at Barber Motorsports Park.
Rookie Michael d’Orlando qualified fifth at 1m05.6157s in the No. 3 Flat Rock Motorsports Park/Rising Stars machine fielded by Andretti Cape Indy NXT. Callum Hedge was the third rookie to qualify in the top three rows, as he will start sixth after a best lap of 1m06.7954s in the No. 17 HMD Motorsports car.
Another rookie, Myles Rowe, suffered a tough break late in the session. Rowe was quick enough to secure the No. 3 starting spot late in the second group when he crashed the No. 99 HMD Motorsports with Force Indy car in Turn 9, triggering a red flag and losing his two quickest qualifying laps. Rowe will start 19th in the 21-car field.