The Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto qualifying session had Andretti Global’s Colton Herta as the presumptive pole sitter after leading both practice sessions, and going into the final lap, it was a battle between the Californian and his Floridian teammate Kyle Kirkwood for who would start first on Sunday.
Kirkwood took the top spot and pitted with time for one more lap to be turned, and that’s what Herta used to strike and claim his third pole of the season with the No. 26 Honda (59.5431s) ahead of Kirkwood (59.6735s) to form an all-Andretti front row. Andretti affiliate Meyer Shank Racing was third with Felix Rosenqvist in the No. 60 Honda (59.8232s), which gave the event’s sponsor the top three positions on the grid.
Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin was fourth in the No. 3 Chevy (59.9082s) to lead the Bowtie runners, ahead of Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Romain Grosjean in the No. 77 Chevy (1m00.0012s) and MSR’s Davind Malukas in the No. 66 Honda (1m00.2109s).
“This thing’s been a rocket ship all weekend, really has been the past few races,” Herta said after securing the 14th pole of his career. “Luck hasn’t turned our way this year for a win yet, and I’m hoping it’s here tomorrow. We’ve always had good results here and I hope we can we can transfer that tomorrow.”
Kirkwood was more conservative with his use of Firestone’s faster alternate tires in qualifying while Herta went for a second set to ensure he wasn’t headed.
“This is panning out very, very well for us this weekend,” Kirkwood said. “Colton’s obviously been the quickest driver all weekend long, so he’s extremely deserving of it, and I’m happy to back him up with second now and get a front row lockout for the Nos. 26 and 27.”
Rosenqvist was impressed with the consistent form of his new teammate Malukas who made sure MSR had both cars in the Fast Six.
“It’s probably one of our better qualifying results combined,” he said. “Ever since he came into the team, it’s been good; there’s internal competition. David is quick everywhere — oval, street course, road course. Every time he’s out there, he’s doing a really good job and he’s always fast. I really like to have that competition within the team. It keeps you on your toes, which is good.”
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Qualifying on the cramped 1.8-mile street circuit wasn’t without dramas as championship leader Alex Palou was penalized for blocking after making it into the Firestone Fast 12. He was relegated to P18 after the ruling, and he wasn’t alone as fellow championship contenders Pato O’Ward (third in the standings) and Scott Dixon (fourth) were on the wrong side of the Fast 12 line.
Theo Pourchaire’s first laps at Toronto after arriving in the paddock with 62 minutes to spare following an overnight flight from France were good enough to earn 26th. With nine total laps to draw from, the fact that Pourchaire wasn’t last was a testament to his capabilities.
Strong in the first and second practice sessions, Hunter McElrea made his first mistake of the weekend and threw the No. 18 Dale Coyne Racing Honda into the Turn 8 tire barrier on his opening lap and was done for the afternoon after causing a red flag.
The first half of the field opened qualifying with McElrea’s red flag with 1m06s gone from the 10-minute outing. Drivers traded the top spot during the remaining 8m54s and, once it was over, the top six moving on was led by Kirkwood, McLaughlin, Christian Rasmussen, Rosenqvist, Malukas, and Josef Newgarden.
Those who didn’t transfer were led by Marcus Armstrong, who was knocked out on the last lap, starting P13, Dixon (P15), Santino Ferrucci (P17), Nolan Siegel (P19), Toby Sowery (P21), Pietro Fittipaldi (P23), and Hunter McElrea (P25).
The Fast 12 was set by the second group’s transferring top six of Will Power, Marcus Ericsson, Herta, Agustin Canapino, Graham Rahal, and Grosjean.
Palou was in the transfer group, but a post-session ruling by IndyCar penalized him for blocking O’Ward and stripped his two fastest laps.
Leading those whose session ended, it was the surprised 2023 Toronto polesitter O’Ward (P14), defending race winner Christian Lundgaard (P16), Palou (P18), Kyffin Simpson (P20), Rinus VeeKay (P22), Linus Lundqvist (P24), Pourchaire (P26), and Sting Ray Robb (P27).