Rosenqvist claims first IndyCar pole at Indianapolis road course – IndyCar

Felix Rosenqvist grabbed his first IndyCar pole by edging five-time champion Ganassi team-mate Scott Dixon in a very cold Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course qualifying.

Rosenqvist’s decisive lap was 0.0194 seconds faster than Dixon’s, earning the rookie pole with a 1m08.278s.

The surprise of the 53 degrees fahrenheit session was part-time competitor Jack Harvey, who came within 0.05s of taking pole in his joint Meyer Shank and Schmidt Peterson entry. It was the first time the twice Indy Lights runner-up had made it into a ‘Firestone Fast Six’ pole shootout.

Colton Herta set the fastest lap of the weekend but unfortunately for him and Harding Steinbrenner Racing, it came in Q2, and he wound up less than a tenth from pole.

Another surprise was Ed Jones, who grabbed fifth for Ed Carpenter Racing to be fastest of the Chevrolet runners.

In Q3, three-time Indy road course polesitter Will Power of Team Penske tried both sets of reds he had run in Q1 and Q2, but the tactic didn’t work – his fastest lap was his first flyer – and so he ended up half a second off Rosenqvist’s top time. But he maintained his 100% record of outqualifying his team-mates this season.

The 2006 Atlantic Championship rivals Graham Rahal of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing-Honda and Team Penske’s Simon Pagenaud will occupy the fourth row, while Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports’ Formula 1 convert Marcus Ericsson got his best qualifying position of the season so far, landing ninth.

Neither Sebastien Bourdais nor Spencer Pigot set a representative time on alternate tyres in Q2, the latter getting caught behind another car. He will start only 12th despite being fast throughout practice.

IndyCar returnee Helio Castroneves’ tactic of going straight out on alternate compound tires didn’t pay off in Q1 Group 1, as he wound up 15th, albeit only two places behind Penske team-mate Josef Newgarden.

The championship leader was left struggling to figure out why he hadn’t progressed to Q2 when underdogs such as Harvey and Jones had made it through.

Andretti Autosport’s Ryan Hunter-Reay (who is feeling unwell) and Alexander Rossi were two more drivers gutted to finish outside the top six in their Q1 groups, consigning them to 16th and 17th, beaten by Santino Ferrucci’s well-driven Dale Coyne Racing Dallara-Honda.

James Hinchcliffe was half a second slower than Arrow SPM team-mate Ericsson and will start only 18th.

Starting grid