Andretti Autosport driver Herta lapped 0.445 seconds clear of nearest challenger Josef Newgarden, as second practice pacesetter Romain Grosjean crashed out of the decisive Fast Six session.
Herta’s team-mate Alexander Rossi laid down the first marker in the third segment of qualifying with 1m06.0s, his closest opponent being Newgarden (Team Penske) and Felix Rosenqvist (Arrow McLaren SP) after their first runs.
Defending champion Alex Palou (Chip Ganassi Racing) then delivered a 1m05.8667s lap to go top, before 2021 Long Beach winner Herta slammed in a 1m05.3095s to claim the qualifying track record by nine-tenths of a second, with Grosjean 0.1960s behind him.
Attempting to usurp his team-mate, Grosjean grazed a wall with his left-rear on the run to Turn 5, breaking a toelink which sent him crabbing hard into the tyre wall on the outside of the corner. That cost him his best time, dropping him to sixth, and promoted Newgarden to the front row ahead of Palou.
With two seconds of guaranteed time remaining, IndyCar’s rule allowing cars one final flyer kicked in. Only Rosenqvist and Rossi took the option, but both failed to improve – Rossi slid into the Turn 1 run-off, and Rosenqvist was unable to edge ahead of anyone, leaving him to start in fourth.
In Q2, Palou was somewhat of an outlier by going straight onto used reds from the start of the session but his first effort left him only eighth fastest. Herta was fastest on the primaries on 65.9478s, ahead of championship leader Scott McLaughlin, Simon Pagenaud (Meyer Shank Racing), Grosjean and Marcus Ericsson (Ganassi).
First flyers on fresh reds came from Penske team-mates Newgarden and Will Power, springing into the top two spots with 1m05.8s. Then Rosenqvist and Herta deposed both of them, while Herta kept improving to deliver a 1m05.4057s. His closest challenger was team-mate Rossi.
Rosenqvist, Palou, Newgarden and Grosjean also got through, but Power – only 0.0001s behind Grosjean – called in the fact that got backed up following Pato O’Ward (Arrow McLaren SP) at the hairpin, but believing the Mexican too had been backed up.
Josef Newgarden will start second after Grosjean crashed in the Fast Six and lost his best time
Photo by: Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Images
A surprise elimination in Q2 was Pagenaud, who had looked headed first practice and been second-fastest in his Q1 group. The 2016 Long Beach winner had encountered McLaughlin, who himself had been stymied by Ericsson.
Grosjean was the fastest driver on primaries in Group 2 during the first segment of qualifying, with a 1m05.9796s. That time withstood several aces’ first efforts on reds with the exception was Pagenaud, who edged past with a 1m05.8908s lap. Then Grosjean nudged past with a 1m05.7468s.
Behind these two, Power and Newgarden also progressed to Q2, just ahead of Palou and O’Ward. Those eliminated at this stage included the second Meyer Shank Racing entry of Helio Castroneves, who started third here last year, and six-time champion Scott Dixon.
Herta set a 1m06.6653s on primaries in Group 1, but this became irrelevant when McLaughlin delivered a 1m06.1076s. Then both Herta and team-mate Rossi ducked under the 1m06s mark, Herta producing a 1m05.7283s.
Rosenqvist then delivered a 1m06.1s to grab third ahead of McLaughlin, while Kyle Kirkwood excelled with fifth fastest in group for AJ Foyt Racing.
Graham Rahal looked like he was going to graduate until Ericsson squeezed him out with his last run. Rahal had also been maddened by Jimmie Johnson emerging from pitlane into his path during a flying lap, and the former NASCAR ace’s interference cost him his best laps.
Rinus VeeKay (Ed Carpenter Racing) was a surprise elimination at this stage, while rookie David Malukas did a fine job to outqualify Dale Coyne Racing team-mate, 2013 Long Beach winner Takuma Sato.
IndyCar Long Bech qualifying results:
Fast Six
Q2
Q1 Group 2
Q1 Group 1