DETROIT — Colton Herta of Andretti Global claimed the first NTT P1 Award of the season, the 12th of his IndyCar Series career, Saturday on the streets of Detroit.
Herta’s No. 26 Gainbridge Honda had the best time of 1:00.5475 around the nine-turn, 1.65-mile temporary street course for Sunday’s Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix.
Herta rebounded from a crash in last Sunday’s 108th Indianapolis 500 to win the pole for the very next race.
“It was a complete 180, super happy for the team, they worked their tails off in the month of May and it was disappointing to say the lease,” Herta said. “This qualifying session was so difficult at this track. It feels good to get this one.”
Defending Detroit winner Alex Palou was second at 1:00.6995 in the No. 10 DHL Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing.
“It’s going to be interesting tomorrow,” Palou said.
Back-to-back Indianapolis 500 winner Josef Newgarden of Team Penske was third in the No. 2 Chevrolet with a fast lap at 1:00.607. Teammate Scott McLaughlin’s No. 2 Chevrolet was fourth at 1:01.3046 followed by Scott Dixon’s No. 9 PNC Bank Honda at 1:01.3905.
Herta’s teammate, Kyle Kirkwood, ran off course in Turn 1 with 43 seconds to go. Herta was on top of the timing list at that point, but with the red flag, each team was allowed one more flying lap.
He will line up sixth on Sunday at 1:04.2926 in the No. 27 AutoNation Honda for Andretti Global.
In the first group of segment one, 20-year-old Theo Pourchaire of Arrow McLaren was the fastest of the group with a lap 1:00.7000 in the No. 6 Chevrolet. Scott McLaughlin was second at 1:00.7935 in the No. 3 Chevrolet for Team Penske followed by teammate and back-to-back Indianapolis 500 winner Josef Newgarden 1:00.8844 in the No. 2 Chevrolet.
Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood was fourth in the No. 27 AutoNation Honda at 1:00.8962 followed by Team Penske’s Will Power at 1:00.9537 in the No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet and A.J. Foyt Racing’s Santino Ferrucci in the No. 14 Chevrolet at 1:01.2906.
Those six drivers advanced into the second round.
Missing the cut were Romain Grosjean’s 1:01.4933, Alexander Rossi’s 1:01.5905, Rinus VeeKay’s 1:01.6040, Kyffin Simpson’s 1:01.7770, Christian Rasmussen’s 1:01.8256 and Tristan Vautier’s 1:02.2122.
Grosjean believed Ferrucci had interfered with his lap in qualifications and confronted team principal Larry Foyt in the pit area.
“They need to do a better job not blocking people, not crash into people on a qualifying lap,” Grosjean said. “I don’t understand IndyCar Race Control. If that’s not blocking, I don’t know what it is.”
In Group 2, Alex Palou was the fastest at 1:00.3478 in the No. 10 DHL Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing followed by Rahal Letterman Lanigan’s Christian Lundgaard’s 1:00.4142 in the No. 45 Hy-Vee Honda. Colton Herta’s No. 26 Gainbridge Honda at 1:00.5731 for Andretti Global, Marcus Ericsson’s 1:00.7537 in the No. 28 Honda for Andretti Global, Pato O’Ward’s 1:01.0292 in the No. 5 Chevrolet for Arrow McLaren and Scott Dixon’s 1:01.0722 in the No. 9 PNC Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing.
Missing the cut line to advance was Graham Rahal’s 1:01.1336, Felix Rosenqvist’s 1:01.2702, Pietro Fittipaldi’s 1:01.3684, Agustin Canapino’s 1:01.5566, Marcus Armstrong’s 1:01.7406, Sting Ray Robb’s 1:01.8454, Helio Castroneves’ 1:01.9687 and Jack Harvey’s 1:02.1185.
In the second round, Pato O’Ward had an issue with smoke coming from his No. 5 Chevrolet during the second segment. He climbed out of his car, sat on pit wall, then stormed out of the pits back to the team transporter without talking to the media.
That left Pourchaire as the only Arrow McLaren driver left with a chance to advance to the Fast Six.
Pourchaire was knocked out of contention with seven seconds left in the session but was able to quickly get back in on the final lap.
When that session ended, Herta was the fastest at 1:00.2304 followed by Kirkwood’s 1:00.3994, Dixon’s 1:00.5864, McLaughlin’s 1:00.6007, Palou’s 1:00.6561 and Newgarden’s 1:00.7055.
Pourchaire dropped from third to seventh, first out at 1:00.7342. Power was eighth at 1:00.7612, Ericsson’s 1:00.8505, Ferrucci’s 1:01.0351, Lundgaard’s 1:01.1663 and O’Ward’s 1:03.0479.
“First off, sorry for what I said and how I acted toward Kyle and the other competitors in practice,” Ferrucci said. “I was hot out of the car. It’s real tight and I’m looking forward to a good race tomorrow.
“I had no idea who was behind me. I thought it was Will Power. We were trying to get gaps. It’s tight. It’s tough. Small track, short track racing on a street course.”
That set up Herta’s first pole of the season in the Fast Six.