Herta surged to a 1m10.7994s laptime during the Fast Six session to edge Penske’s Will Power by 0.027s, claiming his second pole at Laguna Seca, although Power lost his best laptime after it was set while going through yellow flags waving for Pato O’Ward spinning at the Corkscrew.
Both Herta and Power had advanced to the final session in the top two placings, Herta edging Power by a quarter of a second.
Power’s penalty bumped Alexander Rossi up to the front row, while the Penske driver’s second-fastest lap was good enough for third on the grid.
Behind him, championship leader Alex Palou landed fourth, a half second slower than Herta but half a second up on impressive Rahal Letterman Lanigan driver Oliver Askew.
Askew was promoted to fifth, as O’Ward lost his two fastest laps for causing a red flag.
Askew had previously advanced to the Fast Six in fourth during the Q2 session to further stake his claim for an RLL seat next season, placing ahead of Rossi and O’Ward.
Chip Ganassi Racing duo Marcus Ericsson and Scott Dixon will start behind their points-leading teammate Palou, in seventh and eighth, as they failed to make the Fast Six cut.
Dixon was just 0.03s clear of Simon Pagenaud, while Max Chilton surprised with his run to secure 10th on the Laguna Seca grid.
James Hinchcliffe and Graham Rahal were the last of the 12 cars in Q2, with the latter sustaining a spin on the exit of Turn 6 to lose control over what would have been his best lap.
Both Ed Jones and Scott McLaughlin would be justified in being unhappy to be excluded at the Q1 stage – McLaughlin pitted thinking the team had called him in – while Jones was just a whisker slower than Alex Palou, who made it to the final session.
Romain Grosjean was also just 0.0027s slower than Dixon, and also failed to make it to Q2.
Grosjean starts from 13th, ahead of Ed Jones on the seventh row, while Felix Rosenqvist and McLaughlin will pick up from 15th and 16th in Sunday’s race and Josef Newgarden starts 17th.
IndyCar Laguna Seca – Fast Six qualifying results