Josef Newgarden beats IndyCar title rival Dixon to Toronto pole – IndyCar

Reigning IndyCar champion Josef Newgarden took his third pole of the season for of this weekend’s race in Toronto.

Newgarden set his best lap of the session, 59.4956 seconds, as he took the chequered flag, after starting the final qualifying session last in the ‘Fast Six’ segment.

Having lost out on a win at Iowa last weekend, Newgarden’s pursuit of championship leader Scott Dixon continues as his title rival qualified second and prevented yet another Penske 1-2-3, with Simon Pagenaud and Will Power locking out the second row of the grid.

Andretti’s Alexander Rossi and Ryan Hunter-Reay completed the top six.

Qualifying started in the wet, with the first qualifying group setting their times on the wet compound Firestone tyres before conditions began to dry.

A dry racing line continued to emerge throughout the session until the rain returned just before the ‘Fast Six’.

Takuma Sato was the only man in the top 12 to set his best time on the primary tyres, the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver felt more comfortable on the black-banded tyres.

He finished the day seventh quickest, missing out progressing to the final part of qualifying by just 0.1639s.

Jordan King took eighth ahead of Schmidt Peterson Motorsports’s James Hinchcliffe, who span over the line just before the end of the round of 12 in his home event.

His team-mate Robert Wickens, who started the round of 12 on the primary tyre before switching to the red-walled tyres, finished 10th.

Conor Daly, who replaced Gabby Chaves at Harding Racing for this weekend, was 11th and Matheus Leist completed the top 12.

Chip Ginassi Racing’s Ed Jones brought out the red flags early in the session when he span in wet conditions and stopped on track.

He will start tomorrow’s race from the back of the grid.

Qualifying result