Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda’s Alex Palou backed up his first oval pole in the Indy 500 with his first street course pole around the new 1.645-mile course in downtown Detroit.
Firestone Fast Six
Marcus Ericsson and Romain Grosjean caused a local yellow by skating into the same runoff zone at the same time and were given drive-through penalties. This allowed the Penske-Chevrolets of Scott McLaughlin and Josef Newgarden their moments in the sun, but Alex Palou set a 1m01.8592s on his first flying lap to claim the third pole of his IndyCar career, his second in succession and his first on a street course.
McLaughlin’s final effort trimmed his deficit to 0.3s with his final flyer to beat Grosjean who slapped the wall on the exit of Turn 2 but still claimed third.
Scott Dixon ran Firestone primaries but was 0.56s off his polesitting teammate, but that was still quicker than Newgarden who told his team that was all he had after his final effort, while Ericsson took sixth.
Q2
Ganassi teammates Dixon, Palou and Marcus Armstrong all went out on used alternates at the start of the session, Palou going top initially ahead of McLaughlin and Will Power, both Penske drivers on primaries. McLaughlin eventually went to the top on primaries with 1m02.5717s.
Kyle Kirkwood ripped his left-front off at Turn 7, eliminating one of the potential pole-winners, while Ericsson sent his Ganassi car to the top until Palou produced a 1m01.6390s, 0.3s quicker, the pair eventually split by Romain Grosjean.
All three Penske cars were in the top six in the final minute, but a late flyer from Dixon knocked out Power, who admitted he made a little mistake on a flying lap and had enough time but not enough fuel to make another run.
Power – and an encouraged Simon Pagenaud – did at least beat Arrow McLaren’s pair of Felix Rosenqvist and Pato O’Ward, while Armstrong’s last effort was ruined by a slalom effort through the final sector.
Q1 Group 2
Christian Lundgaard of Rahal Letterman Lanigan , AJ Foyt Racing’s Santino Ferrucci and Sting Ray Robb in the Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing hit the track on alternates right away. The RLL driver’s pole at the Indy GP gave him the first choice of pitbox and therefore the best exit off the two-tiered pitlane. He was out on track first and had a clear lap, but his initial effort was stymied when Ferrucci went into a runoff, causing a local yellow.
Lundgaard did whittle that down to a 1m02.6495s but Kirkwood blew that aside on primaries – a 1m02.2093s – and O’Ward also shaded the RLL driver. Lundgaard pitted again for a second set of reds to try and ensure he remained in the top six. It was a wise move, as Dixon, Rinus VeeKay of Ed Carpenter Racing, and Ericsson all pushed him down, with Callum Ilott pushing him outside the transfer zone.
Kirkwood finally lowered his time to a brilliant 1m01.5305s – 96.245mph average – over half a second clear of O’Ward and Dixon.
McLaughlin made a strong final effort to jump into second place, 0.22s off Kirkwood, ahead of O’Ward, Dixon, Ericsson and Josef Newgarden. That bumped out VeeKay (by 0.0011s) and Ilott.
Lundgaard eventually damaged his left-front wheel on the Turn 7 wall, while another surprise non-graduate was Colton Herta, who also damaged his car and will start from the 12th row.
Q1 Group 1
Devlin DeFrancesco, Conor Daly, Helio Castroneves and Benjamin Pedersen went straight out on Firestone’s green-sidewalled alternate tires and, sure enough, two-time Detroit winner Castroneves rapidly hit the top ahead of DeFrancesco.
Armstrong, on primaries, slotted the No. 11 Honda on top with a very strong 1m02.8341s until usurped by 0.1380s by Palou. The primary runners were swift to pit for the softer rubber, and Rosenqvist moved up to second.
On alternates, Armstrong then unleashed a 1m01.8558s, an average of 95.739mph, before Helio Castroneves spun exiting Turn 2 but kept it off the wall. It did interrupt several drivers’ attempts at a flyer, however.
Palou leapt to second but was usurped by Grosjean, while late improvements from Power, Pagenaud and Rosenqvist ensured the latter’s teammate Alexander Rossi wouldn’t be moving onto Q2.
