STEAM CORNERS, Ohio — Colton Herta spoiled a Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course homecoming for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, as the Andretti Autosport driver won the pole for Sunday’s Honda Indy 200.
Herta’s No. 26 Gainbridge Honda knocked Ohio native Graham Rahal off the pole in the final seconds of Saturday’s “Firestone Fast Six” with a lap at 1:06.3096 around the 13-turn, 2.258-mile Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
Rahal scored his first front row start in over four years with a time at 1:06.3528 in the No. 15 Honda.
“It’s a great time to get the car up front and run it well,” Rahal said. “I’m so proud of everybody at RLL, the 15 car, the 30 and the 45. I was bummed to not get a pole, but super pumped to be starting a lot further up than we have been. It was a really solid lap. Our race pace is better than our qualifying pace.”
Starting second is Rahal’s highest starting position at Mid-Ohio.
Kyle Kirkwood of Andretti Autosport was third at 1:06.3683 in the No. 27 AutoNation Honda followed by NTT IndyCar Series points leader Alex Palou’s No. 10 Honda at 1:06.4166. Another Rahal Letterman driver, Christian Lundgaard, was fifth at 1:06.6277 in the No. 45 Hy-Vee Honda with six-time Mid-Ohio IndyCar winner Scott Dixon’s sixth at 1:06.9281 in the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing.
Herta’s team called for the Firestone Blacks on the final run, and it was a strategy gamble that took him to the 11th IndyCar pole of his career, his second in a row.
“It was a good call,” Herta said. “I can’t wait for tomorrow and can’t wait to get a win.”
Lundgaard had the fastest lap with two minutes left in the session before the Fast Six turned up the speed around the 13-turn, 2.258-mile Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Rahal knocked Lundgaard off the top spot with 60 seconds left, Palou moved up to second and Lundgaard was down to third.
It was the culmination of an exciting three-rounds of qualifications.
Earlier, the final minute of the Fast 12 was frantic as the board changed dramatically. Lundgaard was able to jump to the front with 40 seconds left before Herta took over the No. 1 spot at 1:05.8576. Lundgaard was second at 1:05.8883 followed by Rahal’s 1:05.9336, Kirkwood’s 1:05.9493, Dixon’s 1:05.978 and Palou’s 1:05.9845.
That meant two drivers from Andretti Autosport, two from Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing and two from Chip Ganassi Racing did not make the Fast Six. That included Team Penske’s Will Power’s 1:06.1121 and Scott McLaughlin’s 1:06.1926.
“The car felt really good, but everyone in front of us were Hondas,” Power said “Maybe the humidity suits their cars better. I didn’t have the tire temp for the first sector. It’s everything I had.”
Also failing to advance were Chip Ganassi Racing’s Marcus Ericsson, Arrow McLaren’s Felix Rosenqvist, Rahal Letterman Lanigan’s Jack Harvey, and Dale Coyne Racing’s David Malukas.
“It’s always so tight in these sessions,” Ericsson said. “We were P1 in our group and the car was very consistent. It’s enough to be bumped, unfortunately. We are always strong on race day. That’s our best day. Inside the top 10 is still a decent place to start from. I still feel confident and believe in the 8 car and 8 crew that we can do well on Sunday.”
Pato O’Ward had the fastest time in the first group of Segment One, before he spun coming out of turn two.
He lost his fastest two laps and was not allowed to advance into the next segment. That means the Arrow McLaren driver will start in the back of the pack of Sunday’s race in 25th position.
“It was my mistake,” O’Ward said. “I feel for the team. We had a really fast car. That doesn’t mean we can’t move forward tomorrow. It was all on me, I lost the rear of the car and then stalled it when it got in the grass. It really sucks. You are taking these cars to the limit, and sometimes this happens.
“At least this isn’t the race. This is qualifying. The race is super long, and we’ll go forward tomorrow, there is no doubt in my mind.”
With 40 seconds left in that session, Ericsson jumped to the top of the chart at 1:05.9252. David Malukas was able to get into the Fast Six at 1:06.5621 in the No. 18 Honda for Dale Coyne Racing, but Alexander Rossi and Josef Newgarden did not advance.
Rossi was seventh at 1:06.6010 in the No. 7 Chevrolet for Arrow McLaren and Newgarden eighth at 1:06.6307 in the No. 2 Chevrolet for Team Penske. Other drivers that didn’t advance were Ryan Hunter-Reay, Helio Castroneves, Augustin Canapino, Benjamin Pedersen and O’Ward.
The six drivers who advanced were Ericsson, Alex Palou at 1:06.0357 in the No. 10 Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing, Felix Rosenqvist at 1:06.1887 in the No. 6 Honda, Scott McLaughlin’s 1:06.2026 in the No. 2 Chevrolet for Team Penske, Jack Harvey’s 1:06.2900 in the No. 30 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda and Malukas.
In the next group, Colton Herta laid down a fast “banker” lap early giving the other teams a target. With six minutes left, Kyle Kirkwood was able to take second place before Scott Dixon knocked him down a notch with a faster lap.
Lundgaard switched to Firestone Reds and was the only driver on the track with four minutes left as the other teams switched tires. The switch worked as Lundgaard had two very fast laps to take over the top spot. Teammate Graham Rahal raced his way to third with 1:50 remaining.
Romain Grosjean moved into third in the final 40 seconds, but Kirkwood took over the top spot at 1:05.7240 in the No. 27 AutoNation Honda.
By the time it was over, Kirkwood was the fastest followed by six-time Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio winner Scott Dixon’s 1:05.7760, Colton Herta’s No. 26 Gainbridge Honda at 1:05.8599, Lundgaard’s 1:05.8933 in the No. 45 Hy-Vee Honda, Will Power’s 1:05.9838 in the No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet for Team Penske and Rahal’s No. 15 Honda at 1:06.0306.
All three Rahal Letterman Lanigan cars advanced into the top 12.
Missing the cut was Romain Grosjean (1:06.1870).
“We messed up the tire pressure and we couldn’t do anything,” Grosjean said. “It’s a mistake that shouldn’t happen, but we’ll have to make it work.”
Also failing to advance were Rinus VeeKay’s 1:06.2891, Marcus Armstrong’s 1:06.2915, Callum Ilott’s 1:06.3487, Sting Ray Robb’s 1:06.5157, Develin DeFrancesco’s 1:06.5854, Santino Ferrucci’s 1:07.3807 and Simon Pagenaud, who had crashed in Saturday morning’s practice session and had not been cleared to compete.
He will have to be reexamined by the IndyCar Medical team on Sunday morning before he can participate in Sunday’s race.