Grosjean was the fastest driver on Saturday afternoon. Photo: Kevin Dejewski
NTT IndyCar Series qualifying took place on Saturday afternoon, and it was Romain Grosjean that stormed to his second pole of the season.
The Frenchman was in the middle of a very tight battle for the top spot, and was the third different driver to move into the top spot in the final minute of the final qualifying session.
In the end Grosjean lapped the 2.3-mile course in 1:05.8396, nearly half of a second faster than VeeKay’s pole time from last year.
His achievement was extra impressive because Grosjean’s Honda engine let go just a few laps into practice, which caused him to lose out on a bunch of valuable track time.
Alex Palou put in the second fastest time, just 0.0734 seconds slower than the fast time. Pato O’Ward was third with a time that was only slightly slower.
A pair of ‘Scotts’ filled the fourth and fifth spots, with McLaughlin and Dixon filling those two positions respectively.
Christian Lundgaard was impeded during one of his laps in the first qualifying session, but ultimately was able to advance anyway and ended up making it to the final session and finished with the sixth fastest time.
Marcus Armstrong was penalized for the infraction, and dropped from a 14th place starting spot down to 26th when his fast laps were deleted.
A clean track was had to come by for everyone in the opening sessions, and Rinus VeeKay and Will Power nearly came together as tempers flared while looking for track position.
Unrelated to their tussle on track, both drivers pushed too hard and took a trip through the grass in the Fast 12 session. VeeKay will start ninth, and Power will start 11th.
Josef Newgarden was also bumped out in the second round despite looking like he had pace for a front row run earlier in the weekend. He will start down in seventh just ahead of Felix Rosenqvist.
Pato O’Ward made it to the final qualifying round and was happy with his effort. Photo: Kevin Dejewski
Santino Ferrucci had gearbox troubles as soon as he headed out on track, and had to come right back into the pit box.
The AJ Foyt Racing crew was not able to find a fix quickly enough for him to set a competitive time, and he will start in the 27th and final position.
Drivers will get one final warm up practice session on Sunday morning, and will take the green flag for the 90-lap feature at 2:00 PM.
Keyword: Grosjean takes IndyCar pole over Palou at Barber