Detroit IndyCar: Rossi grabs Race 1 pole, Newgarden tops Group 1

Worries over the durability of the Firestone alternates kept the drivers on primaries for the majority of the 12-minute Group 1 session, with Team Penske-Chevrolet’s Will Power setting the fastest time on the primaries.

However, the Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda of Felix Rosenqvist was the first car to nail a time on the alternates and went 0.45sec faster than Power’s benchmark time.

Power then blew his first attempt on the reds by skating down the Turn 7 escape road, and then got a bad exit off the penultimate turn on his second flyer, improving only marginally on his primary-tired run.

Thus teammate Newgarden topped Group 1 with a 1min14.8272sec ahead of Rosenqvist, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Zach Veach of Andretti Autosport and James Hinchcliffe in the #5 Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports-Honda.

Power was only sixth, therefore consigned to 12th when the qualifying groups were combined.

In Group 2, Dixon got within 0.1sec of Newgarden’s alternate tire using the primaries. Dixon’s first flyer on the reds produced a 1min14.5838sec to guarantee this group would produce the pole-winner but Rossi laid down a stunning 1min14.1989sec.

Dixon, having let his tires cool for a lap, tried to respond but grazed a wall and fell 0.2sec short, so will line up third for this afternoon’s race.

Colton Herta will start fifth for Harding Steinbrenner Racing after turning the third fastest time in Group 2 despite being called back to pits for a pitlane speed violation. His former Indy Lights rival Patricio O’Ward was fourth quickest in group and seventh on the grid for Carlin-Chevy.

Indy 500 winner Simon Pagenaud had a disappointing session, 1.2568sec off Rossi’s top time, and will start on the row behind teammate Power.

Leaders of each group get a point, so Newgarden has drawn level with Pagenaud in the championship, at least until this afternoon’s race starts at 3.50pm ET.

GRID

Cla	Driver	Team	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	Alexander Rossi	Andretti Autosport		1'14.1989			114.018
2	Josef Newgarden	Team Penske		1'14.8272	0.6283		113.060
3	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing		1'14.3995	0.2006		113.710
4	Felix Rosenqvist	Chip Ganassi Racing		1'14.9984	0.7995		112.802
5	Colton Herta	Harding Racing		1'14.8811	0.6822		112.979
6	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Andretti Autosport		1'15.1423	0.9434		112.586
7	Patricio O'Ward	Carlin		1'15.0772	0.8783		112.684
8	Zach Veach	Andretti Autosport		1'15.1487	0.9498		112.577
9	Takuma Sato	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing		1'15.3134	1.1145		112.331
10	James Hinchcliffe	Schmidt Peterson Motorsports		1'15.1750	0.9761		112.537
11	Graham Rahal	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing		1'15.3945	1.1956		112.210
12	Will Power	Team Penske		1'15.2111	1.0122		112.483
13	Simon Pagenaud	Team Penske		1'15.4557	1.2568		112.119
14	Ed Jones	Ed Carpenter Racing		1'15.6341	1.4352		111.854
15	Marcus Ericsson	Schmidt Peterson Motorsports		1'15.4811	1.2822		112.081
16	Sébastien Bourdais	Dale Coyne Racing		1'15.6691	1.4702		111.803
17	Spencer Pigot	Ed Carpenter Racing		1'15.5621	1.3632		111.961
18	Marco Andretti	Andretti Autosport		1'15.8871	1.6882		111.481
19	Max Chilton	Carlin		1'16.0801	1.8812		111.199
20	Matheus Leist	A.J. Foyt Enterprises		1'15.9628	1.7639		111.370
21	Tony Kanaan	A.J. Foyt Enterprises		1'16.6842	2.4853		110.323
22	Santino Ferrucci	Dale Coyne Racing		1'16.3830	2.1841		110.758
View full results

GROUP 1

Cla	Driver	Team	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	Josef Newgarden	Team Penske	7	1'14.8272			113.060
2	Felix Rosenqvist	Chip Ganassi Racing	8	1'14.9984	0.1712	0.1712	112.802
3	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Andretti Autosport	7	1'15.1423	0.3151	0.1439	112.586
4	Zach Veach	Andretti Autosport	7	1'15.1487	0.3215	0.0064	112.577
5	James Hinchcliffe	Schmidt Peterson Motorsports	7	1'15.1750	0.3478	0.0263	112.537
6	Will Power	Team Penske	8	1'15.2111	0.3839	0.0361	112.483
7	Ed Jones	Ed Carpenter Racing	8	1'15.6341	0.8069	0.4230	111.854
8	Sébastien Bourdais	Dale Coyne Racing	8	1'15.6691	0.8419	0.0350	111.803
9	Marco Andretti	Andretti Autosport	6	1'15.8871	1.0599	0.2180	111.481
10	Matheus Leist	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	6	1'15.9628	1.1356	0.0757	111.370
11	Santino Ferrucci	Dale Coyne Racing	8	1'16.3830	1.5558	0.4202	110.758
View full results

GROUP 2

Cla	Driver	Team	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	Alexander Rossi	Andretti Autosport	7	1'14.1989			114.018
2	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing	8	1'14.3995	0.2006	0.2006	113.710
3	Colton Herta	Harding Racing	7	1'14.8811	0.6822	0.4816	112.979
4	Patricio O'Ward	Carlin	7	1'15.0772	0.8783	0.1961	112.684
5	Takuma Sato	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	6	1'15.3134	1.1145	0.2362	112.331
6	Graham Rahal	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	6	1'15.3945	1.1956	0.0811	112.210
7	Simon Pagenaud	Team Penske	8	1'15.4557	1.2568	0.0612	112.119
8	Marcus Ericsson	Schmidt Peterson Motorsports	7	1'15.4811	1.2822	0.0254	112.081
9	Spencer Pigot	Ed Carpenter Racing	7	1'15.5621	1.3632	0.0810	111.961
10	Max Chilton	Carlin	7	1'16.0801	1.8812	0.5180	111.199
11	Tony Kanaan	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	7	1'16.6842	2.4853	0.6041	110.323
View full results