Firestone Fast Six
Grosjean was the first driver to lay down a flyer, snagging a 69.7636sec which Alex Palou’s first flyer couldn’t match, but Josef Newgarden did beat with a 69.5665sec.
Then Grosjean ducked under that best, beating Newgarden by 0.1269sec, with Jack Harvey’s Meyer Shank Racing-Honda finishing up third, just ahead of Palou’s Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda.
It was Grosjean’s first pole since he raced in GP2 in 2011, Coyne’s first pole since Sebastien Bourdais’s P1 effort at Phoenix in 2018, and the team’s first road/street course pole since Mike Conway at Detroit in 2013.
Scott McLaughlin was barely less impressive than fellow rookie Grosjean, finishing the session just 0.15sec behind Newgarden, and just ahead of Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevrolet’s Conor Daly.
P | No | Name | FTime | Diff | Gap | FL | Laps | LapTime | LPit | Led | ST | FSpeed | Elapsed | Engine | Tire | Points | Team |
1 | 51 | Romain Grosjean | 1:09.4396 | 1:09.4396 | 0.000 | 2 | 3 | 1:09.6278 | 0 | 3 | 126.447 | 6:24.7145 | Honda | A | 37 | Dale Coyne Racing w/Rick Ware Racing | |
2 | 2 | Josef Newgarden | 1:09.5665 | 0.1269 | 0.1269 | 2 | 3 | 1:09.5785 | 1 | 6 | 126.216 | 6:00.0820 | Chevy | A | 116 | Team Penske | |
3 | 60 | Jack Harvey | 1:09.6528 | 0.2132 | 0.0863 | 2 | 2 | 1:09.6528 | 0 | 2 | 126.060 | 6:47.7338 | Honda | A | 90 | Meyer Shank Racing | |
4 | 10 | Alex Palou | 1:09.7118 | 0.2722 | 0.0590 | 2 | 3 | 1:10.0620 | 0 | 1 | 125.953 | 6:42.3483 | Honda | A | 127 | Chip Ganassi Racing | |
5 | 3 | Scott McLaughlin | 1:09.7140 | 0.2744 | 0.0022 | 2 | 2 | 1:09.7140 | 0 | 5 | 125.949 | 6:14.1134 | Chevy | A | 99 | Team Penske | |
6 | 20 | Conor Daly | 1:09.8662 | 0.4266 | 0.1522 | 2 | 2 | 1:09.8662 | 0 | 4 | 125.675 | 5:57.5192 | Chevy | A | 43 | Ed Carpenter Racing |
Q2
Will Power lost his two best times for causing a red flag after spinning on his primary tires and having a clutch issue that prevented him from restarting. That delay forced everyone else to go straight to reds for a frantic four minutes.
Alex Palou, who scored his first win in the season-opener at Barber Motorsports Park, topped the session with a 69.4743sec, just ahead of Jack Harvey, while Romain Grosjean made it into the Firestone Fast Six with third fastest. Conor Daly did a superb job for Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevy to claim fourth, ahead of the second rookie in the Fast Six, Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin, and his teammate Josef Newgarden.
Rinus VeeKay in the second Carpenter car and Colton Herta – the fastest Andretti Autosport-Honda driver – was eighth.
Ed Jones made it two Coyne cars in the top eight, outpacing Simon Pagenaud (Penske) and Graham Rahal (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing-Honda).
P | No | Name | FTime | Diff | Gap | FL | Laps | LapTime | LPit | Led | ST | FSpeed | Elapsed | Engine | Tire | Points | Team |
1 | 10 | Alex Palou | 1:09.4743 | 1:09.4743 | 0.000 | 5 | 6 | 1:12.1872 | 3 | 8 | 126.383 | 10:04.5001 | Honda | A | 127 | Chip Ganassi Racing | |
2 | 60 | Jack Harvey | 1:09.5189 | 0.0446 | 0.0446 | 5 | 5 | 1:09.5189 | 3 | 4 | 126.302 | 9:36.0980 | Honda | A | 90 | Meyer Shank Racing | |
3 | 51 | Romain Grosjean | 1:09.5476 | 0.0733 | 0.0287 | 5 | 6 | 1:10.4711 | 3 | 11 | 126.250 | 10:29.8025 | Honda | A | 37 | Dale Coyne Racing w/Rick Ware Racing | |
4 | 20 | Conor Daly | 1:09.5627 | 0.0884 | 0.0151 | 3 | 5 | 1:11.9816 | 2 | 10 | 126.223 | 10:35.9983 | Chevy | A | 43 | Ed Carpenter Racing | |
5 | 3 | Scott McLaughlin | 1:09.7727 | 0.2984 | 0.2100 | 5 | 6 | 1:10.2013 | 3 | 9 | 125.843 | 10:07.6678 | Chevy | A | 99 | Team Penske | |
6 | 2 | Josef Newgarden | 1:09.7837 | 0.3094 | 0.0110 | 5 | 6 | 1:09.8525 | 3 | 7 | 125.823 | 10:15.5184 | Chevy | A | 116 | Team Penske | |
7 | 21 | Rinus VeeKay | 1:09.8185 | 0.3442 | 0.0348 | 5 | 5 | 1:09.8185 | 3 | 1 | 125.760 | 9:01.0005 | Chevy | A | 84 | Ed Carpenter Racing | |
8 | 26 | Colton Herta | 1:09.8222 | 0.3479 | 0.0037 | 5 | 5 | 1:09.8222 | 3 | 2 | 125.754 | 10:20.0660 | Honda | A | 100 | Andretti Autosport | |
9 | 18 | Ed Jones | 1:09.8548 | 0.3805 | 0.0326 | 4 | 4 | 1:09.8548 | 2 | 3 | 125.695 | 9:31.9033 | Honda | A | 51 | Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser Sullivan | |
10 | 22 | Simon Pagenaud | 1:09.8722 | 0.3979 | 0.0174 | 4 | 5 | 1:09.9726 | 3 | 6 | 125.664 | 9:44.0565 | Chevy | A | 102 | Team Penske | |
11 | 15 | Graham Rahal | 1:09.9060 | 0.4317 | 0.0338 | 5 | 5 | 1:09.9060 | 3 | 5 | 125.603 | 9:49.8056 | Honda | A | 107 | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | |
12 | 12 | Will Power | No Time | — | — | — | 1 | 1:11.7005 | 0 | 12 | — | 2:13.8477 | Chevy | P | 99 | Team Penske |
Q1 Group 2
Josef Newgarden got down to a 70.6385sec lap on blacks before the field dived for the pits to switch to reds – or in Juan Pablo Montoya’s case, a second set of reds having started the session on the softer compound Firestones.
Rookie Romain Grosjean was the first driver into the 69s with a 69.8963 and that was enough to see him advance to Q2, albeit in fifth, as Newgarden led the session with a 69.6101sec, ahead of Alex Palou in the Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda.
Rookie Scott McLaughlin’s 69.7537sec saw him finish the session third ahead of Conor Daly’s Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevy. Just behind Grosjean was Will Power who blew Turn 1 on what should have been his best lap, but still managed to scrape through. Alexander Rossi, who had looked strong in practice, was only seventh but ahead of Scott Dixon (Ganassi) who missed red tire running FP2 and Pato O’Ward of Arrow McLaren SP-Chevy.
Montoya lost his two best laps for holding up Palou.
P | No | Name | FTime | Diff | Gap | FL | Laps | LapTime | LPit | Led | ST | FSpeed | Elapsed | Engine | Tire | Points | Team |
1 | 2 | Josef Newgarden | 1:09.6101 | 1:09.6101 | 0.000 | 6 | 7 | 1:14.0685 | 4 | 1 | 126.137 | 10:52.3854 | Chevy | A | 1 | Team Penske | |
2 | 10 | Alex Palou | 1:09.6589 | 0.0488 | 0.0488 | 6 | 7 | 1:09.6614 | 4 | 7 | 126.049 | 10:39.5056 | Honda | A | 8 | Chip Ganassi Racing | |
3 | 3 | Scott McLaughlin | 1:09.7537 | 0.1436 | 0.0948 | 6 | 7 | 1:15.5560 | 4 | 3 | 125.877 | 10:31.7192 | Chevy | A | 2 | Team Penske | |
4 | 20 | Conor Daly | 1:09.7646 | 0.1545 | 0.0109 | 6 | 7 | 1:13.2823 | 4 | 8 | 125.858 | 11:12.1011 | Chevy | A | 13 | Ed Carpenter Racing | |
5 | 51 | Romain Grosjean | 1:09.8556 | 0.2455 | 0.0910 | 5 | 6 | 1:09.8589 | 4 | 4 | 125.694 | 10:05.1123 | Honda | A | 22 | Dale Coyne Racing w/Rick Ware Racing | |
6 | 12 | Will Power | 1:09.8963 | 0.2862 | 0.0407 | 6 | 7 | 1:20.0025 | 4 | 2 | 125.620 | 11:04.6386 | Chevy | A | 9 | Team Penske | |
7 | 27 | Alexander Rossi | 1:09.9012 | 0.2911 | 0.0049 | 7 | 7 | 1:09.9012 | 4 | 6 | 125.612 | 11:06.8439 | Honda | A | 17 | Andretti Autosport | |
8 | 9 | Scott Dixon | 1:09.9512 | 0.3411 | 0.0500 | 7 | 7 | 1:09.9512 | 4 | 12 | 125.522 | 10:33.4720 | Honda | A | 7 | Chip Ganassi Racing | |
9 | 5 | Pato O’Ward | 1:10.0726 | 0.4625 | 0.1214 | 6 | 6 | 1:10.0726 | 4 | 5 | 125.304 | 9:48.6361 | Chevy | A | 4 | Arrow McLaren SP | |
10 | 14 | Sebastien Bourdais | 1:10.1830 | 0.5729 | 0.1104 | 6 | 7 | 1:18.8448 | 4 | 11 | 125.107 | 11:02.1415 | Chevy | A | 10 | AJ Foyt Enterprises | |
11 | 29 | James Hinchcliffe | 1:10.6174 | 1.0073 | 0.4344 | 5 | 6 | 1:10.6243 | 3 | 9 | 124.338 | 10:37.3626 | Honda | A | 19 | Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport | |
12 | 86 | Juan Pablo Montoya | 1:10.8705 | 1.2604 | 0.2531 | 6 | 6 | 1:10.8705 | 4 | 13 | 123.894 | 10:43.9458 | Chevy | A | 31 | Arrow McLaren SP | |
13 | 4 | Dalton Kellett | 1:10.9312 | 1.3211 | 0.0607 | 6 | 7 | 1:11.1693 | 4 | 10 | 123.788 | 10:44.8688 | Chevy | A | 3 | AJ Foyt Enterprises |
Q1 Group 1
Jack Harvey’s Meyer Shank Racing-Honda was fastest on the Firestone primary tires, with a 70.7971sec lap, but that was some 1sec off his potential on reds. He made it through but in fourth, behind Rinus VeeKay’s 69.4890sec, a tenth ahead of Colton Herta in the Andretti Autosport-Honda and surprise star Ed Jones in the Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser Sullivan-Honda.
Graham Rahal and Simon Pagenaud survived late efforts from the Swedes Felix Rosenqvist and Marcus Ericsson who missed out by hundredths of a second.
Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda’s rookie Jimmie Johnson was an impressive 1.55sec adrift despite a trip down the Turn 1 escape road on his second set of reds, when he believed the soft compound were at their peak.
P | No | Name | FTime | Diff | Gap | FL | Laps | LapTime | LPit | Led | ST | FSpeed | Elapsed | Engine | Tire | Points | Team |
1 | 21 | Rinus VeeKay | 1:09.4890 | 1:09.4890 | 0.000 | 6 | 6 | 1:09.4890 | 4 | 1 | 126.357 | 9:46.7163 | Chevy | A | 84 | Ed Carpenter Racing | |
2 | 26 | Colton Herta | 1:09.5867 | 0.0977 | 0.0977 | 6 | 6 | 1:09.5867 | 4 | 2 | 126.179 | 9:38.8466 | Honda | A | 100 | Andretti Autosport | |
3 | 18 | Ed Jones | 1:09.7152 | 0.2262 | 0.1285 | 6 | 6 | 1:09.7152 | 4 | 7 | 125.947 | 9:52.9732 | Honda | A | 51 | Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser Sullivan | |
4 | 60 | Jack Harvey | 1:09.7589 | 0.2699 | 0.0437 | 5 | 6 | 1:09.7828 | 4 | 3 | 125.868 | 9:43.0687 | Honda | A | 90 | Meyer Shank Racing | |
5 | 15 | Graham Rahal | 1:09.7918 | 0.3028 | 0.0329 | 6 | 6 | 1:09.7918 | 4 | 8 | 125.808 | 10:12.6726 | Honda | A | 107 | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | |
6 | 22 | Simon Pagenaud | 1:09.8061 | 0.3171 | 0.0143 | 6 | 6 | 1:09.8061 | 4 | 4 | 125.783 | 10:04.1961 | Chevy | A | 102 | Team Penske | |
7 | 7 | Felix Rosenqvist | 1:09.8243 | 0.3353 | 0.0182 | 5 | 6 | 1:13.3281 | 3 | 5 | 125.750 | 10:37.4660 | Chevy | A | 58 | Arrow McLaren SP | |
8 | 8 | Marcus Ericsson | 1:09.8382 | 0.3492 | 0.0139 | 7 | 7 | 1:09.8382 | 4 | 9 | 125.725 | 10:43.1194 | Honda | A | 79 | Chip Ganassi Racing | |
9 | 30 | Takuma Sato | 1:09.8665 | 0.3775 | 0.0283 | 7 | 7 | 1:09.8665 | 5 | 10 | 125.674 | 10:30.4353 | Honda | A | 84 | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | |
10 | 28 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | 1:09.8759 | 0.3869 | 0.0094 | 7 | 7 | 1:09.8759 | 4 | 6 | 125.657 | 10:45.2703 | Honda | A | 56 | Andretti Autosport | |
11 | 11 | Charlie Kimball | 1:10.6810 | 1.1920 | 0.8051 | 6 | 6 | 1:10.6810 | 4 | 11 | 124.226 | 9:58.8760 | Chevy | A | 26 | AJ Foyt Enterprises | |
12 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | 1:11.0455 | 1.5565 | 0.3645 | 6 | 6 | 1:11.0455 | 3 | 12 | 123.588 | 10:09.7691 | Honda | A | 19 | Chip Ganassi Racing |
