ARLINGTON, Texas — Marcus Ericsson won his first pole in any form of racing since 2013 when the Andretti Global driver was first out in the Firestone Fast 6 and the fastest on the track for Sunday’s Java House Grand Prix of Arlington.
The qualification session for the NTT IndyCar Series street race had a new twist with the Firestone Fast 6 determined by single-lap qualifying in the final round.
“I waited long enough, I can tell you that,” Ericsson said. “This is a giant thing; I’ll tell you that. I’ve been close and to finally get the pole, means a lot to the guys at Andretti Global.
“It’s a lot of pressure in this format, but I love it. I told them before the week we should do this every weekend. My team did a tremendous job, and we need to get it done tomorrow.”
Because he was sixth in the second round of qualifications that determined the Fast 6, Marcus Ericsson of Andretti Global was first out for his single-lap run in the No. 28 Honda. Without having to worry about traffic, each driver went full out for one warmup lap and one flying lap.
Ericsson’s lap was 1:34.356 around the 14-turn, 2.73-mile street course – the fastest lap of the qualification session at that time.
Marcus Armstrong was next out in the No. 66 Meyer-Shank Honda and completed a lap at 1:35.6012. Andretti Global driver Will Power was the third of the six to hit the track and the second of two Andretti Global drivers.
Power’s lap was 1:35.0858, which moved Armstrong down to third but not fast enough to displace Ericsson from the top position.
Felix Rosenqvist was one of two Meyer Shank Racing drivers in the Fast 6 and was the fourth driver to qualify. Rosenqvist’s No 60 Honda hit the track. He nearly hit the wall but stayed flat on the accelerator though Turn 10. Rosenqvist came out of the final turn and wasn’t fast enough to take the pole with a lap at 1:35.1607, third at the time.
Popular Pato O’Ward was the fifth of the six drivers to make his attempt. O’Ward had a great lap and moved up to second at 1:34.8453 in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet.
That left just one driver who could knock Ericsson off the pole, and it was the four-time NTT IndyCar Series Champion, Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing.
Palou was full throttle all the way to the braking zone, used up all of his hybrid in an attempt to knock Ericsson off the pole, but it was not enough.
Palou’s speed of 1:34.8180 in the No. 10 DHL Honda was the second fastest of the six drivers that make single lap runs and that guaranteed Ericsson of his first NTT IndyCar Series pole.
“It was a little more than a hair, Marcus had a really fast lap,” Palou said. “It’s tough. It was excited to us trying to use those brakes on the out-lap. Can’t wait to see how exciting the race is.”
Arriving at the racecourse just before qualifications began was McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown to watch his three drivers at Arrow McLaren compete in this inaugural INDYCAR SERIES event.
“I can’t wait to see qualifying, I just arrived,” Brown said. “I checked in with the drivers, and they say it is now their favorite race, so I’m excited to see what it is like.
“I think this is cool. It’s good to see a facility like this come together. Roger (Penske), more of these, please.”
Weather at the start of the session 73 degrees with sunny skies. The track temperature is 96.8 degrees.
After crashing out early in last Saturday’s Good Ranchers 250 at Phoenix Raceway, Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing bounced back on the 14-turn, 2.73-mile street course with a time of 1:33.7398 in the No. 10 DHL Honda. That was the fastest in his group. He was followed by Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist in the No. 60 Honda at 1:34.0500, Alexander Rossi in the No. 20 Java House Chevrolet for ECR at 1:34.3222, Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden in the No. 2 PPG Chevrolet at 1:34.4569, Christian Rasmussen in the No. 21 Splenda Chevrolet for ECR at 1:34.4930 and Andretti Global’s Marcus Ericsson’s 1:34.5667 in the No. 28 Honda.
Missing out on advancing were Louie Foster of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing in the No. 45 Honda (1:34.6639), Romain Grosjean of Dale Coyne Racing in the No. 18 Honda at 1:34.7199, Mick Schumacher in the No. 47 RLL Honda at 1:34.8391, rookie Dennis Hauger in the No. 19 Dale Coyne Racing Honda at 1:34.8731, Rinus VeeKay in the No. 76 Juncos Hollinger Chevrolet at 1:34.9196 and Sting Ray Robb in the No. 77 Juncos Hollinger Chevy at 1:36.1786.
Scott Dixon continued his woes on this new street course as he hit the bumps and drove off course on one of his early laps, which put him at the bottom of the timing list.
With 2:19 left in the session, Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin went through the tight Turn 8 area and hit the wall, nose first. Because he brought out the Red Flag, McLaughlin lost his two fastest laps in the No. 3 Chevrolet and was moved to the bottom of the order at 1:38.6580.
The cars were refired and left pit road with 2 minutes remaining. Kyle Kirkwood was at the top of the board at 133.947 at that time followed by David Malukas at 134.404.
Dixon returned to the track to make up for his earlier spin to try to race his way into the top six positions out of the 13-driver group.
Will Power was on a flyer after the checkered flag waved and was able to race his way into the top six at 1:36.638. Santino Ferrucci also sped his way into the top six, up to third at 1:34.5629.
The six drivers that advanced included Kirkwood’s No. 27 Honda at 1:33.9473, David Malukas in the No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet for Team Penske at 1:34.4049, Ferrucci’s No. 14 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet at 1:34.5629, Marcus Armstrong’s No. 66 Meyer Shank Chevrolet at 1:34.5881, Will Power’s No. 26 Andretti Global Honda at 1:34.6383 and Pato O’Ward’s Arrow McLaren Chevrolet at 1:34.7435.
Missing the cut were Kyffin Simpson’s No. 8 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda at 1:34.7931, Caio Collet’s No. 4 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet at 1:35.0300, Christian Lundgaard’s No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet at 1:35.0760, Dixon’s No. 9 PNC Bank Honda at 1:35.1306, Nolan Siegel’s No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet at 135.2288, Graham Rahal’s No. 15 Honda at 1:35.3159 and McLaughlin’s No. 3 Chevrolet at 1:38.6500.
“Just turned too early and right into the wall,” McLaughlin said. “It was a mistake on my part. I have a fast car and hopefully we will charge from the back.”
Rossi had difficulty making it through the “Rangers Way” portion of the racecourse, driving off the track with 10:52 left in the session.
Palou also locked it up and drove off course on one of his fastest laps. Because he did not impede another driver, he was not assessed a penalty.
As the 12-minute session entered its final minute, Alex Palou as on a very fast lap at 1:33.404 to move into first position. Power was also set on a flyer and was third with 30 seconds left. Meantime, Newgarden was at the bottom of the 12 drivers and attempt to race his way in on his final lap, but it wasn’t fast enough, moving him up just one position.
But the fastest driver in Saturday morning’s practice, Kirkwood, was eliminated from the Fast 6 as his lap at 1:33.886 was seventh.
When it was over, Palou was the fastest at 1:33.404 followed by O’Ward’s 1:33.573, Rosenqvist’s 1:33.6132, Power’s 1:33.7756, Armstrong’s No. 66 Honda at 1:33.8391 and Ericsson’s No. 28 at 1:33.8453.
Five of the Fast 6 were in Hondas, with O’Ward the lone Chevrolet driver.
Drivers eliminated from the Fast 6 were Kirkwood (1:33.8868), Rasmussen (1:34.1440), Malukas (1:34.2456), Rossi (1:34.3040), Newgarden (1:34.3957) and Ferrucci (1:34.48.98). Those drivers line up from seventh to 12th in that order.
“I forgot which lap we needed to do our lap on and for some reason, I thought it was Lap 2 and we had three laps of fuel,” Kirkwood said. “I’m very disappointed. That one was on me. It’s very unfortunate. It’s never easy to get the pole in IndyCar qualifying, but I thought this would be an easy one and I made a massive, massive error.”
Another driver disappointed with his effort was Malukas, who will start ninth in the No. 12 Chevrolet.
“With that yellow coming out in the first group, we got lucky because our Red tire pace was not there,” Malukas explained. “We tried to capitalize on it, but it’s unfortunate.
“I really, really struggled on these Red tires. We’ll get it figured out, though. At Team Penske, we’ll get it down.”
That set the Firestone Fast 6, which for this race meant each driver would make one single lap run, from sixth fastest to the fastest.
