Nashville IndyCar: Herta delivers 102mph lap to take pole

Firestone Fast Six

Colton Herta advancing from his Q1 group on primary tires meant he had a set of fresh reds for the final segment of qualifying and he delivered a scintillating 1min13.6835sec with his third lap – a 102.601mph. That earned him the inaugural Bryan Clauson Pole Trophy , named after the USAC legend who died in a crash five years ago today.

In that context, six-time Scott Dixon did a great job to deliver a lap 0.5492sec slower, and beating Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda teammate and points leader Alex Palou. Palou will start ninth however due to his six-place grid penalty for an early engine change.

Alexander Rossi was second fastest of the Andretti Autosport-Hondas ahead of the quieckest Chevrolet driver, Arrow McLaren SP’s Felix Rosenqvist, while Romain Grosjean landed sixth for Dale Coyne Racing with RWR-Honda but all three of these drivers will move up a spot as a result of Palou's penalty.

P	No	Name	FTime	Diff	Gap	FL	Laps	LapTime	LPit	Led	ST	FSpeed	Elapsed	Engine	Tire	Points	Team
1	26	Colton Herta	1:13.6835	1:13.6835	0.000	3	3	1:13.6835	0		3	102.601	6:34.5151	Honda	A	260	Andretti Autosport
2	9	Scott Dixon	1:14.2327	0.5492	0.5492	3	3	1:14.2327	0		4	101.842	6:47.4532	Honda	A	328	Chip Ganassi Racing
3	10	Alex Palou	1:14.6316	0.9481	0.3989	4	4	1:14.6316	2		1	101.298	6:42.6637	Honda	A	384	Chip Ganassi Racing
4	27	Alexander Rossi	1:14.6646	0.9811	0.0330	4	4	1:14.6646	1		2	101.253	6:51.1960	Honda	A	201	Andretti Autosport
5	7	Felix Rosenqvist	1:15.0045	1.3210	0.3399	2	2	1:15.0045	0		5	100.794	4:23.1241	Chevy	A	94	Arrow McLaren SP
6	51	Romain Grosjean	1:15.3980	1.7145	0.3935	3	3	1:15.3980	0		6	100.268	5:09.0088	Honda	A	151	Dale Coyne Racing w/Rick Ware Racing

Simon Pagenaud was the only driver to take reds (used) from the start of the session, and he briefly held top spot but was eventually eclipsed by faster primary-tired cars, before all ducked into the pits for fresh reds.

Grosjean threw down a marker on his fourth lap with a 1min15.0078sec ahead of Palou and Herta, but was then bumped off top spot by the championship leader, and demoted further by Felix Rosenqvist.

Josef Newgarden, who lay sixth at the time, was attempting to set another flyer when he locked up into Turn 10 and smacked the wall hard with his right-front and -rear. The resulting debris field as he tried to limp to a run-off area was considered interference with the closely following O’Ward, so Newgarden had his fastest lap deleted, dropping him to 12^th, alongside teammate Will Power. In fact, no Penske-Chevrolet driver made it into the Firestone Fast Six, as Simon Pagenaud was eighth.

That didn’t help O’Ward who wound up ninth, while Jack Harvey’s Meyer Shank Racing missed the Fast Six by 0.12 and will start seventh.

P	No	Name	FTime	Diff	Gap	FL	Laps	LapTime	LPit	Led	ST	FSpeed	Elapsed	Engine	Tire	Points	Team
1	10	Alex Palou	1:14.4578	1:14.4578	0.000	6	7	1:28.2003	4		1	101.534	11:08.2736	Honda	A	384	Chip Ganassi Racing
2	27	Alexander Rossi	1:14.5252	0.0674	0.0674	6	7	1:34.2125	4		3	101.442	11:20.5486	Honda	A	201	Andretti Autosport
3	26	Colton Herta	1:14.7232	0.2654	0.1980	6	7	1:24.3425	4		4	101.173	10:44.6331	Honda	A	260	Andretti Autosport
4	9	Scott Dixon	1:14.8394	0.3816	0.1162	6	7	1:29.8086	4		2	101.016	11:07.5382	Honda	A	328	Chip Ganassi Racing
5	7	Felix Rosenqvist	1:14.8476	0.3898	0.0082	5	6	1:15.0847	3		7	101.005	10:20.3461	Chevy	A	94	Arrow McLaren SP
6	51	Romain Grosjean	1:15.0078	0.5500	0.1602	4	6	1:15.3512	3		12	100.790	10:08.5260	Honda	A	151	Dale Coyne Racing w/Rick Ware Racing
7	60	Jack Harvey	1:15.1309	0.6731	0.1231	5	6	1:18.8060	3		6	100.624	10:49.0169	Honda	A	170	Meyer Shank Racing
8	22	Simon Pagenaud	1:15.1354	0.6776	0.0045	6	6	1:15.1354	3		10	100.618	10:14.2719	Chevy	A	271	Team Penske
9	5	Pato O'Ward	1:15.1914	0.7336	0.0560	5	6	1:15.6485	3		5	100.543	10:30.9797	Chevy	A	345	Arrow McLaren SP
10	29	James Hinchcliffe	1:15.3255	0.8677	0.1341	6	7	1:28.2633	5		8	100.364	11:22.5185	Honda	A	131	Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport
11	12	Will Power	1:15.4678	1.0100	0.1423	7	7	1:15.4678	4		11	100.175	10:41.1497	Chevy	A	209	Team Penske
12	2	Josef Newgarden	1:15.5062	1.0484	0.0384	3	6	1:14.8873	4		9	100.124	9:10.5438	Chevy	A	315	Team Penske

Q1 Group 2

Romain Grosjean had a little spin in the Turn 10 run-off but was able to resume with a spin-turn. Colton Herta continued the form he’s shown in practice, and on primaries he delivered a 1min14.7067sec – at that point a full second ahead of the opposition on primary tires, and the first lap in the 101mph bracket – a 101.196.

Dixon eventually shaded that with a 1min14.6673 but needed a set of alternate compound tires to do it. Jack Harvey delivered third-fastest time for Meyer Shank Racing ahead of the impressive James Hinchcliffe, ahead of Simon Pagenaud’s Penske and Grosjean in the Dale Coyne Racing with RWR-Honda.

Ryan Hunter-Reay failed to advance, his cause not helped by being issued a drive-through penalty for speeding on pitlane, while Sebastien Bourdais of AJ Foyt Racing-Chevrolet and Marcus Ericsson.

Rinus VeeKay was kicking himself for tapping the wall with his Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevrolet, bending the rear suspension and leaving him starting behind teammate Conor Daly, but ahead of Takuma Sato (RLL).

P	No	Name	FTime	Diff	Gap	FL	Laps	LapTime	LPit	Led	ST	FSpeed	Elapsed	Engine	Tire	Points	Team
1	9	Scott Dixon	1:14.6673	1:14.6673	0.000	7	7	1:14.6673	4		2	101.249	10:49.5509	Honda	A	7	Chip Ganassi Racing
2	26	Colton Herta	1:14.7067	0.0394	0.0394	4	4	1:14.7067	0		1	101.196	6:11.4099	Honda	A	16	Andretti Autosport
3	60	Jack Harvey	1:15.2585	0.5912	0.5518	6	6	1:15.2585	3		7	100.454	10:53.2964	Honda	A	24	Meyer Shank Racing
4	29	James Hinchcliffe	1:15.2646	0.5973	0.0061	6	7	1:21.9789	4		10	100.446	11:03.8075	Honda	A	19	Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport
5	22	Simon Pagenaud	1:15.3661	0.6988	0.1015	6	6	1:15.3661	3		6	100.310	10:17.1165	Chevy	A	15	Team Penske
6	51	Romain Grosjean	1:15.3730	0.7057	0.0069	5	6	1:19.0267	3		8	100.301	10:26.8508	Honda	A	22	Dale Coyne Racing w/Rick Ware Racing
7	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay	1:15.4984	0.8311	0.1254	7	7	1:15.4984	4		11	100.135	11:00.8162	Honda	A	18	Andretti Autosport
8	14	Sebastien Bourdais	1:15.6055	0.9382	0.1071	6	7	1:16.2396	4		3	99.993	11:06.3270	Chevy	A	10	AJ Foyt Enterprises
9	8	Marcus Ericsson	1:15.6379	0.9706	0.0324	5	6	1:24.6842	4		4	99.950	9:36.8593	Honda	A	6	Chip Ganassi Racing
10	20	Conor Daly	1:15.6685	1.0012	0.0306	6	6	1:15.6685	4		12	99.909	10:05.5522	Chevy	A	13	Ed Carpenter Racing
11	21	Rinus VeeKay	1:15.7029	1.0356	0.0344	4	5	1:19.4737	3		5	99.864	9:22.2453	Chevy	A	14	Ed Carpenter Racing
12	30	Takuma Sato	1:15.8503	1.1830	0.1474	6	6	1:15.8503	5		13	99.670	10:29.8487	Honda	A	20	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
13	18	Ed Jones	1:15.8770	1.2097	0.0267	6	6	1:15.8770	3		9	99.635	10:13.5519	Honda	P	12	Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser Sullivan
14	52	Cody Ware	1:17.6115	2.9442	1.7345	6	6	1:17.6115	4		14	97.408	10:23.3143	Honda	A	29	Dale Coyne Racing w/Rick Ware Racing

Q1 Group 1

Jimmie Johnson drove his Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda into the wall at Turn 10 on his out lap and so the qualifying segment only got going with 3mins30sec remaining, forcing all to restart on reds, with no sighting laps. That made things very urgent, with Johnson’s teammate Palou landing top spot with a 1min15.3385sec, a few hundredths ahead of Andretti Autosport’s Rossi and the Arrow McLaren SP-Chevrolet of Pato O’Ward.

O’Ward’s teammate Felix Rosenqvist claimed fourth, just ahead of Team Penske-Chevrolet’s Josef Newgarden and Will Power.

Their rookie teammate Scott McLaughlin, who suffered an incident this morning, was eliminated after brushing the wall with his right front wheel, as were the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing-Hondas of Graham Rahal and Santino Ferrucci, and Meyer Shank Racing-Honda’s Helio Castroneves, who is making his first IndyCar road/street course start of the year tomorrow.

P	No	Name	FTime	Diff	Gap	FL	Laps	LapTime	LPit	Led	ST	FSpeed	Elapsed	Engine	Tire	Points	Team
1	10	Alex Palou	1:15.3385	1:15.3385	0.000	4	4	1:15.3385	2		2	100.347	10:24.2266	Honda	A	384	Chip Ganassi Racing
2	27	Alexander Rossi	1:15.3721	0.0336	0.0336	4	4	1:15.3721	2		1	100.302	10:20.5337	Honda	A	201	Andretti Autosport
3	5	Pato O'Ward	1:15.4160	0.0775	0.0439	4	4	1:15.4160	2		4	100.244	10:39.4848	Chevy	A	345	Arrow McLaren SP
4	7	Felix Rosenqvist	1:15.5305	0.1920	0.1145	4	4	1:15.5305	2		3	100.092	10:31.0183	Chevy	A	94	Arrow McLaren SP
5	2	Josef Newgarden	1:15.5474	0.2089	0.0169	4	4	1:15.5474	2		9	100.070	10:09.8026	Chevy	A	315	Team Penske
6	12	Will Power	1:15.6309	0.2924	0.0835	4	4	1:15.6309	2		7	99.959	10:15.1820	Chevy	A	209	Team Penske
7	15	Graham Rahal	1:16.1097	0.7712	0.4788	4	4	1:16.1097	2		8	99.330	10:29.0798	Honda	A	256	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
8	06	Helio Castroneves	1:16.3479	1.0094	0.2382	4	4	1:16.3479	2		6	99.020	10:54.8523	Honda	A	103	Meyer Shank Racing
9	45	Santino Ferrucci	1:16.4647	1.1262	0.1168	4	4	1:16.4647	2		10	98.869	10:44.6213	Honda	A	127	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
10	4	Dalton Kellett	1:17.1516	1.8131	0.6869	4	4	1:17.1516	2		13	97.989	10:49.7348	Chevy	A	95	AJ Foyt Enterprises
11	59	Max Chilton	1:17.5553	2.2168	0.4037	4	4	1:17.5553	2		12	97.479	10:36.9498	Chevy	A	77	Carlin
12	3	Scott McLaughlin	1:18.1899	2.8514	0.6346	4	4	1:18.1899	2		5	96.688	10:36.5183	Chevy	A	198	Team Penske
13	48	Jimmie Johnson	No Time	---	---	--	---	--.---	0		11	---	1:46.2978	Honda	P	56	Chip Ganassi Racing